Back up your hard drive

[Pabmusic]

Truly bad luck.

Anyway, you can download the missing BBC MM disc here: http://circleofsound.blogspot.co.uk/...&max-results=7

You will get a FLAC file, so you'll have to deal with that (I open them with The Unarchiver).

[Dave2002]

I think the greatest number of CDs I ripped in a day was about 50. I discovered that on my iMac I was able to rip and continue with other things at the same time. A significant part of the actual time was spent loading and unloading the CDs. One possible complication is quality control, as it may also be helpful to check the audio quality afterwards. I had some bad rips - most likely due to a bug which Apple introduced for a while, and occasionally I still come across those.

If you have more than one machine you could go faster but then you'd have to do copy operations to merge the multiple libraries - though under the circumstances that might not be a bad thing as you could end up with multiple library copies, and it shouln't take anything like twice as long.

There are more commercial systems which take a relatively large number of CDs which can do batch ripping. Probably too expensive for amateurs like us.

Not all ripping software will get the best results out of all CDs - for example CDs which use extra coding to extend the dynamic range of the music (such as HDCDs), though not all CD players do that either. I'm not sure whether any ripping software compensates for CDs which have pre-emphasis, though there are relatively few of those, mostly from Japan.

[Dave2002]

If anyone has HDCDs they want to rip it seems that enthusiasts created tools from 2007 on - e.g.hdcd.exe. There are details at the doom9 forum, and it could be worth working backwards through this thread - http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=129136&page=4

[MrGongGong]

There's an employment niche if ever I heard one

I can give you an email for one if you need

One of the many areas of life where Aspergers syndrome is a huge advantage

[amateur51]

I can give you an email for one if you need

One of the many areas of life where Aspergers syndrome is a huge advantage

Great to hear, MrGG. Aspergers in particular and autisms in general seem to be getting getting quite a lot of positive publicity recently. There's a theatre in Scotland that's doing autism-friendly performances, I read the other day

[Tevot]

Truly bad luck.

Anyway, you can download the missing BBC MM disc here: http://circleofsound.blogspot.co.uk/...&max-results=7

You will get a FLAC file, so you'll have to deal with that (I open them with The Unarchiver).

Pabmusic. Very many thanks for providing this link. It is fascinating. I may attempt some downloads myself

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[Pabmusic]

...One of the many areas of life where Aspergers syndrome is a huge advantage

As, of course, is music - especially composing.

[Nevalti]

Last month my external iTunes library raid drive failed. i honestly thought this was the safest way to store my music library. Well I was wrong and now in the process of recopying 3000 CD's back onto a 'normal hard drive' with 3 extra backups. The only consolation is that my new library will be in lossless and have all the artwork. I am missing a lot of favourite proms recordings from the past 7 years, if anyone can help?

Ouch! That is the nightmare scenario that many of us live with these days. I have often wondered about getting some fancy storage like yours but maybe it is not the safest after all.

As storage is so cheap now, I have multiple copies on separate drives using 'Karen's Replicator' to copy things automatically. 'Karen' is a great little free program which has proved totally reliable and easy to tailor to your exact needs.

Maybe it is over-kill but I rip onto my main PC and back-up automatically onto a NAS which is 100% copied to an entirely separate NAS and 3 simple portable hard drives, stored in separate rooms. I even keep a copy in another house! That may be paranoid but even in the event of total house destruction I hope never to have to spend all that time ripping all those CDs again. My time is well worth the few pounds spent on those back-up drives.

[johnb]

My music library is on my HP Microserver (a wonderful bit of kit, which I use as a NAS) but I also have a copy on my PC (where I initally rip to). Additionally I have a copy on an external HDD.

I use "Beyond Compare" to maintain the mirror copies and have found the software extremely useful. (I also use it to maintain a mirror of my PC's data partition.)

Too many people have the impression that they are safe if they stick there important files onto a RAID array. Nothing could be further from the truth. You need at least two devices holding copies of the files, with the devices kept in different locations within the house.

As far as external HDDs go I prefer to buy enclosures and HDDs separately, that was I can chose the HDD I want - usually either WD or Samsung "Green" drives. (Overheating is the Achilles Heel of passively cooled external HDDs.: "Green" HDD drive = reduced power consumption = less heat to dissipate = lower running temperatures = longer life.)

[Resurrection Man]

I do hope that all of you who run these excellent backup strategies also check that you can still restore data from them if need be.

[vinteuil]

... o the simple joy of having CDs on the shelves. When - so often, nowadays - Radio 3 is intolerable, and I want some music - to the shelves, select CD, pop in machine, listen....

[johnb]

I do hope that all of you who run these excellent backup strategies also check that you can still restore data from them if need be.

For my system and software partition I use Acronis True Image to backup to an external HDD (and also take copy to my Microserver). The software is very reliable and I have restored the partition quite a few times.

For my data partition and music files I use Beyond Compare to maintain mirrors on external HDDs (and a copy on my Microserver). The beauty of this is that the backups are just, well, "mirrors" of the original and can be copied back by Windows Explorer, Beyond Compare, etc, etc.

[Nevalti]

... o the simple joy of having CDs on the shelves. When - so often, nowadays - Radio 3 is intolerable, and I want some music - to the shelves, select CD, pop in machine, listen....

Crikey! You actually get up out of your seat to select your music? Do you wind up the CD player too?

[vinteuil]

Crikey! You actually get up out of your seat to select your music? ...

... well, one needs a little exercise...

[Nick Armstrong]

... well, one needs a little exercise...

...and one's valet de chambre does need a short vacation from time to time....