SCSI vs. IDE

Yet another age-old question

Within the past few months, we've seen some improvements in hard drive technology. Recent developments in both SCSI and IDE drives have left many people uncertain what the differences are between the two interfaces, and what hard drives based on these interfaces offer. To clear up some of the confusion that has surrounded these two standard PC interfaces, we have put together a little guide to walk you through the differences between these two interfaces, and what they offer in advantages and disadvantages.

Before we begin, please realize that there is no clear-cut winner to this battle. If one of these solutions was clearly superior to the other one, then barring any weird circumstances, the better technology SHOULD prevail. Granted, this is not the situation that we always see in this industry. However, take our word for it that SCSI and IDE both have something to offer, and asking the question "What is better, SCSI or IDE?" will usually get you a fair amount unresponsiveness. SCSI is better for some, IDE for others. Depending on your situation, your specific computer system, and even your plans for future computing use, one solution will prove more viable than the other will.

Need some background info?

This guide will not delve too heavily into hard drive and peripheral technology. We are assuming that the readers of this guide are generally familiar with the basics of peripherals. If you would like to learn more about the IDE/ATA standard, and the many standards that make it up, or the many standards that comprise the different SCSI standards, please do check out our FS Hard Drive Guide, which goes into the IDE/ATA and SCSI interface standards in more depth. Now, let's look at the various considerations that become factors to go IDE or go SCSI! We attempt to categorize the things that are the factors in defining the advantages/disadvantages between these two interfaces, but some of them overlap, so stay on your toes!