[SunRescue] Any experience with IDE to SCSI adapters???

[Cyrus M. Reed]

> Do you think that SCSI drives are inherently more reliable?  It was my
> understanding that the platters are the same, but the drive electronics are
> different.  I have never seen any drive fail due to the chips.

I think I've seen this debate in a couple places now (perhaps even here
once).  The two versions I've heard are that a) the physical drives are
the same, only the chip components are changed and b) SCSI drives have
better physical components as well since they tend to be used in servers
and other high end machines where reliability is a larger factor.  I
don't think I've ever seen anything from a company that says one way or
the other.  My guess is that it depends on the manufacturer and even the
drive model.  a) would make sense, but so would b) and if b) is the case
that would explain why SCSI drives are generally more expensive (but
then so would lower demand; not many people run SCSI drives in their
PeeCee's).  Like most things, the truth probably lies somewhere in the
middle.  At this point in the game, any drive (SCSI or IDE) seems to be
much more reliable than it's earlier counterparts, to the point where
the difference between 1bn MTBF and 2bn MTBF (exaggerating slightly)
isn't as relevant anymore.

-Cyrus