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SCSI (scuzzy) has many advantages
over standard hard drive types and controllers, but is usually
more expensive and is harder to implement. SCSI controllers
can support multiple hard drives and other peripherals like
CD-ROM’s, Scanners, etc. SCSI allows the computer to daisy
chain up to 30 hard drives and/or peripherals. Which comes
in handy for studios that need redundancy and or larger storage
mediums. SCSI controllers have been traditionally much faster
than IDE controllers, even though IDE has come a long way.
SCSI can provide transfer rates of up to 160MB per second.
A new SCSI standard is currently in development that will
allow transfer rates of up to 320 MB per second. Just like
IDE, SCSI has a number of different versions. If you are looking
for the best performance from your DAW, SCSI cannot be beat.
SCSI is almost a necessity for high resolution digital recoding
at 24bit/96Khz or 24bit/192KHz, since the hard drive needs
to pass huge amount of data.
To integrate SCSI
into your computer you need two devices: a SCSI controller
which is normally a PCI card and a SCSI device like a hard
drive, CD-ROM, etc. A SCSI cable connects the two devices.
Which one depends you choose depends on your budget and what
kind of throughput you need. If you are looking to get the
maximum track count out of your DAW, you should look at a
15,000 RPM SCSI 160 drive.
Protocols
SCSI-1
SCSI 1 was originally introduced in 1986
and was the first SCSI standard. This interface consisted of
SCSI controller, allowed up to 7 devices to be connected and
had a maximum burst of up to 5MB per second. At the time SCSI-1
was ground breaking.
SCSI-2
SCSI 2 is also known as Fast SCSI. SCSI-2
made improvements over SCSI 1, but actually wasn’t available
to the public until 1994. The specification was defined to improve
performance and reliability over SCSI-1. SCSI-2 also removed
several extremely puzzling options. SCSI-2 allowed for a maximum
burst rate of up to 10MB a second.
Fast Wide SCSI
Fast Wide SCSI is a type of SCSI 2 that
doubled the bus width; up to 16 bit and allowed for maximum
burst rates of up to 20 MB. It also increased the number of
devices you could run on one controller to 14.
Ultra SCSI
Ultra SCSI is a type of SCSI 2 that used
the original 8-bit Bus width just like SCSI—1 and SCSI-2, but
allowed for maximum bursts of up to 20 MB. The maximum number
of devices you can have connected is 7.
Ultra Wide SCSI
Ultra Wide SCSI also known as Wide Ultra
SCSI used a 16 bit Bus just as Fast Wide SCSI did but increased
the maximum burst rate up to 40MB. Since Ultra Wide SCSI uses
a 16 bit Bus, the maximum number of devices that can be connected
is 14.
Ultra 2 SCSI
Ultra 2 SCSI went back to an 8 bit bus.
The internal clock speed of the drives and controllers were
doubled which allowed Ultra 2 SCSI to burst up to 40 MB a second.
The maximum devices you could have connected to an Ultra 2 SCSI
controller is 7.
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI for some time was the
fastest SCSI you could use. Wide Ultra SCSI 2 uses a 16bit bus
and allowed burst rates of up to 80 MB per second. They accomplished
this by doubling the internal clock speed of the host controller.
The maximum devices you could have connected to an Ultra 2 SCSI
controller is 7.
Ultra 3 SCSI
Ultra 3 SCSI also known as SCSI 160 is
an extremely fast SCSI standard. When an Ultra 3 SCSI 3 controller
is used in a standard 32 bit PCI slot the controller can burst
up to a maximum rate to 80 MB per second. When used in a 64
PCI slot the controller can burst up to maximum rate of 160MB
a second. The maximum number of devices you can have connected
is 14.
SCSI 3 has been slowly dropping in price
and is the most cost efficient way to get maximum track counts
when recording with at 24 bit / 96KHz .
Ultra 320 SCSI
Ultra 320 SCSI is a new SCSI standard
that is just starting to become available. Ultra SCSI 320 allows
for maximum burst rates of up to 160 MB a second when used in
a standard 32 bit PCI slot. The amazing part is that it will
allow burst rates of up to 320 MB a second when used in 64 PCI
slots. SCSI 320 uses the same 16bit bus as SCSI 160 uses and
is backwards compatible.
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