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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uchinews!machine!chinet!randy From: randy@chinet.chi.il.us (Randy Suess) Subject: Re: 386BSD and IDE drives Message-ID: <BvCCD0.5J0@chinet.chi.il.us> Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX References: <1992Sep24.022400.19483@fcom.cc.utah.edu> <Bv32LD.K9t@chinet.chi.il.us> <id.O7NT.0O3@ferranti.com> Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 13:05:22 GMT Lines: 41 In article <id.O7NT.0O3@ferranti.com> peter@ferranti.com (peter da silva) writes: >In article <Bv32LD.K9t@chinet.chi.il.us> randy@chinet.chi.il.us (Randy Suess) writes: >> Something is very wrong here. My experience is that IDE drives >> are great for UNIX and IDEAL for 386bsd. Main reason is that, like >> SCSI, they hide bad sectors from the OS. > >This is the one problem with SCSI, and presumably IDE. Why? What happens >when you have a marginal disk? >I've been burned by this. > Well, in actual use, I have found modern IDE/SCSI drives to be much more reliable than MFM/RLL/ESDI drives. Newer technology, etc. I back up regularly (ha!), and a sudden onslaught of bad sectors would be no worse than any other catastrophic failure. I mean, just look at all the poor people complaining of the distribution having bad parts because they get errors when unpacking it. They are using MFM/RLL/ESDI drives that the OS is not aware or reporting bad sectors. This don't happen with IDE/SCSI. > >> Never a need to run bad144 or worry about bad sectors. > >Oh, you should worry. Trust me. > With IDE/SCSI? Please elaborate. >Not unless you really compromise on the quality of the drives, or unless >you've got some sort of special deal. Street prices vary by $20-$50 for >the same drive in SCSI and IDE versions. Seems with top of the line drives, (>300 meg < 18ms seek), SCSI drives are a few hundred more than the same IDE. This is non-negligable when a SCSI controller runs a couple hundred and a IDE is basicaly free. Again, this is all supposing no need for over 2 devices. -- I am created Shiva the Destroyer; Death, the shatterer of worlds! Who is this dog meat who stands before me now? That's the biz, sweetheart. Randy Suess randy@chinet.chi.il.us