SCSI vs IDE

Hi all,
I've all read the descriptions of these 2 bus specifications. Nowhere have I
seen electrical specification particularly regarding hot swap cabability.Can
anyone drop me pointers regarding:
a) Electrical signals in SCSI that makes hot-swap(level 4) a possibility.
b) What can be done (externally) to make ATA/IDE hot swappable (level 4)

Thanx,
Joji

 

The ability for SCSI to be hot-swappable is functionality of a RAID
controller. Most levels of RAID can endure the failure of a disk and not be
compromised. Try looking at some RAID controller docs....

The purpose of having a disk hot-swappable is to allow the system to
continue running as if there was a disk there to compensate for the bad
disk. If you have only one disk drive, that can't be achieved.

Mike

 

I think serial-ATA has better support for hot-swapping compared with
parallel-ATA.

Thanks,
Jack

 

I've used the Rocket Raid 133 product for hot swapping IDE drives...

Here is a quote from the Highpoint-tech product literature:

Data Security
For RAID 1 and 0+1, the RocketRAID 133 provides disk mirroring, hot-spare
options for automatic array-rebuilds, hot-swap support for swapping failed
disks on the fly (works with Hot-Swap capable mobile racks such as Rocket
Mate), and disk failure notification (audible alarms, visual warning
messages). These features provide a high level of security and data
protection against hard disk failure.

Here is their url: http://www.highpoint-tech.com

 

Design a hot-swappable interface for the IDE or SCSI to plug into. I think
that even if you could make them hot-pluggable, it still wouldn't work
because of the intimate device/processor connection that has to be all
configured and stuff at boot time.

They might be "plug and play," but that really only applies to stuff
that's plugged in while power is off; it means that the S/W can detect
the ports and stuff.

Sorry.
Rich

 

Rich, the RocketRAID board has its own BIOS and can be hotswapped....
I use it with removable drive trays to replace tape drives.

 

Thanks for the clarification. As far as RAID, I'm pretty sure that
the "R" is for "Redundant," but that's about it.

Cheers!
Rich

 

RAID = Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks

 

It is easier if the drive is behind a RAID controller:
SCSI: http://www.adtron.com/family_detail.html?prod=SC6M
IDE: http://www.adtron.com/family_detail.html?prod=IC6MB

Kevin