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Thread: IDE hard drives?
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05-14-2004, 06:10 PM #1New Member
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IDE hard drives?
I'm curious about something. I've been looking around at different web hosts this past week, and noticed that a lot of them use IDE hard drives. This surprises me, because I expected most people that make a living off the reliability of their servers to be using SCSI drives. The reason being that IDE drives used to have the reputation of being throw-away drives that you use until they die a year or two later, as well as the fact that IDE drives aren't usually as fast at seeking as SCSI drives.
Have IDE drives become that much more reliable, or is it not that big of an issue since the IDE drives offer more storage space at a cheaper price, that it's actually a viable solution? Can someone enlighten me?
Thanks.
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05-14-2004, 06:36 PM #2Newbie
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While most IDE drives probobly aren't quite as reliable as SCSI drives they are not as bad as they used to be, when was the last time you had a HD crash? I know I have drives that are 4+ years old that still work fine.
As for speed SCSI is faster, but I don't think it would make a huge difference on most webservers, unless it was overloaded.
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05-14-2004, 06:36 PM #3Web Hosting Guru
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I thought IDE and SCSI are somewhat the same, just have different transfer methods...
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05-14-2004, 06:51 PM #4WHT Addict
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They are both somewhat similiar in that they are both mass storage devices. But they way they manage that storage and interface to a client vary significantly
http://www.pcmech.com/show/harddrive/79/
Do a search in google for IDE vs SCSI and you'll get a whole mess of pages dissecting the diferences.
Justin
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05-14-2004, 07:14 PM #5Temporarily Suspended
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SCSI=Faster
IDE=More data GB
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05-15-2004, 02:39 AM #6Disabled
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Also IDE drivers doing well in most situations
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05-15-2004, 04:40 AM #7Web Hosting Master
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You don't need a SCSI drive when you have dual IDE's using RAID 0...better known as Stripping. This along with a motherboard capable of doing Serial ATA....who needs an expensive SCSI drive, especially when IDE's continually go down in price as space increases.
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05-15-2004, 04:46 AM #8Web Hosting Evangelist
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We are slowly moving away from SCSI system for our network at work.
Whereas a couple of years ago I always specified SCSI systems for our Windows/Linux/Exchane/SQL servers I now seriously look ar IDE.
I still have RAID, RAID5 to be exact however I can get an IDE RAID5 configuration with 4x 160GB HD (480GB useable) for a lot less than a SCSI setup.
IDE drives are proving to be just as reliable.
I also have the same hot-swap abilities with the IDE array as I would with a SCSI.
The only difference is that the IDE drives are 7200rpm and my SCSI systems are either 10,000rpm or 15,000rpm.
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05-15-2004, 04:25 PM #9WHT Addict
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Originally posted by activeforce
SCSI=Faster
IDE=More data GBSolid-Hosting.net - affordable multiple domain hosting solutions
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05-15-2004, 04:40 PM #10Taking a break from hosting
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Re: IDE hard drives?
Originally posted by soul
I'm curious about something. I've been looking around at different web hosts this past week, and noticed that a lot of them use IDE hard drives. This surprises me, because I expected most people that make a living off the reliability of their servers to be using SCSI drives. The reason being that IDE drives used to have the reputation of being throw-away drives that you use until they die a year or two later, as well as the fact that IDE drives aren't usually as fast at seeking as SCSI drives.
Have IDE drives become that much more reliable, or is it not that big of an issue since the IDE drives offer more storage space at a cheaper price, that it's actually a viable solution? Can someone enlighten me?
Thanks.
-Josh
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05-15-2004, 06:33 PM #11Junior Guru Wannabe
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SCSI is MUCH better and cheaper.
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05-15-2004, 06:39 PM #12Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by Aeox
SCSI is MUCH better and cheaper.
AndrewNetHosted - UK based hosting solutions.
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05-15-2004, 08:58 PM #13Web Hosting Master
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Reliability wise, nothing beats SCSI...
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05-15-2004, 09:04 PM #14Web Hosting Master
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We now run a lot of servers, and a lot of workstation PCs, and we buy our drives from well known distributors; Maxtor, Seagate etc. I am yet to see an SCSI drive fail, whereas I have seen several IDE drives fail in the past.
I would certainly not set up a single shared server nowadays with an IDE hard drive, not only do we get better performance, but I feel a heck of a lot more confident that years down the line I won't have to be replacing those SCSI drives. Perhaps I'm overly cautious, but I'd much rather be overly cautious now than run the risk of problems in the future.★ Jo Stonehouse - Kualo ❘ www.kualo.com
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05-16-2004, 12:51 AM #15Aspiring Evangelist
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If you are going dedicated wouldn't it be relatively easy to just upgrade to an entire new server every year or so? This would also mean replacing the hard drives, usually. I would think you'd need to with the speed technology is growing.
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05-16-2004, 02:21 AM #16Newbie
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Go with SCSI if you have the money..
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05-16-2004, 02:54 AM #17Formerly orange-y
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Actually, go with a Western Digital Raptor drive if you have the money. Those things are FAST :|
Former owner of A Small Orange
New owner of <COMING SOON>
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05-16-2004, 03:02 AM #18Web Hosting Guru
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Originally posted by timdorr
Actually, go with a Western Digital Raptor drive if you have the money. Those things are FAST :|#include<cstdio>
char*s="#include<cstdio>%cchar*s=%c%s%c;%cint main(){std::printf(s,10,34,s,34,10);}";
int main(){std::printf(s,10,34,s,34,10);}
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05-16-2004, 03:12 AM #19Formerly orange-y
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Raptor's are 10K RPM IDE drives. SCSI speed with an SATA (Read: IDE-like) interface. I'm not comparing another drive manufacturer, simply stating that the interface doesn't solely determine speed.
Former owner of A Small Orange
New owner of <COMING SOON>
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05-16-2004, 11:15 AM #20Junior Guru
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you also need to look at the type of application you're going to be using this for. I mean, if you're going to be doing a lot of HD thrashing, definately scsi in terms on speed and long term reliability.
for a basic webserver... not doing any heavy dynamic stuff, ide will do just fine. but of course, you then have to factor in, is the system your leasing from the DC set up properly (assuming you're not going colo). an overheating drive of any type will always be bad