Digital downloads or ripping CDs - how do you do backups?

[Holden]

I've just finished ripping the AR Pink box (142 CDs). What took the time was making sure that all the rips went into the right folder in the correct order. dBpoweramp does a great job of finding the metadata and tags but I have to run with what I originally set up.

The Cziffra 40 CD box is next and I hope it's going to be easier. I'll put the first CD in and see how they format it. Don't have to worry about covers for this set.

dBPA does a shit job of finding album covers for classical.

[Daverz]

dBPA does a shit job of finding album covers for classical.

I often end up using Google image search.

[Holden]

The Cziffra box has been basically set and forget apart from one or two CDs which I relabelled afterwards.

Next is the 100 CD set of "Russian Legends" from Brilliant. It will be interesting to see how that one is organised.

[drogulus]

     So I got my new BU40N drive and promptly bricked it trying to downgrade the FW to allow me to use it to rip UHD discs.

     So I ordered a anothe BU40N, only this one has been pre-flashed by someone who knows what he's doing. I should have done this at the outset.

     I don't know why I go to the trouble to get this functionality. I only have 2 UHD discs and doubt I'll want to collect a mass quantity of them. I took a look at the all the 4K releases so far and it's not a long list.

[staxomega]

dBPA does a shit job of finding album covers for classical.

This is one aspect that is quite poor with that app. I've had it pick up covers that aren't even of the same works. I wonder what algorithm it uses, metadata text tags supposedly use track length timing so why can't it do the same for album art?

Anyway for classical and sometimes jazz I find I often have to make my own scans, especially if they are LP era recordings because there might only be low resolution ones online or the hi-res ones are ring worn LPs.

Also I just find EAC has a much better ripping engine. Just last night I was trying to rip a Claudio Arrau CD from the 80 CD Philips box and it failed in dbpoweramp on three different drives, just kept trying to re-rip a track over and over. This CD is pristine visually, EAC secure test and copy ripped it without even a hiccup, AccurateRip verified and matching CRC.

Hat Hut also use some questionable pressing plant that often causes problems with dbpoweramp that EAC is often able to rip properly.

[drogulus]

     I just ripped a CD with dBPA using AccurateRip and got the inaccurate message on every track. No, the rip was accurate to what's on the disc, but this is a mutant edition not in the database. The songs play perfectly. Interestingly, it immediately found the artwork for the "accurate" edition. That's fine.

[Holden]

I'm now finishing the 'H's in my big CD rip to FLAC. As I've gone on I've learnt more and more about dBPA. One thing that might have been helpful is a tutorial on Youtube - I couldn't find one however.

There are still CDs that the program can't find via its three cddbs. I've put those aside and downloaded Winamp which I hope still uses the Gracenote cddb. It's the best cddb I've ever used. I'll go back to those CDs at the end.

To me, the deal cddb is one that recognises the metadata from individual tracks. I know that these exist but apparently not in a commercial form for the general public.

[Daverz]

     I just ripped a CD with dBPA using AccurateRip and got the inaccurate message on every track. No, the rip was accurate to what's on the disc, but this is a mutant edition not in the database. The songs play perfectly. Interestingly, it immediately found the artwork for the "accurate" edition. That's fine.

Unless you bought it in an alley from a guy named Boris, it's probably just a different pressing from the CDs everyone else has ripped.

Try checking your ripped files with CueTools (free): 

http://cue.tools/wiki/CUETools_Download

They have their own database, very often with many more entries than AccurateRip, and it's more robust to the slight changes that throw off AccurateRip.  Their tool can also repair incorrect samples in a track, as long as it can find a match for the track. 

BTW, EAC's ripper checks against both CueTools DB and AccurateRip.

[drogulus]

Unless you bought it in an alley from a guy named Boris, it's probably just a different pressing from the CDs everyone else has ripped.

     I don't need any info from a database since the track times and titles as well as the album/artist stuff are correct. The album cover isn't exactly right but I found a cool substitute I might use.
     

[Daverz]

     I don't need any info from a database since the track times and titles as well as the album/artist stuff are correct. The album cover isn't exactly right but I found a cool substitute I might use.   

