A tale of two interfaces
So which will it be – IDE / ATA or SCSI ? Read on to find out which interface is best
suited for your customer
Webster’s dictionary defines interface as “ the software or hardware connecting one
device or system to another ”.
A hard disk drive, like any other component, needs to connect to the rest of the system to
be able to function. An interface is used to make this connection, both in terms of
hardware that physically connects the drive to the computer, and the electronic
instructions that manage the transfer of data .
IDE and SCSI are the two most popular interfaces in the HDD market today, and are
constantly subjected to a debate about which is the better of the two. Let us first
understand the various sub-cate-gories of both before we attempt a comparison between
them .
IDE / ATA : The IDE , or Integrated Drive Electronics interface, developed interface,
developed in 19888, was an attempt to consolidate all of the different non-SCSI drives at
that time to a standard interface. IDE and ATA [ Advanced Technology Attachment ]
mean one and the same thing-basically, a disk drive implementation designed to integrate
the controller on to the drive itself, thereby reducing interface costs and making firmware
implementations easier.
System Bus Interface
Every hard disk interface communicates with the PC over one of the system’s I/O buses.
This usually means the PCI , VLB or ISA bus. Logically, the hard disk interface is one
device on the system I/O bus , which is connected to the memory , processor and other
parts of the system .
The choice of bus type has a great impact on the features and performance of the
Interface. High-performance interface, including the faster transfer modes of both
IDE/ATA and SCSI, require an interface over a local bus, which means either PCI or
VLB. The ISA bus is too antiquated for high speed transfers, and is still found only on
much older machines . The speed of the system bus is also important . The standard speed
for the PCI bus on Pentium-class systems is 25,30 or 33 MHz . The faster the bus, the
faster the interface [ simplistically speaking ]
Most older machines use a dedicated hard disk interface card that goes into a system bus
slot and then connects to the drives internally. Most newer machines that use PCI, have
the ports for two IDE / ATA channels built into the motherboard itself. In practical terms,
There is no real difference except for the cost saving associated with not needing to put a
seprate hard disk interface card into the PC when it is built into the motherboard .
IDE as an interface had certain limitations. Disks larger than 528 B could not be accessed
and data was delivered on an ISA bus, resulting in low transfer rates. These limitations
were overcome in EIDE [ Enhanced IDE ] . In this implementation, data is delivered on a
PCI bus. EIDE also supports larger disk sizes.
There are two methods where by data transfer is accomplished in IDE devices. The first
is PIO (programmed input/output).PIO relies on the cpu to handle data transfer tasks.
There are several PIO modes defined that allow increased transfer rates, the most recent
being PIO Mode 4.
The other method is called DMA [ Direct Memory Access ].DMA allows to drive to
bypass the CPU and controlled data transfer with the host memory directly.
Ultra ATA / 33 : ultra ATA/33 OR ULTRA DMA/33 is a protocol for transferring data
between a hard disk drive through the system bus to the ram. Ultra DMA/ 33 transfers
data in burst mode at a rate f 33.3 MBPS, twice as fast as the previous DMA interface.
Ultra ATA / 66 : Most of the hard disk available today are ATA/66 complaint. These are
also backward compatible with older PIO and Ultra ATA/33 drives. The requirements
for achieving Ultra ATA /66 performance from these new drives is an ATA/66 capable
motherboard or IDE controller card and an 80- conductor IDE cable instead of the usual
40-pin one. Ultra ATA /66(also referred to ultra DMA/66 or fast ATA-2) allows for a
maximum burst transfer rate of 66.6 MBPS, double the maximum of ultra ATA/33.
Serial ATA : Serial ATA Or Serial IDE is all set to replace the parallel IDE interface used
currently. The new standard is a point–to-point protocol that connects each drive directly
to the IDE controller, and will provide a bandwidth of 150 MBPS.
SCSI : Pronounced ‘scuzzy’, SCSI stands for Small Computer System Interface. SCSI ,
like EIDE, is a bus that controls the flow of data [ I / O ] between the computer’s
processor and its peripherals, the most common being the hard drive . Unlike EIDE ,
SCSI requires an interface or host controller to connect it to a PC’s PCI or ISA bus .
