Mixing SCSI and IDE

[Bastage]

I currently am running all IDE on my system and I am considering upgrading to SCSI but I can't afford to do it all at once. I have 2 HD, Internal ZIP, CD-ROM, and a CD-R; all IDE. Would it be better to upgrade the CD stuff or the HD first. Most of my burning is done from the HD, so I am concerned about the difference in speed between a SCSI device and an IDE device.

Any suggestions??

[MR COMPUTER]

I went with the SCSI/IDE mix to free up ide connectors for removable ide hard drives.I use a SIIG scsi card (COMP USA $89.00),scsi zip,scsi cd reader.Read speed to my ide cd burner went from 12x to 15x!The scsi hard drives are nice,but still too much money versus storage space.
AL

[MaxVal]

How do you have so many devices on two IDE ports?
I'm using both IDE & SCSI- SCSI adds considerably to boot time (device detection).
It also adds another layer to what can screw up in windows.
Unless you have a need for adding more stuff, or having AV capability, i'd save the cash and stick with IDE.
Todays IDE's are neck and neck with SCSI.
And MUCH cheaper too!

[gruven]

Sorry to say....Todays IDE devices might be on par with SCSI devices form about 3 years ago! Like just SCSI....My whole system is SCSI....ultra2 wide SCSI seagate barracuda 7,200 RPM HD...that's 80MB/sec transfer rate. I'll tell you this...this machine screams. and I've had SO much fewer problems with my Yamaha SCSI burner...alot less coasters made. Nothing beats SCSI....and not that hard to configure it right....So I have to wait another 6 seconds for boot time...beleive me...it makes up for it in runtime.
Anyways....I would go with the burner first...since you would see more improvement...then the HD....and remember...SCSI devices use 10 to 15% less CPU usage.

[Danzego]

I agree with gruven. Do the cdr first. It will cost the least for the performance increase. Hd's are still pretty **** expensive, so do that last. Oh, by the way, the Zip drive isn't riding the IDE, it's on the floppy line. So don't worry 'bout that.

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

I have seen people trying to combine Ide and Scsi hard drives-- 9 of out 10 time don't work. It could be disastrous! However, there are some new bios and motherboards that will support scsi devices without any problem. I would suggest to visit www.adaptec.com. Like the previous post suggested, there is not really much difference in terms of speed. If you are running Nt and you want fault tolerance support you need scsi adapters.

[MR COMPUTER]

I agree,dont mix scsi and ide hard drives.I have had great luck with scsi cdr,zip,tape drive,on a scsi chain,then cdrom,and ide hard drives on the mb controllers.Cheapest way,if you cant afford to go all scsi.

[Bastage]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I have an IDE controller card that enables me to have all of the devices in my computer. Thanks again.