CD Ripper - Slow ripping

[mad_dr]

Hi all,

I've scoured the forum and the internet for some assistance but have drawn a blank so hopefully someone here can possibly assist me. Apologies if my issue doesn't warrant a thread!

I'm not particularly computer-savvy so I'm afraid I don't understand some of the more complex technical configuration lingo that sometimes gets used on the forum - I'm a consumer user really.

I have an AVA RS3 (https://www.ripcaster.co.uk/node/308) purchased from Ripcaster.co.uk which came preinstalled (supposedly) with DBPoweramp to automatically rip CDs when they're inserted into the drive. It was set up to rip to M4A files and put them into a shared folder called D:shares/M4A/artist/album and then copy and convert those M4A files into 320kbps MP3 files and put them in D:shares/MP3/artist/album.

I had a lot of teething issues initially because of how DBPoweramp had been configured and I thought I had everything sorted out. It worked fine for months and I ripped many of my CDs successfully. However, I have just tried to rip a new CD today (and have since tried many of my CDs that initially ripped fine) and it's taking forever! It's ripping at around 0.5x up to 1.3x and taking around 50 minutes per CD.

I've tried many different discs (including brand new ones with no visible scratches) all of which play perfectly through media player in the same machine. I've tried using the "Rip to: Test Conversion" option to see if that helped: no difference.

I've also checked the TWO Primary IDE Channels and the Secondary IDE Channels' "Device 0" and "Device 1" Transfer Modes and they're all set to "DMA if available".

The AVA RS3 is running Windows Home Server (SP2) which is fully patched and Hotfixed. The box uses an Intel Atom 230 1.6ghz with 2GiB RAM and has more than 50% of the available HDD space free. There is no other software running on the box apart from a few Meta tag editors etc. I use a single laptop to administer the RS3 via RDP over my wireless LAN.

Is there anything that I could be doing wrong or that could have changed somehow? Anything I should be checking in particular? I'd suspect the CD drive (Optiarc DVD RW AD-7630A slot loader) if it didn't seem to work fine for every other application. Is there a reliable way that I can check the operation of the drive in terms of its speed? It's total workload over its 14 month lifespan so far has been to use DBPoweramp to rip about 300 CDs and that's it - nothing else. I checked for a firmware update for it but the Optiarc website said that none was available. Besides - as above - it's worked perfectly in the past with the same firmware etc.

Would it be wise to clear off DBPoweramp and try a re-install? I'm nervous about losing functionality: the RS3 from Ripcaster is supposed to come completed with Meta subscriptions etc but they don't provide any serial/order/registration numbers to their end users (IE me).

Any help/advice would be gratefully received. Anyone else using an RS3 from ripcaster.co.uk?

Thanks very much for reading!
Andy

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripper - Slow ripping

The problem is the Optiarc drive, they are not suitable for CD Ripping - our testing of the drive showed it could drop to x0.1 ripping speed.

[mad_dr]

Re: CD Ripper - Slow ripping

Well - that'd do it then, I guess! Thanks for the reply Spoon.

Seems a little odd that it seemed to work OK for a while (once I'd managed to get the RS3 server up and running) for the 20 or so CDs I bought since getting the RS3 and then stopped working when I've recently tried to use it on further discs.

Does that tally with your findings Spoon - that it might work initially and then at some point refuse to work and stay 'broken' even following reboots etc?

In my limited experience with computers, I thought things tended to either work perfectly or never work at all. And that if something stopped working, it was probably because something had been changed in the meantime?

Anyway, I've raised this issue with Ripcaster.co.uk so we'll see how they handle the situation - they definitely know their stuff so hopefully their service will be good given that there seems to be a pretty fundamental issue with the partnering of software and hardware. I wonder if any other RS3 users have had this issue - would you have expected all Optiarc users of DBPoweramp (IE anyone with an RS3) to have suffered this problem?

Thanks,
Andy

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripper - Slow ripping

The drive seemed to be very fussy on discs, some were ok, some were 0.1x ripping, when other drives would rip at x15

[mad_dr]

Re: CD Ripper - Slow ripping

Well that definitely tallies with my (limited) experience... I've checked my records and my RS3 is only 10.5 months old so at least it's still under warranty etc so it'll have to be put right, one way or another.

I'll post the outcome here in case anyone else finds it useful/interesting.

Thanks,
Andy

[mad_dr]

Re: CD Ripper - Slow ripping

Hello again,

OK - I have a bit of an update on this situation:

The company that I bought the AVA RS3 from contacted the manufacturer for advice after I informed them that the CD drive was suspected to be at fault. The manufacturer very quickly responded saying that the drive would need to be swapped out for a Teac drive.

It took a while for the drive to arrive but it's now here. It doesn't say Teac on it anywhere but it does have a Panasonic logo on it and is recognised in Device Manager as a "Matshita CD-RW CW-8124" I believe that Matshita is the Japanese brand for Panasonic but I'm not sure what (if anything) that has to do with Teac.

Anyway, I've swapped out the drive and guess what???

Same problem... It's currently chewing its way through a brand new CD at a whopping 0.7x

I'm a bit confused by the DBPoweramp software (because I didn't receive any manuals with the RS3) so I don't know what Application I'm supposed to open to see the software in action. There seems to be something called "Batch Ripper" and "CD Ripper". I'm not sure which I'm supposed to look at but the Batch Ripper was the one that seemed to recognise the CD and begin ripping: CD Ripper recognised the CD but doesn't appear to be doing anything.

My IDE settings are all set to DMA If Available.

So I'm back to square 1: I have a server that isn't doing what it's supposed to do. (Indeed - isn't doing what it used to do) and my warranty is a month closer to expiration...

I would be extremely grateful for any further troubleshooting or advice following this drive swap-out.

Thanks in advance, in hope, in desperation,
Andy

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripper - Slow ripping

The Panasonic is not a Teac.

You would never open CD Ripper as Batch Ripper is running always (it starts CD Ripper on demand, and is hidden).

[mad_dr]

Re: CD Ripper - Slow ripping

Thanks for the reply Spoon. So is the drive still your main suspect in this case? I'm still at a loss as to why it could work inititally with the original drive but then just start grinding along.

Is it worth me trying to reinstall any of the software? Am I likely to lose any settings etc that I would need to write down first? I was given no license codes etc when I bought the RS3 server so I'm reluctant to start playing with it in case I render it unusable. Mind you - it's not much use at the moment when it takes 90 minutes to rip a CD anyway.

Also - please forgive my ignorance about your statement "You would never open CD Ripper as Batch Ripper is running always (it starts CD Ripper on demand, and is hidden)." - Can you let me know what application I COULD open in order to view the software doing its stuff and to check on what speed it's running at? Are you saying that I could keep Batch Ripper open as a window to watch it in action?

Thanks,
Andy

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripper - Slow ripping

We cannot advise on restoring the software on the RS3, it is not our product.

On the RS3 it is not possible to view ripping status, only that you can time how long it takes to rip a disc (should be about 4 minutes, if 60 minutes then is x1 ripping speed).