Seems like selling a thousand pieces would be a pretty good way to become a tiny-tit millionaire.

amadeus777999 wrote:

Seems like selling a thousand pieces would be a pretty good way to become a tiny-tit millionaire.

↑ ↑ ↑ right!! 🤣

I had in my hand one of those yesterday. It was used to connect an IDE drive to a SCSI card in a Xerox copier.

I thought about replacing the HDD (I had a SCSI drive) and keeping the adapter, but I didn't know that it was so valuable (and I have no use for it).

Zup wrote:

I had in my hand one of those yesterday. It was used to connect an IDE drive to a SCSI card in a Xerox copier.

I thought about replacing the HDD (I had a SCSI drive) and keeping the adapter, but I didn't know that it was so valuable (and I have no use for it).

Oh man!!! drooling :drooling:

Why post the priciest seller? Obviously they really don't care if they sell them or not.

The cheapest one of that exact adapter I saw was $333.

But why even get something that expensive?

There is an ACARD IDE to 68-pin SCSI adapter for ONLY $170. Then you could get an "inexpensive" 68 to 50-pin SCSI adapter and still come at at less than $200 total.

cyclone3d wrote:

Why post the priciest seller? Obviously they really don't care if they sell them or not. […]
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Why post the priciest seller? Obviously they really don't care if they sell them or not.

The cheapest one of that exact adapter I saw was $333.

But why even get something that expensive?

There is an ACARD IDE to 68-pin SCSI adapter for ONLY $170. Then you could get an "inexpensive" 68 to 50-pin SCSI adapter and still come at at less than $200 total.

Oh yes, I didn't mean that was the only thing available. I just noticed that price and I wanted to share its absurdity with you.

By the way, even $150 dollars is still absurd in my opinion.
I'd say these kind of adapters should sell more or less for the same as IDE to SD card converters (which aren't simply adapters like IDE to CF but also have a control electronics), that is 10 to 20 bucks.

You know, I've been wondering for a while what's the deal with the prices of SCSI adapters (such as 50 to 68 pin)... they don't seem that rare or technologically advanced to command such high prices. It just seems so random, are those made of solid gold or something? 🤣

TheMobRules wrote:

You know, I've been wondering for a while what's the deal with the prices of SCSI adapters (such as 50 to 68 pin)... they don't seem that rare or technologically advanced to command such high prices. It just seems so random, are those made of solid gold or something? 🤣

Exactly!

I'm an adapters & converters are my daily bread kind of guy. I dealt and shopped for adapters and converters my entire IT life, so I'm very familiar with them.
When I first googled SCSI to IDE converters and saw the prices it felt like, for example, I bought vegetables my entire life, ranging between $1 and $10 dollars/pound, and then all of the sudden for just 1 type of vegetable you find the price is like 80 dollars per pound!
Or as if you enter an electronic store, you walk through the departments, TVs, smartphones, DVDs, refrigerators.... and.... WHAAT? What's that butcher doing selling mortazza and ham besides the Wi-Fi routers shelf???

It totally feels like it doesn't belong there!

In my opinion, here's the reason:

What do these converters do? Allow to use IDE drives on SCSI devices.
IDE devices are pretty common.
But if you have a SCSI device, you have a device that eons ago was a pro/super-pro thing (file servers, workstations, high-end PCs, etc.).
So, like 25 years ago you must have been rich!!!
So, hey, you're still rich! And you NEED to use IDE stuff with your super-rich-pricey (25 years ago) device!
So, hey, these converters are the ONLY solution for you, you're stuck in a corner, you have no alternatives, and you need it!
So, hey, I can ask you whatever the heck I want!

There: pure exploiting.

They must be selling. Maybe there are businesses that need them for some reason. The device itself is certainly reminiscent of those $5 SATA to PATA adapters.

or... when the volume on these adapters is way lower than the $10-$20 SD to IDE adapters. There is also a lot more work to do adapting scsi to IDE vs CF/SD. Maybe not $300 worth, but I can see $50-$100.

for prices to come down, someone needs to opensource a design, like with XTIDE.

aries-mu wrote:

What do these converters do? Allow to use IDE drives on SCSI devices. IDE devices are pretty common. But if you have a SCSI devi […]
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What do these converters do? Allow to use IDE drives on SCSI devices.
IDE devices are pretty common.
But if you have a SCSI device, you have a device that eons ago was a pro/super-pro thing (file servers, workstations, high-end PCs, etc.).
So, like 25 years ago you must have been rich!!!
So, hey, you're still rich! And you NEED to use IDE stuff with your super-rich-pricey (25 years ago) device!
So, hey, these converters are the ONLY solution for you, you're stuck in a corner, you have no alternatives, and you need it!
So, hey, I can ask you whatever the heck I want!

