[RESOLVED] SCSI & hard drives

[Alfonzo]

I just bought a older DELL, and to my suprise It has a SCSI card.
I have a couple of questions.

I know that you have to go into the BIOS for the motherboard and SCSI controler to reset this/reconfigure that to make changes.

Can I use a U2 or U160 SCSI hard disk with the U/UW card (even though the manufacturer claims that the speed will be reduced to U/UW) ? AND if so, how can I configure the disk to work with the older card .
I have no information on the SCSI card and only a basic set of drivers that I downloaded from the manufacturers website.

I also have a spare Western Digital ATA/UDMA 33 hard drive that I'd like to use with this system.
My question is ...
Does anyone know if the Dell motherboard will recognize the newer EIDE hard disk ?
I have ran into this problem before using newer hard drives on older motherboards &
Dell tech support isn't too helpful

[AlienDyne]

The Western Digital one should work. The motherboard is not too old not to recognize an UDMA-33 HDD. If it's not working, try a BIOS Update and it'll work 99%!

I'm not sure about the SCSI one, though, but I believe it'll work. The only thing you have to do, is to check both SCSI IDs. On the drive and the controller. If it's not working, a BIOS/Firmware Update is always the LAST option (if available).

Hope this helps. Good luck!

------------------
"Matter is passive. In spite of its power, it can't be controlled without the human mind." - Sokrates

My Hardware Info, Hardware Media and Computer History page

[Alfonzo]

Thanks Alien I apprecieate the help.

[rwbad]

Do you know what SCSI card is fitted?
There are a number of different internal drive connectors and for a SCSI 160 you will need at least an Ultra Wide. I use an Adaptec 29160N with a 160.
Also, alot depends on your motherboard as regard speed of access so worth checking the motherboard forum on latest drivers.

[cyberhh]

Keep in mind that SCSI is an advanced drive interface and termination and id numbers must be set when installing. You should have minimal problems installing the ultra drive in an uw card, however it will bring the speed of the bus to the ultra level.


------------------
Death is lighter than a feather - duty heavier than a mountian.

[BAD.IRON]

One more point to make here, if you have a SCSI adapter with 160-pin setup, you can buy a SCSI drive maybe faster than your IDE drive. Some SCSI drives run at 15000 RPMs. If you set your bios to SCSI as the first boot drive it will install it as drive C: