How to repair EAC? And how to recover damaged CDs?

[Cafe Jeff]

Hi Guys,
I only learned about EAC a short while ago. And during my short stay with EAC I came to love the ease of ripping, and burning from images. However, EAC has suddenly died on me and chokes about halfway through a disc. Installing ASPI for XP from the ADAPTEC site hasn't helped. How do I get EAC back to work. I really don't think I changed or installed any software or hardware between the last time EAC worked and now. The reason I want to get EAC back working is so I may recover some Raffi Discs that my son has been less than kind to. Which leads to another question: is EAC the best way to do this?
Jeff
I don't know if it's related, but after installing EAC for the first time, and the suggested ASPI, XP's own burning facilities stopped working.

[mcow1]

What exactly happens? Does it just stop while burning? does it give an error?, if so what is it?

[Cafe Jeff]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the quick reply.
It starts off OK, rips at around 3.5-3.7 when I originally had it ripping at somethin like 1.7 for better recovery, and then it progressively slows down until it either hangs or says out of sync error. One of the discs tried was fresh from the wrapper. Jeff

[Sckott]

You're using secure mode on a CDROM drive that isn't very good at ripping at all.

My advice is to get another CD ROM drive, even something inexpensive, and try again. Most CD ROM drives that are decent can be as low as $40.

If you're using XP, then you're using a PC that has plenty of resources available, I'd assume. I own a Pioneer DVD drive that I love dearly, but it will not rip accurately under "Secure" mode. I use it only for reading at "normal speeds"

[Cafe Jeff]

Hi,
The thing is, it did work for a while. In any event, I am using an HP9100i CD writer to rip. I will take secure mode off. Jeff

[BradOlson]

Reinstall EAC.

[Cafe Jeff]

Tried that twice!

[BradOlson]

Have you tried MusicMatch Jukebox?

[Cafe Jeff]

Hi CB,
Music Match does work, actually. Although I haven't tried it to rip a wav, only encode MP3s. In fact, I didn't know that it could rip wavs. Jeff
I don't use MM much because I find it a little too all you can eat buffet.

[mcow1]

Originally posted by Cafe Jeff
Tried that twice!
Did you uninstall EAC and reboot first?

[-=Rudy=-]

I do believe that you don't need ASPI drivers for XP. That seems to mess up more than it fixes. At least with the couple of Windows mavens I've discussed it with. I had varying troubles with my drives...but come to find out it was a failing motherboard that caused it (since NOTHING related to IDE was working correctly).

Good luck! I ditched EAC because it was unreliable. Anything else I've used rips flawlessly. (I keep telling myself that I got what I paid for. ;) )

[wildjim]

Originally posted by Rudy@A&MCorner
I do believe that you don't need ASPI drivers for XP. That seems to mess up more than it fixes. At least with the couple of Windows mavens I've discussed it with. I had varying troubles with my drives...but come to find out it was a failing motherboard that caused it (since NOTHING related to IDE was working correctly).

Good luck! I ditched EAC because it was unreliable. Anything else I've used rips flawlessly. (I keep telling myself that I got what I paid for. ;) )

You may rip flawlessly as you do not know of the flaws with anything but EAC.

The Adaptec ASPI driver works fine - no problems.

EAC is currently "the best" audio file ripper .

Use only the "SECURE MODE" as it is "the" reason to use EAC.

Set your drive to use DMA within the Windows device manager setting.

Purchase a cdrom drive that is known for speed and quality DAE; such as the ASUS CD-S520/A 52x which will rip audio at about 20X ! In the SECURE MODE. Teac 540e

The Toshiba DVD drives are good for audio rips - BUT DVD drives get confused with the SACD redbook layer.

As for a CDR Writer get the Plextore Plexwriter as they are the best overall audio cdr performer and will also copy protected game cds.

I use these devices and settings on "several" computers running Windows 2000 and XP and swear by them. . .

