Do SCSI HD's need terminators?

[DanU]

I have an ultra SCSI card that's only used for my HP scanner. I've been thinking about buying a SCSI hard drive as well. Will I need a terminator for the SCSI drive?

[NDC]

Yes you will.... You will need a terminator at the need of the cable.

[Andy_L]

To clarify; a SCSI bus has to be terminated on both ends of the bus, normally the SCSI card will auto terminate one end of the bus, most internal SCSI devices have a built in terminator(ie. harddisks, cdroms, etc)usually enabled/disabled by a jumper, but the preferred method is to use an active terminator on the cable. External devices may or may not provide a terminator, and some do not give you the option of disabling termination, so have to be the last device on the bus (physical device, its not ID dependent necessarily.)Also, some cards do not allow you to use external and internal devices at the same time.

[This message has been edited by Andy_L (edited 04-07-2001).]

[NDC]

Only the devices at each physical end of a SCSI bus need to be terminated. The SCSI host adapter normally will provide termination for the controller end, therefore only terminate the last drive on the end of the cable. LVD drives do not have any provision for onboard termination; therefore, termination for LVD drives must come from another device or from an external terminator. Use only active SE or LVD terminators.

[Andy_L]

Wow, NDC, you (or we) are good. Great info!!

[DanU]

Thanks for the help guys!