External SCSI Optical Drive

[Stuart_C]

Hello Guys,

If anyone had one of the above: Any ideas as to what type of cable would connect it to the Parallel port of an x86 box, circa 2001?

IIRC, there are numerous different types of SCSI cables.

Many thanks

[Fats]

If anyone had one of the above: Any ideas as to what type of cable would connect it to the Parallel port of an x86 box, circa 2001?

You lost me, you need a SCSI controller to access SCSI devices. I am not aware of a SCSI controller that connects to the PC parallel port.

[danbeaver]

Well a 25-pin D-sub connector on the parallel side and a Centronics SCSI connector on the other end, but this makes a bulky door stop; a nice red brick is more compact.

There is no way a parallel port can drive a SCSI device, and if by magic it did, it would be slower than molasses in winter.  There were slow Zip drives and the like that were made to work with the parallel port for laptops, but that was not a SCSI connection.

[danbeaver]

Ok,

I'm guessing that you saw a 25-pin SCSI-1 or 2 port and mistook that for a parallel port, this was a big problem with owners of the A3000.  You did not say what platform you are wanting to hook up your drive to, and this could be an issue.  Lets say it is an Amiga with an A2091 SCSI card, then you want a 25-pin D-Sub to 50-pin Centronics SCSI cable like this one:http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCSI-I-DB25M-Centronics-50M-3-ft-Molded-Cable-NEW-/370980441739

There are other types, but since you didn't specify, this is the most common.

[gertsy]

Perhaps you are talking of "Backpack CD ROMs".  Which looked like external scsi CD ROMS but had a Parallel socket on the back and an IDE CDROM inside.  I
 have one in storage as it has a nice enclosure and CD Rom Power supply.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=backpack+cdrom&qpvt=backpack+cdrom&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=579E2A97B22A06564B49CB3811073E35B9E881E3&selectedIndex=0

[danbeaver]

Is that how a parallel Zip handles it, with an IDE conversion in the drive?

[gertsy]

Parallel Zip drives are just a SCSI interface unit with an in-built Parallel adaptor.  But the Backpack CD ROM is Parallel to IDE.  I know, because I thought I scored a SCSI CD ROM drive when I uncovered mine, But It's IDE.

Checked on Wikipedia so I know it's true: "Parallel port external Zip drives are actually SCSI drives with an integrated Parallel-to-SCSI controller, meaning a true SCSI bus implementation but without the electrical buffering circuits necessary for connecting other external devices. "