[Michael St. Clair]

You may rip flawlessly as you do not know of the flaws with anything but EAC.

Yes, most programs simply do not tell us that errors occurred, and do not slow down and try everything possible to fix them.

But what we don't know can't hurt us, right? ;)

Here are the 10 best tested drives for error correction:

1 Toshiba SD-R1002
2 Ricoh MP7200
3 LiteOn LTR-32123S
4 LiteOn LTR-48125W
5 AOpen CRW4850
6 Philips CDRWDVD3210
7 LiteOn LTD163
8 CyberDrive CW099D
9 Yamaha CRW3200
10 Yamaha CRW-F1

DAE Error Test Info (http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=daeerrortest.php3)

DAE speed rankings (http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=daeresults.php3)

I never buy a drive without consulting the CDSpeed2000 website.

[wildjim]

Originally posted by Michael St. Clair


Yes, most programs simply do not tell us that errors occurred, and do not slow down and try everything possible to fix them.

But what we don't know can't hurt us, right? ;)

Here are the 10 best tested drives for error correction:

1 Toshiba SD-R1002
2 Ricoh MP7200
3 LiteOn LTR-32123S
4 LiteOn LTR-48125W
5 AOpen CRW4850
6 Philips CDRWDVD3210
7 LiteOn LTD163
8 CyberDrive CW099D
9 Yamaha CRW3200
10 Yamaha CRW-F1

DAE Error Test Info (http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=daeerrortest.php3)

DAE speed rankings (http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=daeresults.php3)

I never buy a drive without consulting the CDSpeed2000 website.

I am aware of CDSpeed2000 website. But the suggested equipment I've posted is from practical and actual experience as CdSpeed2000 doesn't tell the real life practical data using actual audio rips and results. I usually compare there data to the news group users actual result then decide my purchase from the combined information.

My suggested equipment is about 1 year out of date as I purchase a new PC system piece by piece "every" spring at he local computer show.

[Michael St. Clair]

Jim,

I didn't say that I only use CDSpeed2000 data, just that I always consult the site. :)

I agree that other reviews should be considered.

[Sckott]

That HP drive should rip slow, but accurately.

I'll stand behind my last comment about the drive's inability to rip correctly. It can happen to good drives. You can use many ASPI checkers to make sure the drive is operating with good ASPI drivers, but I think you've got that nailed.

Do you have another drive installed to try? Otherwize, I would try, if not temporarilly, another CDROM drive for a test run. EAC, I'm confident, is not at fault.

[Claviusb]

You guys are shooting the messenger! The difference between EAC and every other ripper is this: If you have a damaged disc and you try to rip it, EAC tries to read all of the usable data, only slowing down or stopping when it gets a sync error, which it keeps track of. Other rippers just keep on ripping all of the sync errors on the disc without a peep. Ignorance is bliss, huh?

Of course, I've set Nero to stop the rip when it gets a sync error and it's never stopped once, even on a terribly scratched disc. So EAC sucks, right? Nope, EAC just checks the data, the drive is responsible for supplying that data. I think Nero does a poor job of confirming the accuracy of the stream. Unfortunately, no other software keeps the kind of track of errors that EAC does.

As others have noted, not all readers are alike when it comes to error correction. Some don't offer C2 correction, or the *user* hasn't run the diagnostics to determine if the drive uses such correction and then plugged that info into EAC.

Unfortunately, if you are getting sync errors in EAC, your options are limited. You can try cleaning the CD, if you're lucky, that's the problem, otherwise, the reality is that the disc is scratched deeply enough (or there is some crapola embedded in the polycarbonate) that the laser cannot read the data properly. If it's a scratch on the label side of the disc (apparent if you hold the disc up to a light and the light pours through) you are hosed. If the scratch is on the data side, you might be able to polish the scratch down to a point where it's readable by sending it to a CD repair shop or by doing it yourself (although, if you don't know what you're doing, you might totally ruin the disc). Or you could just use another ripping program to copy all of that bad data onto a brand new CD-R.

