Is ATAPI good enough for AIT-1?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeff Ishaq
  • Start date Start date
J

Jeff Ishaq

Hey folks. I'm eyeing Sony's AITi90-A/S tape drive, which as I
understand it is simply an internal IDE drive that uses 35GB AIT-1
tapes. My backup needs are modest -- about 40GB total, and it doesn't
grow very fast. The Sony AITi90-A/S drive, which also seems to be
named various permutations of Sony "SDX-D400", can be had for $594,
and media is $40 per 35/70GB tape.

I am curious if I should opt for the SCSI interface rather than the
IDE interface on this drive. I've got the venerable Adaptec 2940UW if
I need it, but I prefer IDE over SCSI for a few reasons:

* I don't have to wait for 45-60 seconds for the SCSI BIOS to load &
scan devices during boot

* Less heat, less fans, less noise, less power consumption

* One less card == more free IRQs == less conflicts with network cards
:)

I'm not sure if the maximum thruput of the Sony AITi90-A/S drive is
enough to saturate a dedicated IDE channel. If there would be a
considerable performance difference between this drive on an IDE bus,
and this drive on a SCSI bus, the latter becomes more appealing.

Any tips?

Thanks very much!
-Jeff
 
Jeff Ishaq said:
Hey folks. I'm eyeing Sony's AITi90-A/S tape drive, which as I
understand it is simply an internal IDE drive that uses 35GB AIT-1
tapes. My backup needs are modest -- about 40GB total, and it doesn't
grow very fast. The Sony AITi90-A/S drive, which also seems to be
named various permutations of Sony "SDX-D400", can be had for $594,
and media is $40 per 35/70GB tape.

I am curious if I should opt for the SCSI interface rather than the
IDE interface on this drive. I've got the venerable Adaptec 2940UW if
I need it, but I prefer IDE over SCSI for a few reasons:

* I don't have to wait for 45-60 seconds for the SCSI BIOS to load &
scan devices during boot
Click to expand...

The latest bios can be set to 'not scan'.
* Less heat, less fans, less noise, less power consumption

* One less card == more free IRQs == less conflicts with network cards
:)

I'm not sure if the maximum thruput of the Sony AITi90-A/S drive is
enough to saturate a dedicated IDE channel.
Click to expand...

That obviously depends on the specification of the interface and that of
the channel that it is used on.
If there would be a
considerable performance difference between this drive on an IDE bus,
and this drive on a SCSI bus, the latter becomes more appealing.
Click to expand...

IDE is specified for 2 devices used simultaniously, SCSI for 4.
 
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