Adaptec SBC-596, SBC-599 manual Some older SCSI-1 devices do not support Sync

nInitiate Sync Negotiation - This option determines whether the host adapter initiates synchronous data transfer negotiation (Sync Negotiation) between the device and host adapter. The default setting is Yes.

Synchronous negotiation is a SCSI feature that allows the host adapter and its attached SCSI devices to transfer data in synchronous mode. Synchronous data transfer is faster than asynchronous data transfer.

The host adapter always responds to Sync Negotiation if the SCSI device initiates it. If neither the host adapter nor the SCSI device initiate Sync Negotiation, data is transferred asynchronously.

Normally, you should leave the Initiate Sync Negotiation setting enabled, because most SCSI devices support synchronous negotiation and it allows for faster data transfer.

Note:	Some older SCSI-1 devices do not support Sync
	Negotiation. This may cause your computer to
	operate erratically or hang if Initiate Sync Negotia-
	tion is set to yes. Set Initiate Sync Negotiation to
	No for these devices.

nInitiate Wide Negotiation —This option determines whether the host adapter attempts 16-bit data transfer (Wide negotiation) instead of 8-bit data transfer. The default setting is Yes.

Note:	Some 8-bit SCSI devices may have trouble
	handling Wide negotiation, which may result in
	erratic behavior or a hang condition. For these
	devices, set Initiate Wide Negotiation to No.

Chapter 6 SCSI Setup and Configurations 73