Using hard drives to store music - totally mad. [Archive]

Spectral Morn

25-10-2014, 00:20

So tonight I lost a 2 TB WD hard-drive dead, initially it worked, in that I could access the files but on opening them, empty, all empty just the file names exist, so thousands of tunes, both MP3, cd quality and HD all, gone, the drive now won't even allow access just powers up, that's it - junk.

Oh I have back up HDs so the music isn't lost but I have to ask myself am I crazy using computers for music playback, where the storage device can fail at anytime, the equivalent of my physical music collection being stolen, flooded or burned - destroyed. And the answer is, yes stark raving mad. If I didn't have back ups or had been mad enough to get rid of my physical collection and the back up HD then failed, well that would be a total disaster. In my case I have lost the use of an £80 HD, hardly good value for money only getting just over a year of ownership, note I say that, not use.

I seriously feel like jacking in this aspect of my system, it's too flacky.

Oh yes and the new iPad upgrade, ggggggrrrrrrrr hate it bloody thing wants me to sign into the iCloud upon switch on, I don't want to.

Rant over....

Regards Neil

Audio Al

25-10-2014, 02:00

I love my TAPE and VINYL :)

Never did trust files other that to remove sharp edges

Andrei

25-10-2014, 02:08

Oh yes and the new iPad upgrade, ggggggrrrrrrrr hate it bloody thing wants me to sign into the iCloud upon switch on, I don't want to.

Rant over....

Regards Neil
It is the incessant gouging that puts me off apple. Bit strange about the HD though. What model was it? - I have a 2 TB Western Digital that has been going faultlessly for about 3 years. They are supposed to last much longer

Firebottle

25-10-2014, 06:13

One year is not good at all.
The company I used to work at did some reliability research and testing on HDs as they were used in some of the products, originally 2.5".
2.5" HDs were found to be a lot more flaky than 3.5" HDs, so they were all swapped.

I guess a 2 TB is almost certainly a 3.5", but one year is poo.

:cool: Alan

DarrenHW

25-10-2014, 06:47

It's not unusual to lose a HDD so early, however check the warranty (http://support.wdc.com/warranty/) although being over a year old you'll probably get a "refurbished" replacement. I've many HDD's that are over 5 years old (both in regular use and sat in draws as backups) and still going strong. I've found Seagate to be about the best budget HDD's for reliability, speed of operation and noise but by far Western Digital to be about the worst for reliability and noise, but they are fast drives.

The Black Adder

25-10-2014, 07:17

Surely you had a RAID HDD..? Especially at 2TB.

Werner Berghofer

25-10-2014, 07:35

Neil,

I seriously feel like jacking in this aspect of my system, it's too flacky.
harddisks fail, it’s part of their “nature”. However, harddisk storage is very cheap at the moment, the dimensions of external harddisks are easily to handle, their connection interfaces are faster than ever before (Firewire 800, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt) and backup routines and folder synchronization tools are parts of modern operating systems. So, yes: backups, backups, backups!

Those who believe vinyl or magnetic tape is reliable or lasts forever might wakeup one day and realize how wrong their presumptions had been …

Werner.

The Black Adder

25-10-2014, 07:46

But you are right Neil... it is completely bonkers. I've gone off and given up on the idea to be honest. Gone back to the 'Clunky' way. Much easier.

Don't forget, hard drives can also be recovered. I had one recovered once when the spindle ceased and made some mad clicking noises and it even had smoke coming from the main board. As much as it looked and sounded completely fooked I sent it off to a company who got every bit of data back.

And don't forget, even if you delete data from a hard drive, mobile phone or whatever the data is still there. It just needs someone to have the correct kit to retrieve it. The correct kit is £££££'s btw...

This is a friend of mine: www.blackstageforensics.co.uk (http://www.blackstageforensics.co.uk) who does this kind of thing.

slate

25-10-2014, 08:06

In 25 years I have had 4 harddrives and 1 SSD fail on me; this includes the PCs my parents have had in the last 15 years.
The harddrives was out of warranty, the SSD was 2½ years so I got it replaced.
The latest was sitting in my parents stationary PC; it had run 16500 hours.

Personally I only use SSD in laptops.
If I was to use the new(er) 6 -10 TB drives, I would use them in RAID as I would expect higher fatality.

And yes, after using countless evenings on ripping my 900 CDs I have the files stored in 3 copies. One copy I use at Work...

The Barbarian

25-10-2014, 08:10

I wont entertain modern tech way of playing music. Dabbled in it but faced with Technical issues quite a bit. Na the old way or no way with me.

ReggieB

25-10-2014, 08:23

Surely you had a RAID HDD..? Especially at 2TB.

Surely you haven't had a RAID controller fail!

RAID is OK if one disk fails, but if the RAID controller fails it is very difficult to recover the data. Nowadays, with the cost of standalone NAS boxes being so low, having two single disk NAS boxes - one set to back up the other - is a better solution. If your house is networked, you can also separate the two boxes, so that you're less susceptible to fire damage taking out both boxes. My main NAS is in my front room next to the hifi. The back up is at the back of the house in the study.

Werner Berghofer

25-10-2014, 08:27

Andre,

Dabbled in it but faced with Technical issues quite a bit […]
technical issues? Adjusting and aligning the various parameters mandatory for turntable playback, that’s what I would call technical issues. Compare this to connecting an external harddisk and clicking that “Backup now” button.

Werner.

Jimbo

25-10-2014, 08:53

Neil,

harddisks fail, it’s part of their “nature”. However, harddisk storage is very cheap at the moment, the dimensions of external harddisks are easily to handle, their connection interfaces are faster than ever before (Firewire 800, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt) and backup routines and folder synchronization tools are parts of modern operating systems. So, yes: backups, backups, backups!

Those who believe vinyl or magnetic tape is reliable or lasts forever might wakeup one day and realize how wrong their presumptions had been …

Werner.

I agree with your theories regarding tape Werner but not vinyl. I have 40-50 year old vinyl that is still in perfect condition.

Anyone using a HDD must have a back up as I have heard too many horror stories of drive failure with all music collection wiped out. The horror is not just the loss of music but the cost of some of the HD music downloaded which to me seems exorbitant considering you only get a FLAC file.

Vinyl gives you so much more for your money, not least something that lasts.:lol:

synsei

25-10-2014, 09:25

I've been using and assembling my own PC's since the early 1990's and have only had one HD fail in that time, it was a 200mb Seagate drive which will give you some idea how long ago that was. Currently using a 2TB Western Digital to store my music and it has been happily chugging along for nearly four years without incident and without being powered down.

struth

25-10-2014, 09:31

I had 2 hdd drives go down inside a week. Unusual I k!ow but true I lost some pictures because of it so I now use 3.

Spectral Morn

25-10-2014, 09:34

I have separate hard-drives (different makes) and each one is a copy of the other, but I do this manually so no RAID or NAS. I prefer to do this myself as I have heard horror stories about all sorts of failures. My HD is connected directly to the computer I am using and then to the DAC. I prefer physical connections to other.

I have had several HDs fail in SKY + boxes and one in a Yamaha 1300, that was a disaster as I had no backups of the music there but this is the first standalone HD.

Re HD quality and failure rates, everyone has a different opinion and last time I looked into it WD did better than Seagate - obviously with Seagate being local to me I would prefer to give them the business but reliability is what I want both long term and short term.

No need to go into paying for data recovery here as none of the music is lost but it really makes it very clear to me, in my mind that this is a crazy way of doing things and physical is still best not that I ever had any doubt but the seducing voice of tech can start to work on one to succumb to the darkside and I was sliding a bit ......

Tape can fail sure or one gets bad print through, but vinyl if played and stored correctly will last a very long time but yes it wears out as its played, CD is a bit of an unknown, I have only ever had a few CDs rot and those were PDO pressing notorious at one point in their history for rotting CDs.

Regards Neil

struth

25-10-2014, 09:49

That's how I do it. Every now and then I bring them all together and copy the data over ..pics and music.
Smaller stuff like docs etc are saved to g drive. Best pics go to Zonerama and Imageshack .

Werner Berghofer

25-10-2014, 09:55

Andre,

Your just being argumentative just face it.
don’t think so. I grew up in the vinyl age and paid close attention to the requirements of high-quality playback, so I’m talking from my personal experience. Once I switched completely to a file-based plackback system, I haven’t looked back one second with regret. Deterioration of sound quality due to stylus and vinyl wear, inner groove distortion, pops and clicks, tape hiss anyone?

But your personal preferences and paranoia may vary, of course. Oh, and the apostrophe and comma keys on my computer’s keyboard are working flawlessly ;-)

Werner.

Gazjam

25-10-2014, 10:02

Gordon Steadman

25-10-2014, 10:02

I have a graveyard in the loft. One of these days I must get round to trashing them all properly. There must be 20 drives up there. Mind you, it shows how long I have been at it as some of them are as big as 20mB. At the time it seemed as if I could fit the world in there!!

Back up is the important thing. Strangely, the one disk that keeps going (famous last words) is a Western 2.5" external. It has my tunes on it for the little MacMini in the main hi-fi system. My main listening to file based is on the MacPro with headphones.

I admit to starting to worry after I've had a disk for more than a couple of years.

Macca

25-10-2014, 10:08

TT requires technical set up yes but if you already know how to do it that's not a big deal and once done that's it unless you change cartridges. To get computer audio up and running optimally is a step learning curve which is fine if you are the sort who enjoys messing with computers for the sake of it but if you are the sort for who that is the dullest thing in the world then it is not really a palatable option.

I don't see that it is any more convenient to select an album from a list of files on a laptop than it is for me to walk over to my bookcase and pick out a CD or LP.

The Barbarian

25-10-2014, 10:10

But your missing the Point Macca at least my point

Macca

25-10-2014, 10:15

But your missing the Point Macca at least my point

I posted before I read your last post about reliability. And you do have a point. I've had a lot of CD players pack in on me, mostly after a long life though. I've got ten that still work, should last me out ;)

struth

25-10-2014, 10:29

I find computer files are fine if you back up regularly then no sleep is lost. Cd players are a bugbear of mi!e. The older ones seem to be far more relyable. I have afew that have well outlived many new ones..my denon is the oldest and apart from a fag burn that was not me still works flawlessly and sounds great. Doubt ill buy another.tt for eg is very relyable as long as you keep women and children away

Macca

25-10-2014, 10:32

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With a record if that happens it's usually something that has gotten the record, that you will be able to see, remove it & carry on. You can see a styli tracking the groove, you cannot see anything reading data from a disc so you are basically blind as to what the problem may be..

True, Totally mechanical process so you have complete control. But CD is not unreliable, although I have had the odd disc that decides it isn't going to play properly anymore for no visible reason, unlike vinyl it is easy and inexpensive to just get a new one.

The Barbarian

25-10-2014, 10:39

unlike vinyl it is easy and inexpensive to just get a new one.

But why should you need to buy another one? Things like that should not just give up for no reason..

walpurgis

25-10-2014, 10:40

To get computer audio up and running optimally is a step learning curve which is fine if you are the sort who enjoys messing with computers for the sake of it but if you are the sort for who that is the dullest thing in the world then it is not really a palatable option.

Not yet felt the need. But I'm sure I'd sort it all out, if one day I decide that's the route I'm going.

Macca

25-10-2014, 10:43

Will not entertain Electronic speed change turntables & AC decks always for me & if using a Power supply it must be outboard & the deck must have the ability to be used alone if the PSU packs up.

Solved that problem I have a second SL1200 ready to go if the first one packs in. If that one goes too then it's back to belt drive ;)

lurcher

25-10-2014, 10:45

But why should you need to buy another one? Things like that should not just give up for no reason..

Entropy

http://electronicdesign.com/content/content/61673/61673-fig-3.jpg

Look on the bright side, that curve applies to you as well, so your kit won't have to work forever.

walpurgis

25-10-2014, 10:47

Solved that problem I have a second SL1200 ready to go if the first one packs in. If that one goes too then it's back to belt drive ;)

I guess everybody should keep a trusty old PL-12D in the loft for emergencies. (I've got a rare PL-12S in mine)

Werner Berghofer

25-10-2014, 10:52

Nick,

Look on the bright side, that curve applies to you as well, so your kit won't have to work forever.
just wonderful, thank you! A perfect reminder to enjoy music right now even more.

Werner.

The Barbarian

25-10-2014, 11:07

Sorry but CDee's don't ware out. It's quite clear it's a utter waste of time having a civil convo in this place..

Gordon Steadman

25-10-2014, 11:31

Sorry but CDee's don't ware out. It's quite clear it's a utter waste of time having a civil convo in this place..

Wear out no but deteriorate yes. I have had a few that have developed what look like rust spots and the player won't read them. Fortunately.............all my CDs are also on the hard disk so I haven't lost the music:eyebrows:

Haselsh1

25-10-2014, 12:46

I had a similar occurance a few years ago but in my case it was my photography collection. My main C drive failed just as my archive, backup drive failed also. I lost every image I had ever worked on but I have a trick up my sleeve...! I am an analogue photographer so all I had to do was to rescan my negatives and slides. There you are...! Analogue is clearly superior to digital in almost every respect :eyebrows:

synsei

25-10-2014, 13:14

Yes i have around nine machines but they are all old machines for a reason. Still cannot trust any. But like to kid myself that older Lazers will last longer.

Look at it this way one morning you wake up load a CD for it to skip, out comes the CD no evidence of anything that has caused the skip, you put the CD in another machine still the same. What do you do? you don't get to hear that album for one & most probably throw the CD away.{Waste of time & money..Utter unreliability}

With a record if that happens it's usually something that has gotten the record, that you will be able to see, remove it & carry on. You can see a styli tracking the groove, you cannot see anything reading data from a disc so you are basically blind as to what the problem may be..

IME when a CDP begins skipping disks it is likely the lazer is not at fault, rather that it is down to a build up of crud and hardened lubricant which accrues over time on the rails along which the read head travels, it's an easy fix.

Remove the top panel and identify the rails in the mech. Clean them thoroughly with a cotton bud dipped in a little IPA (vodka works just as well). Once you have cleaned the visible rails, very carefully shunt the head down to the cleaned end using a finger. DO NOT TOUCH THE LENS ASSEMBLY. It is very delicate and easily broken. Now clean the newly exposed portion of the rails. Whilst waiting for the rails to dry (won't take long, a couple of minutes will suffice) go find a pencil. Got one? Good :) Now rub the pencil lead along each of the rails (graphite is an excellent dry lube and perfect for this job). You don't need to bother returning the read head to its park position, the CDP will do this for you once it is powered up.

While you are in there you may as well clean the lens too. This needs to be done extremely carefully and with a very steady hand so don't even attempt it if you've been supping on the vodka you used to clean the rails. If you have been supping the IPA you need help :D Dab a little Mr Muscle (or equivelant) window cleaner onto the tip of a cotton bud and oh so gently rub the bud to and fro across the lens using as little pressure as possible. The lens will wobble a little as you do this. Do not press down hard on the bud otherwise you could damage the mechanism. Once done use the dry end of the bud to remove any excess. I stress, use a see through liquid window cleaner for this procedure and not the opaque Windowlene style cleaners which dry to a powder. Job done so replace the top cover, connect up the CDP to your system and power it up, install a disk and listen to the fruits of your labours. If the machine still skips then the lazer needs replacing ;)

The Barbarian

25-10-2014, 13:42

Dave:
I did say the same happens in a diffferent machine which renders it a issue with the CD..

The Black Adder

25-10-2014, 13:50

Entropy

http://electronicdesign.com/content/content/61673/61673-fig-3.jpg

Look on the bright side, that curve applies to you as well, so your kit won't have to work forever.

That's ACE, Nick... lol

Tim

25-10-2014, 14:57

Using hard drives to store music - totally mad :scratch:

You guys don't half crack me up sometimes . . . and the emotive language - horror stories, crazy, mad . . . it's such a relief to know that a stylus (or optical laser) lasts forever and that they are really, really cheap to replace and come with a 5 year warranty. It's also really comforting knowing that a record never wears out, doesn't warp, doesn't ever need cleaning and plays music perfectly every single time, no matter how many times you play it with your everlasting stylus.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w63/greatgig/Gifs/RK5I6FxwJLgEV5J6_zpsf7b3cfac.gif (http://s173.photobucket.com/user/greatgig/media/Gifs/RK5I6FxwJLgEV5J6_zpsf7b3cfac.gif.html)

Nothing lasts forever guys . . . .

Spectral Morn

25-10-2014, 15:11

Using hard drives to store music - totally mad :scratch:

You guys don't half crack me up sometimes . . . and the emotive language - horror stories, crazy, mad . . . it's such a relief to know that a stylus (or optical laser) lasts forever and that they are really, really cheap to replace and come with a 5 year warranty. It's also really comforting knowing that a record never wears out, doesn't warp, doesn't ever need cleaning and plays music perfectly every single time, no matter how many times you play it with your everlasting stylus.

Nothing lasts forever guys . . . .

And Tim have I said that anywhere, but I think trusting ones entire music collection to one very flaky storage medium is mad, I stand by that comment. If you have kept the physical as a real insurance against several HDs failing then that's wise but dumping it all and trusting your back ups don't die too - crazy imho.

If its based on legal, paid for downloads and it all went...... :(

Regards Neil

Tim

25-10-2014, 15:36

& you cannot get a straight answer from anyone regarding the legality of copying your CDee's in file formats. I personally would rather keep out of the whole malarky tbh..

You will also never get reason from people dedicated to it all.

It is legal for your 'own personal use' André - the law has recently been changed and there was a thread here about it. But you must retain the original, which is common sense surely? CDs do fail as well, like any digital format can - the dye in the disc can deteriorate or the plastic itself can suffer disc rot, not common but it happens and depends a lot on how you store them. CDRs are particularly prone to long term failure issues.

Wasn't replying directly to you Neil, if I was I would have quoted you and dealt with that quote. I was replying to the general lack of sagacity throughout the thread, as the arguments are flawed.

lurcher

25-10-2014, 15:53

The Black Adder

25-10-2014, 16:02

I would have said that music stored in a open source lossless format on hard drive, with a copy sync'd regularly to another drive in a different location. Then replace each disk every year six months apart. That should be just about as secure as you could ask for. If you want to be certain, keep the last two copy thats just been replaced in a safety deposit box. You may need to change the hard drive interface as time goes on, to ensure that the disk can be read by current equipment. Just for certainly keep checksums of all the files on a USB stick that follows the drive.

Blimey... I think I'd rather stick to Vinyl and CD's ... lol

If someone could make a bullet proof self backing up server with drive integrity checking, online wifi back-up (with truly interruption free back up and updates) then that would be top... Or, if someone can make a physical memory drive that's at least 2TB but also have an online back-up then I'd be there... The latter would most probably be the size of a fag packet whilst the former would need a shelf of space.

I love the idea that all of my albums can be in file storage but this issue as well as a lack of support for gapless playback puts me off.

As someone posted on OPPO's facebook page... "Haven't you heard of the band 'Pink Floyd'?"... lol

I'm not against it btw... I just don't think it's quite 'there' yet.

Jimbo

25-10-2014, 18:41

Sorry but CDee's don't ware out. It's quite clear it's a utter waste of time having a civil convo in this place..

Hey Andre, your sort of right CDees do not wear out but as the surface becomes more and more scratched and worn, the error correction starts to go into overdrive and the sound starts to get even worse than it was when it was originally machined onto one of those little shiny discs:) 010101----0----10----------------01----------------00000000 skip, jump and eventually either stop or rejects!!!!!

struth

25-10-2014, 18:55

If you use usb 3 drives it is pretty quick to just connect 2 drives to a pc and copy over. Go do something while it does its stuff..... I look after my cd's and have not had any problems with them, alas you cannot say the same about cd players; especially Denon ones :steam: CDR's do wear out as they are burned rather than impressed. Have heard of disc rot, but its not happened to me so far. The older cd's in the 80's were much better made phisically and I have a few of them. still goung strong so sure they will see me out,

The Black Adder

25-10-2014, 19:07

Have heard of disc rot, but its not happened to me so far. The older cd's in the 80's were much better made phisically and I have a few of them. still goung strong so sure they will see me out,

I have had cd rot a few times. I have two cd's from the 90's that are flaking at the edges. Luckily so far the rot hasn't crept to the outer written areas.

I'd agree, the 80's cd's were much better made.

Did you not get on with Denon cd players then?

struth

25-10-2014, 19:12

I have an old one, really old that is great, but on my second 2900 and it has hardly been used and is playing up not wanting to read cd......bloody expensive junk! Currently playing my cd's upstairs on the ever reliable pioneer 717, and through my external cd-rom drive down stairs. When my server get made, I'll use that. Not wasting more cash on a cd player unless a cheap as chips good oldie comes up.

Ali Tait

25-10-2014, 22:31

The Drobo is a pretty good system. Has four HD's fitted, you can lose one with no loss of data, just replace the drive and carry on. I keep a backup drive also, which stays in the car most of the time. The Drobo is left on 24/7, not had a drive fail yet..

webby

25-10-2014, 23:33

Try making a backup/copy of that vinyl. That's at risk of damage just like everything else. Fire, water, theft.

Macca

26-10-2014, 09:08

Try making a backup/copy of that vinyl. That's at risk of damage just like everything else. Fire, water, theft.

the hard drive is at risk of those things too. And vinyl will not just inexplicably 'pack in' like a hard drive.

Stratmangler

26-10-2014, 09:36

Hey Andre, your sort of right CDees do not wear out but as the surface becomes more and more scratched and worn, the error correction starts to go into overdrive and the sound starts to get even worse than it was when it was originally machined onto one of those little shiny discs:) 010101----0----10----------------01----------------00000000 skip, jump and eventually either stop or rejects!!!!!

Your comment is pointed at the wrong person!
André & scratched CDs = never gonna happen mate!

Jimbo

26-10-2014, 09:43

Your comment is pointed at the wrong person!
André & scratched CDs = never gonna happen mate!

Errr yes your right there Chris:lol:

webby

26-10-2014, 09:45

the hard drive is at risk of those things too. And vinyl will not just inexplicably 'pack in' like a hard drive.

Yes but you can make multiple copies and keep one offsite or in a fireproof safe.

Stratmangler

26-10-2014, 09:51

the dye in the disc can deteriorate or the plastic itself can suffer disc rot, not common but it happens and depends a lot on how you store them. CDRs are particularly prone to long term failure issues

Are you sure?
There is no dye in between the polycarbonate layers on a commercially stamped CD.
There is dye in a CDR, but they're not sold in shops with music material on them. You'll more likely find them being sold at gigs by artists without recording contracts.

The polycarbonate should remain fairly table - the CD rot phenomenon was due to oxidation of the aluminium layer in between the polycarbonate sections of the disc.
Once the rot issue was identified they company concerned found that the aluminium layer was not hermetically sealed, which they rectified by modifying the production process.
The company with the problem was PDO (Philips DuPont Optical) who were based in Blackburn. Their plant was in the old Mullard factory.

With CDR problems occur because of instability of the dyes used.
Ironically enough the early CDRs were better in this respect than the ones that came when CDR hit critical mass.

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The Black Adder

26-10-2014, 10:09

Nothing like finishing off with some Aloominum. :lol:

Macca

26-10-2014, 10:21

Yes but you can make multiple copies and keep one offsite or in a fireproof safe.

You could keep vinyl in a fireproof safe too, if you were that paranoid about fire or flood. The thing is fire or flood are very, very unlikely wheras a hard drive failure is inevitable. All that backing up and keeping extra drives off-site does detract somewhat from the whole 'convenience' argument for file audio.

lurcher

26-10-2014, 10:51

Yep, but (much as I love vinyl) the reality is it WILL degrade over use. If its never used, then yes, its a good archive material (as long as its stored under the correct conditions), but a copy of a flac file will be exactly the same as the original and will not change at all no matter how many times its played.

For example, EMI are archiving the Blue Note master tapes to hi res digital. I hope after that they will continue to store the analogue masters, the quality of analogue to digital converts may improve, but eventually the analogue masters will degrade so that the best copy is in the digital realm. Once its there, it can stay in that condition for as long as we care.

Gordon Steadman

26-10-2014, 11:15

You could keep vinyl in a fireproof safe too, if you were that paranoid about fire or flood. The thing is fire or flood are very, very unlikely wheras a hard drive failure is inevitable. All that backing up and keeping extra drives off-site does detract somewhat from the whole 'convenience' argument for file audio.

Backing up is an automatic part of any decent digital system. I never have to think about it in the normal run of things. Keeping a few extra drives is small potatoes to the average hi-fi collector, I have more complete systems than I have hard drives.

Stratmangler

27-10-2014, 08:23

Errr yes your right there Chris:lol:

Something I should have mentioned yesterday is that if André is selling media off it comes in immaculate condition.
I bought a couple of vinyl albums from him earlier this year and to say they were pristine is not exaggeration :)
I can't imagine that CDs would fair any worse.

Spectral Morn

27-10-2014, 10:11

Something I should have mentioned yesterday is that if André is selling media off it comes in immaculate condition.
I bought a couple of vinyl albums from him earlier this year and to say they were pristine is not exaggeration :)
I can't imagine that CDs would fair any worse.

Having bought CDs of Andre I can also state they were mint, as new. I am very fussy about the state of my music collection but would fall a bit short of the standard of care Andre obviously has re his music.

Regards Neil

struth

27-10-2014, 18:53

Got a spare new Hdd in today . a nice little Tosh 1/2 tb usb3 unit.. done all pics and tunes over to it in 1 1/2hrs from 2 different pc's. So that will be the new master.

zygote23

28-10-2014, 14:45

I have 35K files stored on a 3TB drive all coded as FLAC...no point with MP3 and I'll not have an apple product or file about me thank you very much. The 3TB drive will be mirrored shortly with another in the NAS I use so there will be a RAID 1 backup. I also have an external WD drive here with all music files stored on it. Then there are two further HDD's at different locations in Ireland with complete copies of all my files so I should be OK. I strem the music around the house to three Logitech Squeeze products and a Cambridge Audio Bluetooth speaker in the Garage/gym.

Probably the biggest wake up for me lately is to realise that this is all just stuff and as such it will always have a lifespan. I don't get too hung up on losing it or in face selling the physical items I coveted so much in the past. Stuff is just stuff and whilst it is lovely to listen to If I set my streamers to play all 35 000 tracks end to end I would be dust long before they had finished.

Enjoy it whilst its here......forget it when it packs in lol.