Paul Hoffman wrote:
> 
> So, I am lead to believe that IDE isn't the greatest thing in the
> world. My question is almost historic: should I use SCSI instead of
> IDE for reliability? I'm considering getting a Dell 1550 rack system

It's likely your experience is due to a faulty instance.
The newer 'go fast' modes may cause grief to the bleeding
edgers, but any lurking design flaws usually get noticed and
sorted out fairly quickly. For ordinary people, the
putative superior peformance of SCSI is not worth
the extra cost.