Originally Posted by
schmidj
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.