How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

[apastuszak]

I set this up yesterday and my results have been hit or miss. My current setup is:

This USB to SATA adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MVRS38G

This drive: TSSTcorp - CDDVDW SH-S223C DVD drive.

My results are somewhat inconsistent. I was able to get accurate rip on MOST tracks in the beginning. Some tracks required a secure rip. But if I rerip the secure tracks, sometimes they rip accurate. Sometimes they don't. Now I'm having a problem with tracks just ripping with error, and reripping them won't fix that.

I went to Walmart and bought a LG USB slim DVD writer and that ripped the same CD without issue. So I know it's not dbPowerAmp, but my setup.

I would really rather use a full size external drive with a motorized drawer rather than these slim laptop drives in cheap enclosures.

If others are using a SATA to USB adapter and a 5¼" internal drive without issue, can you tell me which ones you are using.

[EWong]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

Currently I am using THREE of the OWC 5.25 optical drive enclosures with their "budget" drive.
This is a drive enclosure with a DC power input to feed the CD drive, and a SATA to USB3 converter card.

I opened one up to see what drive it was and its an LG GH24NSCO

Im using a Mid 2012 MacBoo Pro 13" running Catalina

I found that using BOTH of the USB ports on the MacBook was wonky. Apparently both of those are on the same "bus" and both drives slowed to a crawl.

I ALSO have a CalDigit TB2 - which is a port dock that connects to the Thunderbird 2 port on the laptop

I found that BOTH USB connected to the USBs on the TB2 operate FINE and a high speeds.

I am encountering an "issue" with older "damaged" (cracked or rotted) CD; the software/drive seems to get stuck and hangs up the software necessitating a Force Quit.

I plan to find a cheap ATX modular power supply and strap two more $20 drives to the two eSATA ports on the TB2.
CalDigit claims that each eSATA port can accommodate FOUR SATA via a port multiplier. I dunno if I need that many drives.
If the CDs are clean (this last batch of 100 were these old give away CDs from CMJ (College Music Journal) and thus were of dubious quality) 3-5 drives should keep me in continuous "production" (edit the meta tags and unload and load discs)

[schmidj]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

I've been running internal drives externally with SATA to USB converters for some years on several computers, a desktop and several different laptops without major issues. I've used several different Sabrent converters (they have changed their models a couple of times over the years.) I've had a couple of the converters die, and I have had them get hung up on occasion, unplugging them and rebooting the PC restored them. I've broken two and one drive over the years by being clumsy and knocking it on the floor... Broke the connectors.

My normal setup on the desktop is three drives with SATA connections to motherboard, three more with adapters to USB2 ports (nothing to be gained with a drive ripping CDs using USB3, the data rate is pretty low.) I also burn 6 CDs at once with that setup using Nero. On the laptop, I use it when I travel, both ripping and burning CDs.

You might want to check whether your SATA to USB adapter is spec'd to work with removable (DVD/Blueray) SATA drives, or just hard drives. The Sabrent ones specifically are OK for CD/DVD/BR.

Several of my drives are SH224, those drives seem to be very good on scratched CDs, until they get too bad, then the drives then basically grind to a halt trying to read the Cd, either with direct SATA connections or with USB adapters. Other drives don't deal as well with scratches but will labor through rerips without slowing way down. Best that you have an assortment of drives. Salvage them from old computers or find them on EBay from others who sell salvaged stuff.

Running multiple instances of dBpa, there is some interaction, things may pause on all the instances when one instance is trying to read the TOC on a newly inserted CD, and sometimes, a lot of re-reads on one bad CD will slow up ripping on the other instances. Spoon has said the program wasn't really designed for running multiple instances. But, for the most part, it works.

To Ewong: I'd be very careful ripping cracked CDs. I had a CD with a very slight crack explode in one of my drives, what a mess, pieces of CD and silver/aluminum plating etc. all over the place, both inside the drive and leaking out the front of the tray! A loud bang I won't soon forget. I spent hours cleaning all the garbage out of the drive and actually got it working again, but there are still bits of the aluminum plating stuck to the insides. Don't forget, when that CD is spinning at 50X normal speed, what is it, 20,000 RPM or whatever.

[EWong]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

[QUOTE=schmidj
To Ewong: I'd be very careful ripping cracked CDs.
[/QUOTE]

Ah - Physics!

Yes - at high speeds the disk could very well shatter!

I wasn't in the habit of examining the surface of the CDs prior to inserting them.
Thus I didn't notice the crack until after it wouldn't read 4 tracks (but read later ones).
I took it out expecting to find "dirt" on the CD, an noticed it had a crack - in the middle of the CD, that did not run to the edge. Sadly, those tracks were (obviously) not going to be readable - I even had tried (prior to ejecting it) burst mode on it.

With only 3 drives currently, I can see the progress of the rips and will skip past tracks that are having issues.
Im less picky than many and I'll re run those on Burst (I'm guessing there's a way I can tweak the settings to I can get it to do 3-4 passes for error correction reads before "giving in" and doing burst; I haven't been quite able to divine all the advanced settings)

(BTW - this forum is great!)

