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Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 12:25:55 -0500 (CDT)
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From: Tony Kimball <Anthony.Kimball@East.Sun.COM>
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To: msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au
Cc: jkh@time.cdrom.com, Anthony.Kimball@East.Sun.COM,
        kuku@gilberto.physik.rwth-aachen.de, sos@sos.freebsd.dk,
        freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: building RAID systems
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Quoth Michael Smith on Thu, 24 July:
: 
: Well, as I was saying, the 4GB ultra-SCSI IBM is AUD$533 (ex) here, or
: US$373.  That's gotta count as "pretty cheap", hmm?
: 

That is competetive -- although yet premium for capacity, I'm more
than willing to pay that much for the performance.  I hope this price
shows up in my searches soon!  So far the best price I've seen on this
drive is $478.  I just found that because I did a search, prompted by
your posting.  (Thanks!)

Now let's talk cables.  I find IDE cables washed up on the beach in
piles.  A UW cable costs me $29-$79 from CSC...

Passing fair IDE controllers are mandatory (you pay for them whether
you want them or not).  A decent SCSI controller is another $200,
discretionary.

So, suppose that I am starting from scratch...  I can add 6.4G to my
system for $350, or else I can spend $30 + $200 + $478 = $708 and get
4.3G for my trouble.

Now this equation does not apply to me personally, because I already
have more than enough SCSI controllers to go around, but surely you
can see how this argument can easily prove persuasive to the new
system builder.