You can use it to check that the CD was ripped properly.  The CueTools DB is similar to the AccurateRip database.  The database is explained here:

http://cue.tools/wiki/CUETools_Database

[drogulus]

You can use it to check that the CD was ripped properly.  The CueTools DB is similar to the AccurateRip database.  The database is explained here:

http://cue.tools/wiki/CUETools_Database

     I DL'd the program and reripped the disc. It misspelled the album name and showed the wrong release year. And the rip was "inaccurate", meaning not identical to the erroneously identified accurate one.

     So, it's still the case that an accurate rip of a disc the program can't identify will be deemed inaccurate, even if it's bit for bit identical to what's on the disc, which it probably is.

[Daverz]

     I DL'd the program and reripped the disc. It misspelled the album name and showed the wrong release year. And the rip was "inaccurate", meaning not identical to the erroneously identified accurate one.

     So, it's still the case that an accurate rip of a disc the program can't identify will be deemed inaccurate, even if it's bit for bit identical to what's on the disc, which it probably is.

There's CueRipper and CueTools.  The "Tools" program can verify already ripped files.

It must be a pressing that no one else has ripped before, but which uses the same exact layout. 

What's the CD? 

Here's an example of a CueTools report (.accurip file):

Code Select Expand

[CUETools log; Date: 8/7/2020 1:31:45 PM; Version: 2.1.6]
[CTDB TOCID: nmIXxMUoAotScZMkFu1BRtObr4c-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
  1   | ( 0/65) No match
  2   | ( 0/65) No match
  3   | ( 0/65) No match
  4   | ( 0/65) No match
  5   | ( 0/65) No match
  6   | ( 0/65) No match
[AccurateRip ID: 00125e4c-0061c6d5-38113b06] found.
Track   [  CRC   |   V2   ] Status
01     [b7fc7b16|6c274a99] (00+00/28) No match
02     [5e71f4d1|6e0298c1] (00+00/28) No match
03     [f3eebba2|9ceee3ec] (00+00/28) No match
04     [6768d9ef|cca4dde7] (00+00/27) No match
05     [8ddde447|28873fc4] (00+00/25) No match
06     [6d95bc97|49bda7b3] (00+00/26) No match

Track Peak [ CRC32  ] [W/O NULL]
--  100.0 [C73B353D] [B75A5CE9]           
01  100.0 [81FABA3F] [1AE11143]           
02   96.4 [962B8F22] [52E83CDE]           
03  100.0 [CDB859DF] [F01A5441]           
04  100.0 [D31AE42D] [0C326593]           
05  100.0 [82892F27] [13283198]           
06   56.3 [E595FDC2] [9006EE28]           


Here you see that it recognizes the disc the files came from, but it doesn't match any rips in either the CueTools database (CTDB) or AccurateRip.  These particular files were downloaded from https://classicalmjourney.blogspot.com/2018/06/sergei-rachmaninov-symphony-no-1.html

[prémont]

Two backup hardrives, backed up once a month manually. I use syncback.


I have experienced drives failing.

So have I. Everyone has. This is why I always use double backup (SDD extern hardiscs).

[drogulus]

There's CueRipper and CueTools.  The "Tools" program can verify already ripped files.

It must be a pressing that no one else has ripped before, but which uses the same exact layout. 

What's the CD?

     The disc is the first album by Pearls Before Swine, One Nation Underground. This version is taken from the original mono master tapes that have since been destroyed. The label is Drag City. They wanted to produce a version that is closest to the original mono vinyl. The "accurate" versions are in fake stereo with added reverb and missing background vocals.

     My assumption is that the disc has been ripped but hasn't been added to a database.

     I used CueRipper to rip the disc again and CueTools to examine the first rip. It won't identify the Drag City edition. I did find this on the Wiki:

The album has been reissued numerous times on LP and CD, with various stereo mix variations. On October 20, 2017, Drag City - with the cooperation and participation of Tom Rapp and original engineer/producer Richard Alderson - released a "Fiftieth Anniversary Mono Restoration & Remastering" on CD and LP.