[lug] ATAPI->SCSI...was SCSI DVD writers

[David Morris]

On Fri, Jul 02, 2004 at 03:09:02PM -0600, Gary Hodges wrote:
> I just hooked up an ATAPI->SCSI converter to my Sony DVD+/-RW drive.  
> Everything seems to be operating as if it was an actual SCSI drive, 
> though all I've done so far is blank a disk.  It was ~$80 w/shipping.  
> Here are a few things some of you might like to see.

I could be wrong, but I believe most (all?) ATAPI devices
are actually SCSI with an adapter built in.  The components
are not quite the same quality as a pure SCSI drive which is
why they are so much cheaper to produce.

If I am remembering correctly, at least ;)

I did use one of the converters myself briefly to
experiement on some CD-RW drives (several years ago now).
Out of 6 drives I tested, two got confused when trying to
blank RW media but worked just fine on CD-R media or
recording on an already blank CD-RW.  The performance
compared to a true SCSI drive is notably slower (though its
rarely noticible on a CD/DVD device).  Sustained transfers
are also slower using the adapter than on the IDE bus for a
pure read, but faster when a second device is in the loop or
other processes are running on the computer.

Let me know if you run into any issues, I'd be interested to
hear how the DVD-RW performs with the converter.

--David