Progressively worse ripping.

Hi there,

I've recently started to use cdparanoia but have come across a problem that I
_think_ might be down to having a crap cd-rom drive.

My machine was originally built as a fileserver with a very cheap cd-rom really
just to put the gentoo installer CD in to. I've now decided to rip all my CDs,
and have had some success.

The problem is that the later tracks on most CDs get a lot of pluses in the
progress bar and some Vs. In fact, with the -z option, one CD was left overnight
and never finished. I've had to resort to using -Z for problem tracks, which are
usually the last few on most disks.

Originally I had problems which, when I read the troubleshooting guide, alerted
me to the fact that /var/log/messages was 3.5Gb! I recompiled the kernel with
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR=y, which got rid of those messages, but the problem did not
improve.

Is there anything I can do with cdparanoia or the kernel to improve this, or
would I be better off buying a new CD drive?

Thanks,
Duncan

# cdparanoia --version
cdparanoia III release 10pre0 (August 29, 2006)
(C) 2006 Monty <monty@...> and Xiph.Org

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[Bill Davidsen]

cdparanoia@... wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I've recently started to use cdparanoia but have come across a problem
> that I _think_ might be down to having a crap cd-rom drive.
>
> My machine was originally built as a fileserver with a very cheap
> cd-rom really just to put the gentoo installer CD in to. I've now
> decided to rip all my CDs, and have had some success.
>
> The problem is that the later tracks on most CDs get a lot of pluses
> in the progress bar and some Vs. In fact, with the -z option, one CD
> was left overnight and never finished. I've had to resort to using -Z
> for problem tracks, which are usually the last few on most disks.
>
> Originally I had problems which, when I read the troubleshooting
> guide, alerted me to the fact that /var/log/messages was 3.5Gb! I
> recompiled the kernel with CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR=y, which got rid of those
> messages, but the problem did not improve.
>
> Is there anything I can do with cdparanoia or the kernel to improve
> this, or would I be better off buying a new CD drive?

Staples, OfficeMax, NewEgg.Com, etc all have CD drives on sale for <$30
if you wait for a sale. That's CD writers, not just readers. Actually,
that's DVD burners, just checked newegg... Oh, those are Dual-Layer DVD
burners, checked the specs. Very hard to justify not upgrading,
particularly if the lack of a proper burner is keeping you from doing
backups :-(

--
bill davidsen <davidsen@...>
  CTO TMR Associates, Inc
  Doing interesting things with small computers since 1979

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Bill Davidsen wrote:

> cdparanoia@... wrote:
>
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I've recently started to use cdparanoia but have come across a problem
>> that I _think_ might be down to having a crap cd-rom drive.
>>
>> My machine was originally built as a fileserver with a very cheap
>> cd-rom really just to put the gentoo installer CD in to. I've now
>> decided to rip all my CDs, and have had some success.
>>
>> The problem is that the later tracks on most CDs get a lot of pluses
>> in the progress bar and some Vs. In fact, with the -z option, one CD
>> was left overnight and never finished. I've had to resort to using -Z
>> for problem tracks, which are usually the last few on most disks.
>>
>> Originally I had problems which, when I read the troubleshooting
>> guide, alerted me to the fact that /var/log/messages was 3.5Gb! I
>> recompiled the kernel with CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR=y, which got rid of those
>> messages, but the problem did not improve.
>>
>> Is there anything I can do with cdparanoia or the kernel to improve
>> this, or would I be better off buying a new CD drive?
>
>
> Staples, OfficeMax, NewEgg.Com, etc all have CD drives on sale for <$30
> if you wait for a sale. That's CD writers, not just readers. Actually,
> that's DVD burners, just checked newegg... Oh, those are Dual-Layer DVD
> burners, checked the specs. Very hard to justify not upgrading,
> particularly if the lack of a proper burner is keeping you from doing
> backups :-(
>

Thanks for the input there Bill, but I suppose what I am really asking is
whether buying a new drive will solve the problem.

I have to admit I know nothing about cd-rom drives, and they are all so cheap
these days; how does one distinguish the good quality ones from the bad?

A couple of other points:
1) I'm in the UK, so these good deals you mention are probably not worth the
shipping fee :)
2) I don't have a cd burner, I backup to tape.

Cheers,
Duncan
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[xiphmont]

On 12/20/06, cdparanoia@... <cdparanoia@...> wrote:

> Thanks for the input there Bill, but I suppose what I am really asking is
> whether buying a new drive will solve the problem.

Yes.  Having trouble near end-of-disc is a common enough problem in
dodgy/failing drives.

> I have to admit I know nothing about cd-rom drives, and they are all so cheap
> these days; how does one distinguish the good quality ones from the bad?

Unfortunately, that's quite difficult-- a local vendor with a return
policy may well be the only safe advice.

In your favor, most CDROM drives are pretty good these days; things
have improved immensely across the board since the old days when
cdparanoia began.

Monty
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