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In 400-600 words. SCSI is an acronym for small computer system interface. It is

ID: 3710644 • Letter: I

Question

In 400-600 words.

SCSI is an acronym for small computer system interface. It is the ability to use different structure of hard drives where the access of the hard drive is not restricted to only one interface. The SCSI has been around for a long time. It was popular in the 1980s and has been used for quite some time.

RAID, or redundant array of inexpensive disks, is used a lot now, and the technology is used in conjunction with virtual machines (VMs). RAID is used with virtualization software. You create virtual machines out of one physical machine by taking advantage of RAID. The RAID idea has been implemented in today’s computer architecture and organization.

Discuss the following questions and topics related to interface communications:

- Explain when you would use a SCSI drive.

- When you would have a need to use RAID? Explain.

- What is the difference between IDE (integrated drive electronics) and SATA (serial advanced technology attachment)?

- Compare and contrast the different types of buses in a computer architecture. What are the uses for them?

Explanation / Answer

Explain when you would use a SCSI drive

Answer:

While SCSI is a fairly old technology, since most modern hardware is able to be connected through SATA connecters, SCSI still has its place in the IT field. SCSI is able to achieve high speeds of data throughput like SATA/PATA, and is considerably faster than the old IDE drives. SCSI technology is also extremely reliable, therefore it is a good alternative for use in servers.

When you would have a need to use RAID? Explain

Answer:

Redundant array of independent disks (RAID) is a method of storing duplicate data on two or more hard drives. It is used for data backup, fault tolerance, to improve throughput, increase storage functions and to enhance performance.

RAID is attained by combining two or more hard drives and a RAID controller into a logical unit. The OS sees RAID as a single logical hard drive called a RAID array. There are different levels of RAID, each distributing data across the hard drives with their own attributes and features. Originally, there were five levels, but RAID has advanced to several levels with numerous nonstandard levels and nested levels. The levels are numbered RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 2, etc. They are standardized by the storage networking industry association and are defined in the common RAID disk data format (DDF) standard data structure.

RAID is mostly used for data protection allowing a continuation of two data copies, one in each drive. It is often used in high end servers and some small workstations. When RAID duplicates data, a physical disc is in RAID array. The RAID array is read by the OS as one single disc instead of multiple discs. The RAID objective for each disc is to provide better input/output (I/O) operations and enhanced data reliability. RAID levels can be individually defined or have nonstandard levels, as well as nested levels combining two or more basic levels of RAID.

What is the difference between IDE (integrated drive electronics) and SATA (serial advanced technology attachment)?

Answer:

IDE (integrated drive electronics):

Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) is a standard interface for connecting a motherboard to storage devices such as hard drives and CD-ROM/DVD drives. The original IDE had a 16-bit interface that connected two devices to a single-ribbon cable. This cost-effective IDE device carried its own circuitry and included an integrated disk drive controller. Prior to IDE, controllers were separate external devices.

IDE’s development increased data transfer rate (DTR) speed and reduced storage device and controller issues.

IDE is also known as Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) or intelligent drive electronics (IDE).

SATA (serial advanced technology attachment):

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment II (SATA II) is the second generation of computer bus interfaces used to connect motherboard host adapters to high-capacity storage devices, such as hard/optical/tape drives. SATA II is a successor to parallel Integrated Development Environment (IDE)/Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) interface technologies, which ran at 3.0 Gbps - a throughput rate that nearly doubled the initial SATA specification. SATA II standard delivers additional improvements to SATA, which is provided in increments.

SATA II is also known as SATA 2 or SATA 2.0.

differences:

IDE and SATA are nothing more than different types of interfaces to connect a storage device to a system bus. SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is basically a newer interface that has much higher transfer rates (6Gb/s vs IDE 113 MB/s) and different cable configurations (cord for SATA vs. Ribbon for IDE

Compare and contrast the different types of buses in a computer architecture. What are the uses for them?

Answer:

Control Bus:

A control bus is used by the computer to talk to different device in the computer. The control bus allows bi directional communication and is comprised of byte enable lines, interrupt lines, read/write signals, and status lines. CPT and control bus communication is neededto run a functioning system.

Address Bus

An address bus is a bus that is used to specify specific addresses. The amount of memory that a system can address is determined by the width of the address bus. A system with a 32-bit address bus, for example, can address 2^32 memory locations (4,294,967,296).

Data Bus

A data bus can transfer data to and from the memory of a computer