It’s a valid point. Did I mention that Mrs. H. is a judge
I like @james_n boxes. That would be great but our spare room/4th bedroom is lined with bookshelves and wardrobes, a sofa bed (and a Muso QB) so there’s no space. I know I won’t get away with them in the garage as I stored old football programmes in exactly that kimd of box and it was a mistake.
So, veering between disposal and the metal cases.
Have also established that the USB port for backups on the Innuos is powered so I’m now in the market for a 2TB USB powered external hard drive (or two) for back ups if you kind people have any recommendations.
Actually the way to use homeplug units is plug the homeplug direct into the wall. Then, assuming you’ve got the better versions with the mains passthrough socket, power EVERYTHING via that passthrough socket. So a mains strip. Plug everything into that and then the mains strip into the socket on the front of the Homeplug device. The reason is the mains socket has filtering on it to stop the rubbish from your various power supplies getting onto the mains and upsetting the homeplug signals which are very weak.
Yes… the homeplug mains passthrough socket reduces noise on the mains. So everything nearby needs to be powered through that socket. Don’t do the common trick of homeplug in the wall and something else in the adjacent mains socket; leave that socket empty.
They make CD Binders that will allow one to keep the Disc and booklets and do away with the Cases. I saw some on Amazon that hold 300 or 400 cd’s and jackets. They are fairly cheap $30. each or so
I have stored ripped CDs in jewel cases on a spare IKEA Billy bookcase in my garage for several years. It’s detached from the house and unheated (and even houses a car!) The booklets are still in the cases with a few exceptions, but it’s easy enough to remove them to store in the house if necessary. If I bring a CD inside the house to come to room temperature, it plays fine on the CD player. At least that’s my experience. It might not work for everyone, but it does for me.
Mine are currently on Billy in the living room. No way will 9 columns make it into the garage. I’m liking the CD binders and boxes more and more if the maths/space equation turns out to work.
A bit upset tonight by the discovery that the first CD boxed set I ever bought has suffered some kind of catastrophic deterioration. Aretha Franklin. All 4 discs have what looks like flour on them but may be some kind of mould. Nothing else around it damaged and all rather odd as it was on an empty shelf under the power amp.
I got a second hand cd from an auction site that seems to have suffered in the way you describe here, white patches on the cd only. My first thought was mould (from damp storage) but on my cd it seemed to be in the layer of the cd, and I could not clean it off. I guess it is a mould that has somehow burried into the surface of the cd.
I took a copy, and discarded the mouldy one. I do not stream (though some cd have ended up with an mp3 copy on the pc, not for serious listening), so a copy seemed best; I know mould has a habit of spreading.
I remember visiting an optical works that occasionally took in mouldy optics and they were kept in a remote part of the factory, and dealt with is very strict conditions to avoid contamination. Always served as a warning to me to have respect for any mould I came across…
Not sure is any of this is any help to you…
ps By the way, I have followed your journey from the start, and I am pleased you have found the enjoyment of music at last. I have followed the struggle, and am encouraged you have worked through to a solution. Happy Christmas…
Thanks. You’re describing exactly what my Aretha boxed set looks like. Glad to know it’s not some error on my part. The box itself is in perfect condition and I can buy a used copy of it for £20 on a well known online site so a solution is at hand.
Actually, I can get 250 CDs per shelf on the one in the garage, which has 6 shelves, so it would accommodate 1500, if I had that many to store. But my point was really about storing them. Even on open shelves in my unheated garage, I cannot detect any deterioration in the discs themselves, at least so far.
I hope you find a solution which works as well for you.
So, dumbass question but I’m going to ask it anyway.
I’m looking at a WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive as a suitable backup for the Zenith.
It’s powered by USB 3, which the Zenith can do, but, does it need to be plugged in all the time? Any reason why this would not be an appropriate device to do backups on?
If it’s just for backup it makes absolute sense for it not to plugged in all the time. If there was an electrical surge that took out the Zen it could take the USB with it. I use a couple of these for backups and plug them in to the nas every now and again to do a differential backup. Presumably your Zen can do this - ie look for changes and update the backup accordingly, rather than backing up the whole database, which can take ages.
Exactly what I was hoping would be said. It’s a Zenith rather than a Zen but the process looks easy enough. Plug it in and it’ll format it. I then choose backup every additional 10 or 50 changes and it does a differential backup.
I like WD devices. Discreet and quiet. