Inexplicable - Computer self deleting files
Discussion
I have just added to my question about MP3 Storage but this is such a problem I have decided to start a new topic.
I have just ripped hundreds of MP3's from a quarter of my CD collection to start storing as MP3. Having done so and bunged them all in one file, I have stopped burning and started to go through them all (currently they are numbered and dated only) in order to add correct names to them.
In the process, the computer is every so often self deleting whole clumps of music files, around 8 to 12 at a time. They vanish, self combust and have no input from me. They don't go to the recycle bin, they just go full stop. I am not making mistakes, or doing it in error. I am simply renaming files, mostly successfully, and then every so often I see the file list shift where whole clumps of MP3's spontaneously combust. They are lost forever, and it is hard to work out which ones are missing as there is no trace or reason for them going. The only thing I get sometimes is a "Media Player encountered a problem" when trying to play an MP3 file - but this doesn't even make sense as earlier tonight it said this about a file I had played successfully 2 seconds earlier. I only went to rename it, which is when it said it couldn't find it, then wham, a whole list of MP3's vanish.
What is this?
I have just ripped hundreds of MP3's from a quarter of my CD collection to start storing as MP3. Having done so and bunged them all in one file, I have stopped burning and started to go through them all (currently they are numbered and dated only) in order to add correct names to them.
In the process, the computer is every so often self deleting whole clumps of music files, around 8 to 12 at a time. They vanish, self combust and have no input from me. They don't go to the recycle bin, they just go full stop. I am not making mistakes, or doing it in error. I am simply renaming files, mostly successfully, and then every so often I see the file list shift where whole clumps of MP3's spontaneously combust. They are lost forever, and it is hard to work out which ones are missing as there is no trace or reason for them going. The only thing I get sometimes is a "Media Player encountered a problem" when trying to play an MP3 file - but this doesn't even make sense as earlier tonight it said this about a file I had played successfully 2 seconds earlier. I only went to rename it, which is when it said it couldn't find it, then wham, a whole list of MP3's vanish.
What is this?
if you have a lot of mp3s in the same folder (as it sounds like from your description) then when you are renaming them are they not getting sorted and displayed at a different point in the list of files in the folder? try searching for the filename within the folder. it's very unlikely that they are going anywhere or they are being removed.
also it makes sense that when you rename the file your media player cant find it anymore because it will use the path to the file which includes the filename that's now been changed.
also it makes sense that when you rename the file your media player cant find it anymore because it will use the path to the file which includes the filename that's now been changed.
My guess would be the drive is damaged/failing.
What are you using to rip the files ? Is it some sort of weird catalog thing where the program is deleting because they aren't in the library.
You could set up Process Monitor from here : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb...
it will show you which applications are using which files.
If you downloaded media monkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/) it will rip the MP3s, correctly tag them from the internet and name them according to the tags in whatever format you like e.g. I use "artist - title.mp3" but you can stick the album name, track number, all sorts into it, you can organise the file structure too, e.g. all my stuff goes in to E:\Music\Artist\Album\.
What are you using to rip the files ? Is it some sort of weird catalog thing where the program is deleting because they aren't in the library.
You could set up Process Monitor from here : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb...
it will show you which applications are using which files.
If you downloaded media monkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/) it will rip the MP3s, correctly tag them from the internet and name them according to the tags in whatever format you like e.g. I use "artist - title.mp3" but you can stick the album name, track number, all sorts into it, you can organise the file structure too, e.g. all my stuff goes in to E:\Music\Artist\Album\.
ryanthescot said:
if you have a lot of mp3s in the same folder (as it sounds like from your description) then when you are renaming them are they not getting sorted and displayed at a different point in the list of files in the folder? try searching for the filename within the folder. it's very unlikely that they are going anywhere or they are being removed.
also it makes sense that when you rename the file your media player cant find it anymore because it will use the path to the file which includes the filename that's now been changed.