[dingfod]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

Is the conclusion here that USB is OK, but e-SATA would be better? I'm about to build a new PC and the nicest cases often don't have a 5.25" external (or internal, for that matter) bay. I'm considering moving my ripping drive external. But I want to ensure dB can control the drive and rip discs just as reliably as being internally SATA-connected. I see the recommendation to choose a USB-SATA adapter that supports optical drives. Is that sufficient to make it work as well as a SATA cable?

I was thinking that there might be a 5.25" external enclosure with an e-SATA port, but a quick search on Newegg and Amazon ended in no joy.

[Oggy]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

Is the conclusion here that USB is OK, but e-SATA would be better? I'm about to build a new PC and the nicest cases often don't have a 5.25" external (or internal, for that matter) bay. I'm considering moving my ripping drive external. But I want to ensure dB can control the drive and rip discs just as reliably as being internally SATA-connected. I see the recommendation to choose a USB-SATA adapter that supports optical drives. Is that sufficient to make it work as well as a SATA cable?

I was thinking that there might be a 5.25" external enclosure with an e-SATA port, but a quick search on Newegg and Amazon ended in no joy.

I've used 5.25" internal drives both SATA and older ide drives via a powered USB adaptor for over five years on a low powered laptop with excellent results. I have no idea if e-SATA would be better, but have ripped over 2,000 CDs with external drives.

[garym]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

I've used 5.25" internal drives both SATA and older ide drives via a powered USB adaptor for over five years on a low powered laptop with excellent results. I have no idea if e-SATA would be better, but have ripped over 2,000 CDs with external drives.

I've experienced the same as Oggy.

[dingfod]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

I've experienced the same as Oggy.

Terrific. I won't be so worried about buying a case that can't house my fave ripping drive. Thanks, all!

[schmidj]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

As posted above, I've had good luck with USB connected internal drives. Thousands of CDs ripped, both with internal drives inside the computer case using SATA and internal drives outside with SATA to USB adapters. I've never bothered with a (very expensive) enclosure. Drives sat loose on top of the computer case until I knocked one off which broke the SATA connector... Now they are duct taped down... Thinking of velcro, a little more "professional". As I said above, look for an adapter that is spec'd for "removable" drives. I do recall way back when I first started doing this having an issue with the then in use computer with a setting for the BIOS for the USB ports, but I think it only involved using the drives to write CDs, not rip them? I don't remember the details.

[Oggy]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

Terrific. I won't be so worried about buying a case that can't house my fave ripping drive. Thanks, all!

I simply bent a piece of cardboard to stop the drive from jumping around too much (schmidj's duct tape / velcro is very professional!) and I'm sure my oldest Lite-On ide drive would be quieter in a case, but it makes swapping drives incredibly simple and quick. The last three drives I've put in service cost £2 in total!!

Edit. Percentage of CDs ripped where every track gives an AccurateRip, is around 97%.That excludes CDs with a single frame error over the whole CD.

[Brewbs]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

I've been running internal drives externally with SATA to USB converters for some years on several computers, a desktop and several different laptops without major issues. I've used several different Sabrent converters (they have changed their models a couple of times over the years.) I've had a couple of the converters die, and I have had them get hung up on occasion, unplugging them and rebooting the PC restored them. I've broken two and one drive over the years by being clumsy and knocking it on the floor... Broke the connectors.

My normal setup on the desktop is three drives with SATA connections to motherboard, three more with adapters to USB2 ports (nothing to be gained with a drive ripping CDs using USB3, the data rate is pretty low.) I also burn 6 CDs at once with that setup using Nero. On the laptop, I use it when I travel, both ripping and burning CDs.

You might want to check whether your SATA to USB adapter is spec'd to work with removable (DVD/Blueray) SATA drives, or just hard drives. The Sabrent ones specifically are OK for CD/DVD/BR.

Several of my drives are SH224, those drives seem to be very good on scratched CDs, until they get too bad, then the drives then basically grind to a halt trying to read the Cd, either with direct SATA connections or with USB adapters. Other drives don't deal as well with scratches but will labor through rerips without slowing way down. Best that you have an assortment of drives. Salvage them from old computers or find them on EBay from others who sell salvaged stuff.

Running multiple instances of dBpa, there is some interaction, things may pause on all the instances when one instance is trying to read the TOC on a newly inserted CD, and sometimes, a lot of re-reads on one bad CD will slow up ripping on the other instances. Spoon has said the program wasn't really designed for running multiple instances. But, for the most part, it works.

To Ewong: I'd be very careful ripping cracked CDs. I had a CD with a very slight crack explode in one of my drives, what a mess, pieces of CD and silver/aluminum plating etc. all over the place, both inside the drive and leaking out the front of the tray! A loud bang I won't soon forget. I spent hours cleaning all the garbage out of the drive and actually got it working again, but there are still bits of the aluminum plating stuck to the insides. Don't forget, when that CD is spinning at 50X normal speed, what is it, 20,000 RPM or whatever.

Can anyone provide a link to one of these sata-USB, I could only find a vantec one that was overseas

Thanks

[djimty]

Re: How well does dbPowerAmp handle SATA drives connected by a SATA to USB adapter?

I've used 5.25" internal drives both SATA and older ide drives via a powered USB adaptor for over five years on a low powered laptop with excellent results. I have no idea if e-SATA would be better, but have ripped over 2,000 CDs with external drives.

For your older IDE drives, what USB adapter did you use? I still have a Plextor IDE CDRW from 2004 that I would love to use again.