Ronald wrote:
I often try out (installing) Linux distributions, so this is an I/O intensive operation (writing to the drive). Would using SCSI drive significantly improve the installing time? (halve it?) FYI currently I use Seagate 7200.7 80 GB and to get full 3 GB install takes around ~10 to 20 minutes. Motherboard is Abit KG7-Raid which doesn't have inbuilt SCSI adapter, so I have to buy a separate adapter. CPU is Athlon XP 2400+ with 512 MB RAM. And the drive I want to get is probably Seagate Cheetah 15K.3: 18 GB, 15,000 prm Ultra320 SCSIhttp://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,619,00.html
a. Look elsewhere for bottlenecks first. Eg LAN, CD drive. b. I'd be very surprised if you could install Debian that quickly:-)On that hardware you should get 50 Mbytes/sec or better with hdparm. I do so on a cheap Gigabyte mobo with a cheap ATA disk drive.
For volume writes, the speed of the data off disk is more important than the speed of the interface, and the rotational speed of the drive is one factor. In one box here, I have a 5400 RPM ATA driver that's faster than a different brand of 7200 RPM drive _in the same box._
_I_'d look to scheduling my activities better rather than buy faster hardware. You don't have to sit down and watch it.
-- Cheers John -- spambait 1aaaaaaa@computerdatasafe.com.au Z1aaaaaaa@computerdatasafe.com.au Tourist pics http://portgeographe.environmentaldisasters.cds.merseine.nu/