Yes they are moving when I name them but its not this. Files are being wiped and its getting faster. For example I had a load named June 07 1 onto June 07 28 which are 28 mp3s from June 2007. I listened to and named three then the rest just vanishes.also it makes sense that when you rename the file your media player cant find it anymore because it will use the path to the file which includes the filename that's now been changed.
Crafty_ said:
My guess would be the drive is damaged/failing.
What are you using to rip the files ? Is it some sort of weird catalog thing where the program is deleting because they aren't in the library.
You could set up Process Monitor from here : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb...
it will show you which applications are using which files.
If you downloaded media monkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/) it will rip the MP3s, correctly tag them from the internet and name them according to the tags in whatever format you like e.g. I use "artist - title.mp3" but you can stick the album name, track number, all sorts into it, you can organise the file structure too, e.g. all my stuff goes in to E:\Music\Artist\Album\.
Im just using media player to rip. They then have all appeared in my folder. Its only when open, listen or try to rename them that randomly, clumps are wiped. What are you using to rip the files ? Is it some sort of weird catalog thing where the program is deleting because they aren't in the library.
You could set up Process Monitor from here : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb...
it will show you which applications are using which files.
If you downloaded media monkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/) it will rip the MP3s, correctly tag them from the internet and name them according to the tags in whatever format you like e.g. I use "artist - title.mp3" but you can stick the album name, track number, all sorts into it, you can organise the file structure too, e.g. all my stuff goes in to E:\Music\Artist\Album\.
In all honesty, you're making some horrendous work for yourself anyway from the method you've described.
Use Exact Audio Copy ( http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ ) and it'll title, tag and attach artwork to your MP3s automatically for you. It will save you years of pain (tagging especially, this is what audio players use to identify artist, album, title, track number etc).
Use Exact Audio Copy ( http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ ) and it'll title, tag and attach artwork to your MP3s automatically for you. It will save you years of pain (tagging especially, this is what audio players use to identify artist, album, title, track number etc).
Yep as others are saying you're doing it completely wrong.
First of all ditch WMP, its s
t. Personally I'd use either EAC (Exact Audio Copy) or DBPoweramp to rip. Both of these programs will grab metadata for your rips from the Internet and fill in the tags and filenames for you. They will also automatically sort the files into folders, for example Artist/album/track.
Secondly I'd suggest using a lossless format for your rips like FLAC or Apple Lossless. A lossless file will let you convert freely to other formats without losing quality if needed in the future, whereas MP3 will be badly degraded by conversion to other formats. If you need MP3 for a portable device or the car then DBPA will actually rip FLAC and MP3 at the same time. Personally I rip with EAC and then do a batch conversion to MP3 using Foobar2000
Thirdly ripping your CDs should be a once only job so make sure you have a decent back up strategy. I mirror my music collection to several drives, including a USB drive I keep at my Mums.
First of all ditch WMP, its s
t. Personally I'd use either EAC (Exact Audio Copy) or DBPoweramp to rip. Both of these programs will grab metadata for your rips from the Internet and fill in the tags and filenames for you. They will also automatically sort the files into folders, for example Artist/album/track.Secondly I'd suggest using a lossless format for your rips like FLAC or Apple Lossless. A lossless file will let you convert freely to other formats without losing quality if needed in the future, whereas MP3 will be badly degraded by conversion to other formats. If you need MP3 for a portable device or the car then DBPA will actually rip FLAC and MP3 at the same time. Personally I rip with EAC and then do a batch conversion to MP3 using Foobar2000
Thirdly ripping your CDs should be a once only job so make sure you have a decent back up strategy. I mirror my music collection to several drives, including a USB drive I keep at my Mums.
JimbobVFR said:
Yep as others are saying you're doing it completely wrong.
First of all ditch WMP, its st. Personally I'd use either EAC (Exact Audio Copy) or DBPoweramp to rip. Both of these programs will grab metadata for your rips from the Internet and fill in the tags and filenames for you. They will also automatically sort the files into folders, for example Artist/album/track.