The SCSI interface has evolved to a great extent over the last few years resulting in
numerous variations. The various types of SCSI differ from each other in several ways,
the most important being cable length limitations and maximum speed.
Fiber Channel : Fiber channel is a high-speed interface designed for multiple disk drive
storage systems. Fiber Channel drives can be installed or removed while the host system
is operational. This interface can provide a maximum bandwidth of 100 MBPS and can
support up to 126 devices.
A Comparison : Whether IDE / ATA or SCSI is better basically depends on what your
buyer’s needs are, and how much he is willing to spend.
Those looking for a cheap and simple option with good performance and flexibility
and have the money to pay for it should go in for SCSI .
Overall, the SCSI interface is technologically superior to IDE. It supports more
devices, allows for better multitasking, more expansion, use of more high-end devices,
and more types of devices, and more expansion, use of more high-end devices, more
types of devices, and more performance-enhancing features.
IDE / SCSI : Take your pick .
Let’s look at various performance and quality aspects of the two interface and see how
they stack up against each other.
Cost : In terms of cost, IDE tops SCSI in virtually every way. SCSI requires a host
adapter, which means the additional expense of an add-in-card or a more expensive
motherboard. It is also the interface where advances in technologies show up first. This,
along with the fact that it is manufactured in lower volumes, pushes up prices.
Speed : Although caching utilities exits to increase the performance of IDE drives, a SCSI
drive with similar options will usually outperform an IDE due to the efficiency of the
SCSI the more desirable option for use in environments that require high performance,
such as network file servers and CAD workstations.
Expandability : SCSI beats IDE / ATA channels that are theoretically defined are used,
but this is extremely rarely done because there are system resource and software support
issues.
Device Type Support : Again SCSI outpaces IDE. IDE supports hard disks and ATAPI
devices such as CD-ROM drives and some tape drives. SCSI supports these and CD
recordable drives. But it should be noted that there are many more different brands and
varieties of hard disks and CD-ROMs around for IDE than there are for SCSI .
For the performance-conscious user, who will be using many devices at once, doing
heavy development work or supporting multiple users at once on the obvious choice.
This type of user does not mind spending more to get the best deal, which is what SCSI
offers in terms of flexibility, choice of peripherals, and performance in a multitasking or
multi-user environment .
IDE is the best bet for the price-conscious customer who is using his PC for light office
work, games, Internet and so on. The reasons are simple : cost and simplicity.
PIO Modes and their specifications
Mode Specification Cycle Time [ ns ] Max data transfer Cable
rate [ MBPS]
PIO Mode 0 ATA 600 3.3 40-way
PIO Mode 1 ATA 383 5.2 40-way
PIO Mode 2 ATA 240 8.3 40-way
PIO Mode 3 ATA – 2 180 11.1 40-way
PIO Mode 4 ATA – 2 1201 6.6 40-way
Ultra DMA/33 Ultra ATA 60 33 40-way
Ultra DMA/66 Ultra ATA/66 30 66 80-way
Types of SCSI and their specifications
SCSI Version Signalling Bus Width Max data Max no of Cable length
rate [ bits ] transfer rate devices [m]
[ MHz] [MBPS] supported
SCSI – 1 5 8 5 7 6
SCSI – 2 5 8 5 7 6
Wide SCSI 5 16 10 15 6
Fast SCSI 10 8 10 7 6
Fast Wide SCSI 10 16 20 15 6
Ultra SCSI 20 8 20 7 1.5
Ultra SCSI – 2 20 16 40 7 12
Ultra 2 SCSI 40 16 80 15 12
Ultra 160SCSI 80 16 160 15 12
Virtually all PCs today ship with IDE hard disks standard, and if your customer is using a
small number of devices-say one hard disk and one CD-ROM drive-IDE is more than
adequate performance-wise.
Another factor is the cost of setup, which is far less than an equivalent SCSI bus, making
it ideal for the typical office or home user.