Copyright: ® 1993, 1994 Adaptec, Inc.


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Contents

The SCSI Interrogator displays information about disk drives, CD-ROM drives, and other devices connected to the SCSI host adapter installed in your computer.

Viewing SCSI Device Information

Main SCSI Interrogator Window

SCSI Device Icons

SCSI Host Adapter Information Window

Inquiry Window

Defect List

SCSI Interrogator Commands

Inquiry Menu

Adapter Menu

Help Menu


Main SCSI Interrogator Window

In the SCSI Interrogator window each SCSI device in your computer is represented by an icon and is identified by a SCSI ID. This sample window has icons for several different kinds of devices. (The window will look different on your computer, depending on what kinds of SCSI devices are installed.)

To view information about a device, you double-click on its icon in the window or select its SCSI ID from the Inquiry menu.

If the device is a host adapter, represented by this icon  [image]  , a SCSI Host Adapter Information window will appear. If it is some other kind of SCSI device, an Inquiry window will appear.

See SCSI Device Icons to learn what each SCSI Interrogator icon represents.


SCSI Device Icons

Here is the definition of each icon that may appear in the main SCSI Interrogator window.

host adapter

SCSI hard disk drive

removable disk drive

CD-ROM drive

SCSI tape drive

SCSI printer

scanner

unknown type of SCSI device

no device installed at this SCSI ID


SCSI Host Adapter
SCSI Host Adapter Information Window

If you double-click on a host adapter icon, the SCSI Host Adapter Information window appears with this information:

SCSI Host Adapter	The model name or family of this host adapter.
SCSI Programming Interface	The type of programming interface used to communicate with SCSI devices on your computer.


Inquiry Window

If you double-click on an icon for a device other than a host adapter, the Inquiry window appears with this information:

Device Information	Vendor ID: manufacturer's name Product ID: device model number and serial number Revision: firmware revision level
Miscellaneous	Device Type: either SCSI-1 or SCSI-2. Capacity: (disk devices only) data storage capacity, in MBytes. Bytes/Sector: (disk devices only) number of bytes of data (usually 512) stored in each sector of disk media.
SCSI Features	Boxes are checked if the device is a SCSI-2 device that supports these features. (See the Glossary for definitions of these terms.)
Lock/Unlock/Eject Media	(Removable media devices only.) Buttons are selectable if removable media device supports these features.
Read Defect List	(Button is selectable for disk devices only.) Displays another screen of defect information about the disk media.


Defect List

The Defect List window displays information about physical defects on the surface of the disk media. DOS prevents data from being written to these defective sectors. Both removable and non-removable disk media can have defect list information. The SCSI Interrogator can read the defect lists of nearly all disk devices.

Primary Defect List (Plist)	A list of "permanent" defects (i.e., defects found during testing by the manufacturer). This information, usually supplied by the disk manufacturer, does not change during the life of the device.
Grown Defect List (Glist)	A list of defects that have occurred on the media since it was manufactured. This includes defects detected by DOS during formatting, defects identified with the ASSIGN BLOCKS command, and defects previously detected by the target and automatically reallocated. The Grown Defect List does not duplicate any information from the Primary Defect List.


Inquiry Menu

These commands are available on the Inquiry menu.

SCSI ID# n	Displays information about the device at SCSI ID n. You can also display this information by double clicking on the device's icon.
Rescan SCSI Bus	Rescans the SCSI bus to detect installed SCSI devices.
Exit	Exits from the SCSI Interrogator.
Also see Adapter Menu.


Adapter Menu

The Adapter menu option appears only if your computer has more than one installed host adapter. When you select a host adapter from the Adapter menu you can view information about the devices connected to that host adapter.

Also see Help Menu.


Help Menu

These commands are available on the Help menu.

Contents	Displays a selectable list of main topics in SCSI Interrogator online Help.
Search for Help on . . .	Displays a selectable, alphabetized list of topics in SCSI Interrogator online Help.
How to Use Help	Displays instructions on how to use Windows online Help.
About Adaptec SCSI Interrogator	Displays current version information for SCSI Interrogator.


Glossary of Terms
Glossary

command queuing

host adapter

icon

initiator

Inquiry window

removable media

SCSI

SCSI bus

SCSI ID

SCSI linking

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

synchronous mode

target

Wide SCSI


command queuing

An advanced SCSI-2 feature that enables multiple commands to be queued on the SCSI bus so the target device can execute them without waiting for a BUS FREE signal.


host adapter

A printed circuit board that provides a SCSI bus interface to SCSI devices installed in a computer. The host adapter usually has both internal and external SCSI connectors, an onboard BIOS, terminators, and other features.


icon

A small graphical representation of a program, command, device, etc. In SCSI Interrogator icons are used to represent different kinds of devices, such as SCSI disk drives, host adapters, and CD-ROM drives. Icons are widely used in Microsoft Windows applications.


initiator

A SCSI device that requests an operation such as a data transfer to be performed by another SCSI device (the target). The host adapter is normally the initiator.


Inquiry window

The window in the SCSI Interrogator that displays information about a SCSI device.


removable media

Disk media such as a CD-ROM disk or a Bernoulli cartridge that can be removed from a disk drive. The media can then be stored, replaced by another removable media device, inserted in another removable disk drive, etc.


SCSI

Small Computer Systems Interface. A computer bus interface standard that enables different kinds of peripherals, such as SCSI disk drives, CD-ROM drives and tape drives, to interface with the computer over a common SCSI bus.


SCSI bus

One or more SCSI peripheral devices and a host adapter, connected by electrical cables in a daisy-chain configuration. The SCSI bus may include both internal and external SCSI devices.


SCSI ID

A number, ranging from 0 to 7 (or 0 to 15 for Wide SCSI) assigned to a device connected to a SCSI bus. The SCSI ID uniquely defines the device on the bus and determines which device has priority to use the SCSI bus when two or more devices simultaneously request access to it. ID 7 (usually assigned to the host adapter) has the highest priority.


SCSI linking

An advanced SCSI-2 feature that allows multiple SCSI commands to be linked so they are executed together.


SCSI-1

The original standard that defined the SCSI interface, including a command set and the electrical characteristics of the SCSI bus.


SCSI-2

A computer bus interface standard that adds features to the older SCSI-1 standard. Included among these features are 32-bit data transfer, SCSI Linking, Command Queuing, and support for a wider variety of SCSI peripheral devices.


synchronous mode

A method of transferring data at high speed on the SCSI bus. Data transfers are "synchronized" with fixed-length, fixed frequency strobe pulses from the system clock.


target

Or "Target Device." A SCSI device that performs an operation requested by an initiator. The initiator is usually the host adapter. The target may be a peripheral device such as a SCSI disk drive performing a data transfer for an initiator.


Wide SCSI

A SCSI-2 enhancement that allows data to be transferred 16 bits or 32 bits at a time on the SCSI bus instead of 8 bits at a time. This feature allows much faster data throughput time.