There: pure exploiting.

DaveJustDave wrote:

or... when the volume on these adapters is way lower than the $10-$20 SD to IDE adapters. There is also a lot more work to do adapting scsi to IDE vs CF/SD. Maybe not $300 worth, but I can see $50-$100.

for prices to come down, someone needs to opensource a design, like with XTIDE.

You have a point!

Okay so, let's say: now, almost 20 years after SCSI was dropped, I guess the "adaptation work" in someone's research & development department should be long done.
So, maybe it's time they start lowering the prices... what about that?

Also, very well! Please, some Vogons' tech expert... let's opensource this design!! Thanks!! 🤣 😁

See my recent thread about SCSI/SATA adapters, same price range if you want one that can connect a SATA HDD to a SCSI bus. If you don't need HDD capability and all you want is a SATA CD on a SCSI bus you can find one around $200. It's a niche market, the supply is low therefore the prices.

I went with the cheaper option, SCSI2SD which can mimic various devices (HDD, CD, tape drive) with a SD card. Not ideal, but definitely more affordable. Got 2 of them foe $120. I was able to use one yesterday to make a SD card appear on the SCSI bus as one CDROM unit and 3 separate HDDs.

SCSI to SATA adapter
My AlphaPC - 164LX with 21164 533 MHz

cyclone3d wrote:

There is an ACARD IDE to 68-pin SCSI adapter for ONLY $170. Then you could get an "inexpensive" 68 to 50-pin SCSI adapter and still come at at less than $200 total.

I have recently browsed many SCSI adapters, particularly the Acard ones. That adapter IIRC doesn't work for HDDs, only for slow devices such as CDs, tape drives etc.

stamasd wrote:

See my recent thread about SCSI/SATA adapters, same price range if you want one that can connect a SATA HDD to a SCSI bus. If yo […]
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See my recent thread about SCSI/SATA adapters, same price range if you want one that can connect a SATA HDD to a SCSI bus. If you don't need HDD capability and all you want is a SATA CD on a SCSI bus you can find one around $200. It's a niche market, the supply is low therefore the prices.

I went with the cheaper option, SCSI2SD which can mimic various devices (HDD, CD, tape drive) with a SD card. Not ideal, but definitely more affordable. Got 2 of them foe $120. I was able to use one yesterday to make a SD card appear on the SCSI bus as one CDROM unit and 3 separate HDDs.

SCSI to SATA adapter
My AlphaPC - 164LX with 21164 533 MHz

Great to know, thanks!

Unfortunately, the SCSI2SD is only limited to 5 MB/sec, 10 MB/sec max. the pricey version, which defeats the whole point of wanting to feel the thrill of a PCI ~120 MB/sec wide SCSI (let's say 80 MB/sec) controller hooked to an advanced fast (UDMA7) CF Card (about same read and write tested net speed) via the SCSI to IDE adapter!

But thanks for the useful info you provided, much appreciated 😊

TBH I doubt that even the $1000 adapter does anything more than 15-20MB/s.

aries-mu wrote:

Great to know, thanks!

Unfortunately, the SCSI2SD is only limited to 5 MB/sec, 10 MB/sec max. the pricey version, which defeats the whole point of wanting to feel the thrill of a PCI ~120 MB/sec wide SCSI (let's say 80 MB/sec) controller hooked to an advanced fast (UDMA7) CF Card (about same read and write tested net speed) via the SCSI to IDE adapter!

But thanks for the useful info you provided, much appreciated 😊

I like SCSI myself, but when you're at the point replacing the SCSI drives with an IDE drive, Compact Flash or SD Card on a SCSI adapter you should rather get a PCI SATA controller and a SSD if your computer got free PCI slots (not including computers that aren't PC compatible).

For Dos, Mac and Amiga systems, then go for one of those SD-to-SCSI adaptors. Much cheaper.

I wonder if a SD to SCSI adapter on good ISA SCSI HBA would perform (much) better than a SD to IDE adapter on a ISA 386/486, anyone seen or done some tests?

Kamerat wrote:

I like SCSI myself, but when you're at the point replacing the SCSI drives with an IDE drive, Compact Flash or SD Card on a SCSI adapter you should rather get a PCI SATA controller and a SSD if your computer got free PCI slots (not including computers that aren't PC compatible).

You have a point!
However, for DOS compatibility and drivers (and Win 3.11 also), I'd go with Promise ATA 100 or ATA 133 PCI controller, and then IDE to SD or CF.
But, you know, I wanted SCSI 🤣 😁

brostenen wrote:

For Dos, Mac and Amiga systems, then go for one of those SD-to-SCSI adaptors. Much cheaper.

Sorry, which ones are you talking about?

Thanks