[mcow1]

Originally posted by Claviusb
You guys are shooting the messenger! The difference between EAC and every other ripper is this: If you have a damaged disc and you try to rip it, EAC tries to read all of the usable data, only slowing down or stopping when it gets a sync error, which it keeps track of. Other rippers just keep on ripping all of the sync errors on the disc without a peep. Ignorance is bliss, huh?

Of course, I've set Nero to stop the rip when it gets a sync error and it's never stopped once, even on a terribly scratched disc. So EAC sucks, right? Nope, EAC just checks the data, the drive is responsible for supplying that data. I think Nero does a poor job of confirming the accuracy of the stream. Unfortunately, no other software keeps the kind of track of errors that EAC does.

As others have noted, not all readers are alike when it comes to error correction. Some don't offer C2 correction, or the *user* hasn't run the diagnostics to determine if the drive uses such correction and then plugged that info into EAC.

Unfortunately, if you are getting sync errors in EAC, your options are limited. You can try cleaning the CD, if you're lucky, that's the problem, otherwise, the reality is that the disc is scratched deeply enough (or there is some crapola embedded in the polycarbonate) that the laser cannot read the data properly. If it's a scratch on the label side of the disc (apparent if you hold the disc up to a light and the light pours through) you are hosed. If the scratch is on the data side, you might be able to polish the scratch down to a point where it's readable by sending it to a CD repair shop or by doing it yourself (although, if you don't know what you're doing, you might totally ruin the disc). Or you could just use another ripping program to copy all of that bad data onto a brand new CD-R.
All true, but he said this is even happening with brand new disks.

[Claviusb]

Thanks, Mike, I missed that. I was aiming more at some of the other comments that I've seen in the thread where people misunderstand what is going on exactly.

On the other hand, I've seen CDs fresh out of the wrapper that had a *ton* of junk on the data side. I always make it a point to check the data side of every CD before I rip it.

Readers DO go bad. My first burner was a Yamaha that slowly stopped reading discs, including those it wrote.

[Cafe Jeff]

Gentlemen,
I think you guys are onto something. Perhaps my reader went bad, though it still burns well. I hadn't actually considered that and at 8x speed it ain't a Spring Chicken.. I just assumed because it still burned that the burner was not the problem. That said, the burns that it has made are either from images I have made previously, or copied from the OEM cdrom that came with the pc.
I rather like EAC. It's sort of like: It does exactly what it says it does and it does it well.
Jeff

[Claviusb]

Jeff,

My Yamaha was also burning discs perfectly, but it was not reading properly. I thought the burner was at fault, but it was the reader. I figured that out when I got another reader and the Yamaha-burned discs played fine, but not in the Yamaha!

[MagicAlex]

I have had two drives in which the burning mechanism quit working but the reader was fine. I'll bet the drive is bad.

[Craig]

Jeff,
I use two drives, one to read and one to write. I had problems similar to yours a couple of years ago and got a new reader and then everything worked fine. I like using two drives because I can put in a source disc and put in a destination blank, start up EAC and walk away. EAC writes to the HD then out to the CDR. No swapping discs. My writer is still going strong after four years (HP 8100). It only does 4X, but I burn at 2X most of the time anyway.

Good luck!

[Cafe Jeff]

Hi,
I feel I have wasted your time.
It turns out that there was never anything wrong with EAC. It was only that my HP Writer that no longer wishes to extract (though it still burns). The OEM drive works fine. I had used the HP in the passed because I had assumed it was a better drive.
Thanks guys. Jeff
PS If the extraction function goes on a burner, is the burner function liable to follow soon?

[Claviusb]

Jeff, my advice is that if you have the money, just invest in a new burner. As Sckott pointed out (I think), burners are cheap these days (and a cinch to install.) Why wait for the burner part to give up the ghost?