Which Model SCSI2SD should I get?

[mpfjr]

I have two normal SE's, a 512k and a Plus.

I also have a floppy emulator.

One of my SE's has a great 40MB hard drive that I took out of a broken LC and it is rocking it now.

The other SE has a dead hard drive and I am tempted to also build a external hard drive using a SCSI2CD board.  But it seems that the different versions support different machines. 

The 5 series says Mac Plus and SE/30 while the 6 series says 68k macs but goes on to list specifically original Mac SE with System 6.0.7.

So do I need to buy two then? One 5 series for the Plus and one 6 series for the SE?

 

[Crutch]

I have used a 5.1 and 5.5 with a Plus and an SE/30, and I’m certain they will both support an SE. You definitely don’t need a 6 for an SE. 

 

[pax]

I have a 5.1, 5.5 and 6. They all work great and I think you will be happy with any of them. 

The thing about the 6 is that it mounts as a disk also on a modern Mac if you connect it over USB. That is new and super convenient. So even if the improved speeds are not something you might benefit from, if mounting as a USB disk on a modern Mac is something you would use, I would at least consider a 6. Keep in mind that macOS Catalina dropped support for HFS disks though, so you need to be on 10.14 or lower if you are using HFS and not HFS+.

Finally, If I'm not mistaken the 6 also stores its config on the SD card, which makes it much easier to have multiple cards and swap between them. I have heard that swapping cards also works with the 5, but then all cards need to have identical configs (e.g. same set of SCSI ids).

 

[Cory5412]

Seconding what Crutch said: a 6 is way overkill for a compact mac. If you want to swap the scsi2sd between your systems, the v5.5 should be fine. The biggest gotcha with any of them and the Plus is that the Plus doesn't supply termination power, so you'll need a phone/tablet charger and a Micro USB cable to power the device on the Plus.

 

[mpfjr]

Excellent thank you! 

Follow up question.  If I get the 5.1 can I also use it with the scsi to db25 converter that is sold for $14.00? https://store.inertialcomputing.com/product-p/idc50f-db25f.htm

I don't necessarily want the 5.5 with it soldered on because I may end up mounting it inside the computer and want options.

 

[Crutch]

Yes.