Secondly I'd suggest using a lossless format for your rips like FLAC or Apple Lossless. A lossless file will let you convert freely to other formats without losing quality if needed in the future, whereas MP3 will be badly degraded by conversion to other formats. If you need MP3 for a portable device or the car then DBPA will actually rip FLAC and MP3 at the same time. Personally I rip with EAC and then do a batch conversion to MP3 using Foobar2000
Thirdly ripping your CDs should be a once only job so make sure you have a decent back up strategy. I mirror my music collection to several drives, including a USB drive I keep at my Mums.
Pretty much what I do, except without the MP3 - I go straight to FLAC with log and cue file so I can burn back to disc if I ever need to later (takes a few mins to set up once, but after that it's no hassle at all as it's automated).First of all ditch WMP, its s
t. Personally I'd use either EAC (Exact Audio Copy) or DBPoweramp to rip. Both of these programs will grab metadata for your rips from the Internet and fill in the tags and filenames for you. They will also automatically sort the files into folders, for example Artist/album/track.Secondly I'd suggest using a lossless format for your rips like FLAC or Apple Lossless. A lossless file will let you convert freely to other formats without losing quality if needed in the future, whereas MP3 will be badly degraded by conversion to other formats. If you need MP3 for a portable device or the car then DBPA will actually rip FLAC and MP3 at the same time. Personally I rip with EAC and then do a batch conversion to MP3 using Foobar2000
Thirdly ripping your CDs should be a once only job so make sure you have a decent back up strategy. I mirror my music collection to several drives, including a USB drive I keep at my Mums.
My audio player (JRiver) transcodes to OGG on-the-fly for me when I transfer albums to my phone through it (a good compromise between size/quality imo) but to be honest I mostly stream straight from the computer over 3/4G now coverage is solid.
Edited by Funk on Sunday 21st September 17:40
Mr Pointy said:
That's all great. Now what about the problem the OP actually posted about? He's losing files.
Not just great, it's exactly what the OP should have done and is what he should do when he has to start again from scratch using recommended, reliable software, HDD's and/or NAS drives set up using raid.People ask for advice, advice is given then ignored and it all f
ks up.Harsh perhaps but not the first time it's happened...
Ripping a sizeable cd collection is mind-numbingly tedious in the extreme - having to start all over again because short cuts were taken and good advice was ignored is just silly.
GB of storage is cheap - rip LOSSLESS, back it up (several times) then convert to your hearts content into whatever lossy format you want safe in the knowledge that the original is safe.
Crafty_ said:
My guess would be the drive is damaged/failing.
This. Either the drive is failing or you have a damaged MFT, FAT or whatever your filesystem uses as the index for file locations.Files don't "just disappear".
Stop writing to the drive, immediately, and copy the data across to a new one.
Then you can try a disk repair program, but don't hold your breath.
Greenish said:
I may end up starting from scratch using one of the mentioned programs however I wouldn't say I have used any shortcuts. I have ripped and saved and having done so im now finding clumps of them self deleting when clicked on. Why would that ever happen?
The shortcut involves using a poor program and questionable storage device which you already owned.Understandable but advice was offered on two seperate threads from users who've already gone through the mill - keep it lossless and use good auto-tagging and ripping software (EAC is free) and store on a NAS.
Start from scratch, use good software (dbpoweramp is excellent) and rip to reliable storage.
And back up.
Good luck - once it's done you'll wonder why you didn't do it earlier and it's a shame about the failing drive - it can happen to anyone at any time but that's where the advice to BACKUP is worth listening to.
Software and/or apps live and die based on the quality of the tagging - manually adding tags would bore me senseless after one album - repeating that by a factor or 10, 100 or x1000? NO!!!
Just downloaded EAC and been through the biggest ballache of all ballache - trying to download lame files from the internet to make the program work which could not then be found as the directory does not exist etc etc absolute fking ballache so fk it, whole project scrapped and I am going to have to do it all manually just slowly and carefully. Not worth the hassle I have just had to endure trying to install the program.
king ballache so fk it, whole project scrapped and I am going to have to do it all manually just slowly and carefully. Not worth the hassle I have just had to endure trying to install the program.Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff