EAC - why are some CDs so noisy in the drive when ripping? Options

[bluto]

I have a TSSTcorpDVD+-RW TS-H653G drive (standard Dell) with which I am ripping CDs using EAC.

Usually in burst mode I get a rip speed of about 8-10x. Not great, but perfectly adequate for the odd CD now and again.
However, one of my CDs goes absolutely mental when ripped with EAC. It is a classical music CD (*) with no copy protection as far as I can tell,
but seems to rip a little faster than the others - up to 15x speed or so. The rip is accurate-rip verified, and seems error free, but the drive
makes one heck of a racket in the process. It sounds like it is about to take off
Even when aborting the rip, the drive keeps on spinning afterwards, making the same loud whirring noise. Only after trying to play the CD in,
say, Winamp, does the drive settle down again.

I have now set the speed setting in EAC to "16x" in the drive settings, and this lowers the extraction speed to only 7 or 8x on all CDs, keeping the
drive nice and quiet on this particular CD.

Couple of questions:

1) Why would this one CD make EAC rip faster, and so noisily when spinning in the drive? All my other CDs rip almost silently.
2) Can this loud whirring damage either the CD or the drive?

Bluto

(*) In case anyone has the same CD, it is "Rachmaninov Piano Concertos 2 & 3" by Ashkenazy, on label Decca Legends, cat. 466 375-2

[DVDdoug]

The disc might be slightly out-of-balance.

The vibration is probably a little hard on the drive, but I wouldn't expect the disc to be damaged.

[Glenn Gundlach]

DVDdoug is right about disc balance. If the vibration is excessive you could slow down the the max rip speed which would reduce the disc RPM. It would just take longer to rip. I don't use EAC. Can you select the rip speed?

G²

[kwanbis]

Interesting. This is happening with 3 used XBOX 360 games I bought, and I think is that.

Now, I wonder if the little scratches could be what make the disc unbalanced.

[Glenn Gundlach]

Now, I wonder if the little scratches could be what make the disc unbalanced.

I've seen discs that are not actually round and they shake when spinning faster than play speed. I don't think you lose enough mass with a scratch to make a difference. If you have some bad discs from burn problems you could try drilling a hole to throw it off balance and see what happens.

G²

This post has been edited by Glenn Gundlach: Nov 24 2011, 17:44

[bluto]

Thanks for all replies - much appreciated. I have indeed changed the drive speed in EAC down from "current" (no limit) to "16x" which has stopped the noise when ripping. My query was more academic than anything else, and the suggestions of an unbalanced disc sound very plausible, even if I can't see any issue with this particular CD. (It appears to be perfectly flat & round, with not even a hint of a scratch.)

The only other weird thing is that my CD drive actually spins faster anyway when ripping this CD than with other CDs. Can data be arranged on some CDs in such a way as to make EAC work quicker on them (burst mode)?

Bluto

[db1989]

Not that I personally know of; however, I also experienced considerable variation in the speed attained on different CDs, even those that seemed flawless cosmetically, and wondered why exactly.

[YaIBetYouDo]

Hey guys I have the cure for this, the CD makes that noise because it is off balance. I found a way to fix this, it involves putting the CD in an angle grinder !!

The CD will just fit into a standard 4" angle grinder like a cut off disc. Center it as best you can by eye then tighten it down gently.

Put on eye protection and gloves !!
The CD is thin plastic and not designed for 11,000 rpm angle grinders, there is always a chance it could have a hairline crack in it which when spinning at such high speed might cause it to tear apart, disintigrate and fly off at you.

Once you are suitably protected, spin it up then hold a piece of medium grit sandpaper to the edge of the CD, you wont have to apply much pressure, just fold the sandpaper a few times, hold it by the edge and use its own rigidity to keep it on the edge of the CD for about 10 seconds, it will abrade the CD down slightly and even up the balance of the CD. You should notice the edge of the cd is smoother and squared off and you should then notice a distinct difference when you put it in the drive but if it is still not silent do it again.

I just did this to two CD's. One of them was so bad EAC would not even begin to rip it, no way no how. Even at the slowest drive speed it sounded like a chainsaw was in there, EAC would not even find the track gaps never mind begin to rip it. After 10 seconds in the angle grinder it spun silently in the drive at 20X speed and gave me a perfect 100% no error image rip.
The other one was not quite as bad as the first one, EAC did begin to rip it but it was making such an awful noise I thought it would tear up the drive so I aborted the rip. I did the same thing to it with the angle grinder and it then also spun up to 20x silently, and ripped perfectly.

This post has been edited by YaIBetYouDo: Apr 3 2013, 03:53

[slks]

Since you mentioned the other games are used Xbox 360 discs -

I know that when I was into console games (a decade ago) it was still common for rental places to use non-symmetrical stickers on the discs themselves to mark them. If they still have stickers on them, that could be what causes it to go off balance. Even if the sticker has been removed, maybe the glue left behind - or damage caused from some other method - is affecting the balance of those discs.

Also, I believe the Xbox 360 in particular follows the HD-DVD format, so the physical construction of these discs may be a bit different than a normal CD/DVD as well.