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Whats the best way to add 7+ CD-ROMs to a PC?

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FrankieAIX

Technical User
Apr 28, 2004
131
US
I am looking to add atleast 7 CD-ROM's to my computer. I need to be able to access all the drives to read multiple CD's at the same time. What would the best way going about this be? I am running WIN XP PRO...

I have been looking at some SCSI CD-ROM Towers, and also looking at barebones CD Duplicator Towers..

Any input or recommedations will be grealtly appreciate...

Regards,

FrankieAIX
 
SCSI CD-ROM towers are the way to go. The SCSI interface is multi-threaded which is perfect for accessing multiple drives at the same time.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
If you have a spacious case that could house 7 5.25 drives you could just add a SCSI PCI card with appropriate cable & be off the the races.

Just one example of what is available - 11 5.25 bays.
Cooler Master STC-T01-UWK Full Tower Chassis

If you choose to go this route or another I suggest you also invest well spent $ on a "Quality" power supply.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all
 
There is at least one multi channel SCSI controller available for PCI that allows 4 strings of 7. I'll try to dig the name.
I'll second rvnguy's advice on the power supply but would also suggest that you look for one with lots of drive connectors. I service a duplicator box that has "Y" connectors to extend the power to sets of 4 drives from each PS connector and they are a continuing problem.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
 
Can Virtual drives work. I have one DVD drive and 21 Virtual drives with training files for firefighting. the system works great and I can share mltiple drives with no problems.
 
A DVD might be nice if there was a way of putting the same stuff on DVD. If you can use drives that can also read DVD's there may be an advantage to that or to just having a couple of drives DVD capable.

If you can put all the drives in a SCSI drive tower you might be able to directly attach that to a PC or a server. I could see a case like a Coolermaster CM Stacker might be capable of handling this. It is a shame they dont have SATA CDROM drives. Some companies sell this type of stuff. I could imagine a machine with a raid array and a SCSI CDROM designed to make Virtual Drives, that runs like a server with a gigabit ethernet card.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
 
I have the equivalent of 4 available on a 98se box for sharing over the network but they are logical drives in an extended partition. Access is faster than the CD and I can make changes without burning a new CD. And when things are right I burn a CD for backup. For the items that may swapped out often I can use the CD or the CDRW.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
 
I think I am going to go with an external enclosure with 1394b connection back to my PC..

 
ceh4702

Plextor does make a SATA dvd/rw


The only problem I can see is cost with SATA, a basic SCSI card will chain 7 devices(one being the controller), one of the newer single channel ones can extend that to 15.

A SATA controller that will do 8 is very pricey and are targeted at the server market with a PCI-X connector interface.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all
 
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