Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!xstor!billbr
From: billbr@xstor.UUCP (Bill Brothers)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs
Subject: Re: Low Cost IPI-2 Drives?
Message-ID: <248@xstor.UUCP>
Date: 2 Feb 91 21:37:40 GMT
References: <1991Feb1.113445@mathcs.emory.edu>
Organization: Storage Dimensions, Inc.
Lines: 25

In article <1991Feb1.113445@mathcs.emory.edu> km@mathcs.emory.edu (Ken Mandelberg) writes:
] The price of reasonably fast SCSI drives has really come down. 1.2GB
] drives are well under $3K. However, the preferred drive interface on
] Sun's 490 servers is IPI-2, and on that platform the IPI driver and 
] interface is much higher in performance than Sun's scsi.
] 
] So far, I haven't seen any IPI drives that compete in cost with the SCSI.
] The Seagate 8" Saber drives which Sun uses cost twice as much as the low
] cost 5.25" SCSI's. These Sabers come in IPI,SCSI, and SMD versions all of
] which are expensive.
] 
] Has anyone seen any sign of lower cost IPI-2 drives that I missed? In 
] particular are there any 5.25" IPI-2 drives?

The Seagate Elite drives are available in the 5.25 inch form-factor.
However, they are still expensive. You don't get IPI-2 performance
from a drive for nothing. The tolerences are closer, the parts more
expensive, and the engineering more exacting to be able to push
5-20 Mbytes/s off of a drive. SCSI drives (the low end) have come
down in price because of the quantity built and sold.

Bill Brothers
Engineering Mgr.
Storage Dimensions, Inc.
uunet!xstor!billbr