S
SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface)
A PC bus interface standard that defines standard physical and electrical connections for devices. SCSI provides a standard interface that enables many different kinds of devices, such as disk drives, magneto optical disks,
SCSI DEVICE
A device such as a host adapter board, fixed disk drive or CD- ROM drive that conforms to the SCSI interface standard and is attached to a SCSI bus cable. The device may be an initiator, a target, or capable of both types of operation.
For each signal that needs to be sent across the bus, there exists a wire to carry it.
SYNCHRONOUSTRANSFER
A method of SCSI data transfer. With this type of data transfer, the SCSI host adapter and the SCSI device agree to a transfer rate that both support (this is known as synchronous negotiation). With this type of data transfer method, transfer rates of 5 MBytes/sec or 10 MBytes/sec (for FAST SCSI) are common.
Is SYNCHRONOUS faster than ASYNCHRONOUS?
Asynchronous is faster on short cables, while synchronous is faster on long cables. The reason has to do with the propagation delay of the cable; the turn around time of the silicon; and the interlocked nature of the asynchronous handshake.
Appendix C Glossary of Terms 51