I used EAC to rip one track from a CD with a scratch on it. The rip took 20 mins, the error correction box filled up a lot, but eventually it finished with the usual 'copy OK, no errors occured' message.

This is the first unusually long rip I've seen since starting using EAC (so far over 250 CDs I've never had a problem), so I'm naturally a little suspicious. The scratch isn't terrible - just long; it probably goes the whole length of the track.

So the question is: did EAC finish with the same WAV it would have got if the scratch wasn't there?

As far as I understand, EAC's error correction means it's just reading and re-reading the CD. It's not making it's own guesses if it can't read the complete WAV is it?

Just want to put my mind at rest! Thanks!

If it says "copy OK" then the copy is OK.

That's all I needed to know. Thanks!

Sorry for the belated reply.

Not true at all. Its been proven many times. Do you have AccurateRip installed? Was the rip accurate?

A matching CRC using Test and Copy is a good indication that the rip will be as good as you're likely to get with that drive. You can try running a Test rip with one drive and then Copy with another. If your CRCs still match there's a good chance the copy was secure.

Don't have AccurateRip - I'll check it out though.

I did use secure mode. I was just wondering what EAC does different over 20 mins that it couldn't do over the first few reads of the CD. I would have thought that either it can read the CD despite the scratch, or not at all.

PS - I'm not that bothered about this particular instance, since I know someone who has the same (hopefully unscrached) CD I can just copy instead. My question is purely theoretical!

This has only happened to me twice while using T&C and EAC.

I will get the 'Copy OK' message in the log, but the CRC's from the test and from the copy are not identical.

It usually happens on CD's that were somehow created with an error on it or have been scratched badly.
JXL

EAC continues to Re-read the bad frame until it gets a certain number of matching results. It is possible to get matching wrong results and thus say OK when the read is bad. I have had this happen many times and it was only realized because I had AccurateRip installed. Also, you can give the new dbpoweramp R12 a try as an alternative to EAC.