SCSI Drive

[NevBull]

Hi Mark

an single fast internal SCSI drive will be the best option - a 15k RPM SCSI drive is standard in the Catalyst PRO servers we build in the UK. The Fujitsu MAX3147NP seems to have one of the fastest seek times at the moment.

There have been lots of posts here about the pros and cons of various RAID configurations - I believe (and Richard will correct me on this) that the only viable external RAID system tested so far is the Apple Xserve Raid unning over fibre channel.

This does all, of course, depend on what you are aiming to do with your Catalyst server and the content thereon.

Nev.
Digital Services Manager
PI Digital

[markjlights]

Thanks for the info. What control card would you have installed in a G5 quad? I think I will need to replace that as well...

[samsc]

Thanks for the info. What control card would you have installed in a G5 quad? I think I will need to replace that as well...

control card?

[bright]

I think he means the SCSI Controller Card. I would be interested in that question as well. Which Controller Cards have been reliable and fast? Are there any alternatives to the ATTO SCSI, which a lot of people seem to be using.

Any help would be apreciated.

Thomas

[SourceChild]

Hey Mark,

Forget the SCSI. Instead take the old disk and controller out and replace them with a new Mtron SSD. If you search the threads here you will see where we have been talking about using Mtron disks.

These things are very fast but you are going to have to spend about $2,400 (including shipping) to get a 64Gb disk.

Read these threads:

http://chaldee1.gotadsl.co.uk/~richa...ighlight=Mtron

http://chaldee1.gotadsl.co.uk/~richa...ighlight=Mtron

http://chaldee1.gotadsl.co.uk/~richa...ighlight=Mtron

[Mr_P]

I agree - SSD is about the same price as a 147G SCSI disk - 'Most' show content would fit on a 64G SSD

However, for those who use SCSI, to answer the question, the ATTO SCSI Cards are the only SCSI option for the G5's.

There are a number of 10K and 15K SCSI drives available - Cheetah 10K.7 - 147GB ULTRA 320 SCSI drive, in tests in a G5, performed better than a Cheeta 15K. Try Nevs recommendation of the Fujitsu MAX3147NP if you dont go with an SSD

[samsc]

not quite MAX 3147 is £170 now.
64GB SSD around £900.

I agree - SSD is about the same price as a 147G SCSI disk - 'Most' show content would fit on a 64G SSD

However, for those who use SCSI, to answer the question, the ATTO SCSI Cards are the only SCSI option for the G5's.

There are a number of 10K and 15K SCSI drives available - Cheetah 10K.7 - 147GB ULTRA 320 SCSI drive, in tests in a G5, performed better than a Cheeta 15K.

its not meaningful to say things like 'performed better' without a lot more information-
as performance varies between drives with different codecs and compression. some drives are better at somethings, some are better at others.

none of the cheetah drives i tested ever worked great.
there is a great deal of difference between different drives and drive manufacturers.

Try Nevs recommendation of the Fujitsu MAX3147NP if you dont go with an SSD

[samsc]

I agree - SSD is about the same price as a 147G SCSI disk - 'Most' show content would fit on a 64G SSD

simon- you were raiding drives up a few months ago on mac pro's-

did you unraid them?

or are you still doing this?

[SourceChild]

There is nothing wrong with having more than one 64Gb SSD disks in your Mac Pro or G5. Obviously the G5 will only take one additional but you can always remove the CD ROM. In the Mac Pro however, you can put three SSD disks in addition to your system disk if you wanted to.

Then point to folders on each of the disk to get a larger capacity than 64Gb.

[Mr_P]

Richard,
In response to your comments -

I use
Mac Pros - 2x 500G SATA raided (WD5000YS)
G5 - single SCSI (not raided) (Cheetah 10K.7 147GB ULTRA 320)

These configuration seem to work fine for the majority of the work encountered

re 'performs better' comment
this was based on Hughs testing results between various SCSI drives both 10K & 15K.
I agree - there are a lot of factors to be considered - of what was available in the price range and size, the recommendation after tests was the drive quoted.

Nevs Fujitsu MAX3147NP was not compared

It was not a comparrison between SSD and SATA