Any SCSI enthusiasts?

berryoxide · Post by **berryoxide** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:20 pm

Hi!

I'm new to the SCSI world and my Adaptec 29160 got delivered to me yesterday (it was bulk packaged and I paid 200€ including shipping, if anyone needed to know). The card itself has one external 68-pin connector, two internal 68-pin connectors (one for LVD devices, the other for Ultra Wide devices) and finally an internal 50-pin connector for legacy SCSI devices. The card itself connects to either a 32-bit or 64-bit PCI slot.

From what I have read, all SCSI cables need some kind of termination, either auto-termination of the SCSI controller card, an integrated terminator in the SCSI cable or an external terminator either in passive or active flavor. I read a little bit more further and it seems that termination is required for keeping all signals from interfering with each other and eventually damage the SCSI devices.

What about SCSI cables with only two connectors? One goes to the SCSI controller card and the other to a SCSI device like a hard disk drive. Will it work without a terminator? I couldn't find this information anywhere and I need to know the answer before shopping for new cables and hard disk drives.

Basically what I want to achieve is to connect the SCSI cable to the external 68-pin connector of my Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller card so I can have an external hard disk drive (even if my motherboard supports eSATA, just want to use the Adaptec at its fullest).

Thanks in advance!

garretthylltun · Post by **garretthylltun** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:24 pm

OMG! SCSI!!! Man, I remember SCSI drives from back in the day, along with ISA.... There wasn't no such thing as PCI back then, no sir'e! PCI WhuT!?

Unfortunately, I'm old and forgetful and can't remember the specs on SCSI, nor ISA anymore.

Ahhhh, those were the days. When modems and soundcards were always fighting over IRQ and causing chaos for all. Now look at us, there's no fun in it because everything is automatic now.. Auto port assignment, auto IRQ assignment... No more dip switches to fiddle with, no more playing with the bios.

Where's the fun in just booting your computer up and doing what you want?

berryoxide · Post by **berryoxide** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:29 pm

I tell you SCSI is fun! The good thing about technology getting so advanced in so little time is, that these "older" parts are then slightly cheaper, but when used properly can form a better combination than a "newer" part by current trends.

I do fiddle a lot around in my BIOS, there's always stuff to configure as in not overclocking, but general stuff like PCI bus latency, onboard devices disable/enable, front panel connections configuration, etc...

Too bad you don't remember this SCSI stuff, but it's cheerful you at least replied to this thread. Thanks, needed it

harff182 · Post by **harff182** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:55 pm

moin, moin...

Start at Wikipedia with "SCSI"

Or google "scsi termination".
Lots of helpful links.
Even if you search for pics, you find helpful ones.

AFAIR:
- there has to be an Arnold Schwarzenegger at each end of a chain.
- the controller usually has a terminator for each chain on board.
- all drives had small pieces as terminators beside the pins where you had to set the SCSI-ID.

Those "terminator-pieces" may look like this

hth...
scholly

Tipperton · Post by **Tipperton** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:42 pm

garretthylltun wrote:Ahhhh, those were the days. When modems and soundcards were always fighting over IRQ and causing chaos for all. Now look at us, there's no fun in it because everything is automatic now.. Auto port assignment, auto IRQ assignment... No more dip switches to fiddle with, no more playing with the bios. Where's the fun in just booting your computer up and doing what you want?

I remember those days with fond memories! Funny thing is, I never had a problem with IRQ conflicts or the like until early plug-n-play (more like plug-n-pray back then) showed up.

It's been ten years but IIRC:

SCSI chains had to be terminated.
SCSI controllers have built-in terminators so you didn't have to worry about that end of the chain.
Some devices had built in terminators that could be connected with a jumper or a switch usually right next to the SCSI ID selector.
For devices that didn't have built-in terminators, you just plugged a terminator into one of the two SCSI connectors.
Each device on a SCSI chain had to have a unique ID, so you can't have two devices on the same chain with the ID selector set to the same number.

berryoxide · Post by **berryoxide** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:31 am

Thanks for the help! Yes now I found the information as well and no matter of how many connections in a SCSI cable, it needs termination on both ends. Cheers, berryoxide.

P.S. SkuZZI All tEh waY!!! w00t w00t!!!! SCSI FTW!!1!!1!!111!1!