Hi all,

I've been thinking about a new PC for a while now, since the last one I bought is now over 2 years old.

I have always used SCSI (except my first, which came with ???? but to which I added SCSI) and want to continue doing so.

But I've also had a real streak of bad luck, losing 3 HDs (2 different machines) in the last 14 months. So I'm also looking at these nice cheap HUGE ultra-66 jobbies, first as a C: drive but also as a place to backup stuff on the SCSI drive(s) I would have there.

First problem... on the DELL site I cannot even configure a system with a combination of ultra-66 and SCSI. Seems to me it should be a valid thing to do. Is there something preventing doing so??? Or might it be a dumb thing to do for some reason???

A second concern is the performance impact of adding "older" (slower) devices on the EIDE or SCSI 'channels'...
I would buy a new SCSI (10,000 rpm, 80mbps) but I would like to put the 2 SCSI drives from my old system into the new box too. The question is, would this have any impact on performance of the new faster drive? That is, would this cause the adapter to operate at the lowest common denominator speed?

As for the EIDE side, I would have the same concern regarding having a CD-ROM or DVD mixed with it. Any impact on speed of the faster HD?
I also understand that EIDE typically comes with 2 separate 'sides' (I don't remember the technical term). If that is so, could one configure the HD on one 'side' and the CD/DVD on the other, and would that help performance of the HD?

Can anyone shed any light on these questions?

Thanks in advance,

Jim N