Batch Ripper Machine Recommendations

[Aging Dead Head]

Hi All
It's been awhile since I posted and now have some questions.
Getting ready to do another project and could use some insight.
I have about 3,000 CD's to rip and my thinking is to build a dedicated computer
tower with 6 drives and rip to an outboard Raid system. However in reading back various threads
on the batch ripper forum I have seen that some say 4 drives is the max you should use
but have seen Spoon refer to using 6.
So the question is what is the optimal number?

My other Idea was to use the funds (instead of building a new tower) and buy
2 or 3 Nimbie's and use a computer I already own as the brain and an outboard raid target system.
So, Can this be done? Can Batch ripper control multiple Nimbies?

Which of these two do you guys think is a better way to go?

I used a robot for my last project (Primera Composer Pro)
but found the pick and place reliablity just wasn't there.
It turned into a giant pain in the butt. I have read in some forums that this has to do with the
fact that most pick and place robots are designed to work with Blank Recordable disks
and not Commercial Replicated disks. Something to do with the striations in the spindle hole.
It is my understanding that the Nimbie does not use a mechanical pick arm.
I don't really mind having to babysit a machine because in reality I had to do that
with the robot to guaranty steady production.

Thanx
"Takes the Wheel When I'm Seeing Double, Pays My Ticket When I Speed"
I Miss them So Much

[bhoar]

Re: Batch Ripper Machine Recommendations

Some general stuff off the top of my head:
Robots that use the picker/hole approach: All Primera, MF Digital Mediatechnics, ADR, CD-Robotics, RQuest, Disc-Robotics, Amtren/Discmakers, Baxter/Dupliq/Pico/Minicubis, RImage/Cedar
Robots that use vacuum systems that lift from the top and don't use the hole: some largest volume (800-1000 disc) versions of the above brand names, and older MediaFORM duplicators.
Robots that don't use any top access (gravity feed) and therefore don't use the hole: Nimbie and variants, roboracer/dexpresso/recordex/boozer and microboards/kodak

Note that by not using the hole, the robot then depends on a custom or modified optical drive tray design, meaning if the drive that the robot comes with is not a good ripper (or fails), you can't replace it with another one without the manufacturer supplying one to you. Some of these robots (such as the microboards/kodak) might allow field-swappable drives by using a dremel tool to carve lifter spaces out, but only if the tray's motor railing is appropriately located away from the side of the tray. Others definitely are not, such as the roboracer/dexpresso/recordex/boozer, since they require a custom designed tray with a trap door flap and tray construction varies among drives (you could probably replace a failed drive using the OTS version of the same drive and do some microsurgery to install the drop door tray, but if it's a bad ripper, you're SOL).

Some picker-based robots have much better pickers than others. E.g. the ancient Cedar pickers are completely unable to handle a stack of random pressed music CDs because of the assumptions of the topology of the clamping area around the hole. Of course, they were originally designed before the concept of CD ripping came into existence in the first place. Contemporary MF Digital and Mediatechics pickers are very good, because they have been engineered for multiple uses.

Brendan

[Spoon]

Re: Batch Ripper Machine Recommendations

Only one nimbie can be used per machine.

[CaryB]

Re: Batch Ripper Machine Recommendations

If it helps, I have a custom built rig for ripping, and AMD 9750 Quad Core 2.40 GHz, 8 GB ram, Win7 64 bit. It has CD/DVD drives in it, a mix of brands, all but one SATA. It has one IDE drive just cause I ran out of SATA ports. One 1 TB SATA hard drive for the whole system. Since I don't use a SSD drive for the system, I have an 8 GB readyboost jumpdrive. Nothing is overclocked, just stock. And it burns all six drives at once with no problems.

I used batch ripper for a while, but mostly just open up 6 instances of CD Ripper, as I am very picky about my tags, and prefer to fix them before I burn, not after.

I have never seen a hiccup with this setup, it always just works.

[Aging Dead Head]

Re: Batch Ripper Machine Recommendations

Only one nimbie can be used per machine.

Thanks Spoon

[Aging Dead Head]

Re: Batch Ripper Machine Recommendations

Thanks for the Info, It's the way I'm gonna go Multiple Nimbies are not going to work as per Spoon.
I will have to do some testing re: 6xCD Ripper vs Batch Ripper
I have always used a different drive, (usually a Raid set-up) not the boot drive to store media
I have seen way to many drive failures, especially with video when the system drive has big media files on it.
Are you using the readyboost drive instead of upping your 8GB of ram to 16?
On a new build it doesn't add that much to the cost.
I might even spring for a SSD for the system drive.
Lucky for me I live close to a Micro Electronics store and will do some brain picking over there
The biggest issue I see is going to be getting a case big enough for 6 cd drives, and the system drive
Media files will be sent to outboard Array

Thanx Again to Brendan, Spoon, and Gary for your answers
I'll keep you guys informed of my progress

[CaryB]

Re: Batch Ripper Machine Recommendations

My board is an older board, it max's out at 8GB ram. Thats why the readyboost. Not really sure of the speed increase, but it doesn't seem to hurt, and I had an old 8GB flashdrive lying around, so.....what the heck. Anyway, the system works, and works well.

And, after posting, I tried Batch ripper again, this time with the option to edit all MetaData before burning, and I may just go with this for a while. I do have to Change the Album Art for every CD, but it is easier than juggeling 6 instances of CD Ripper.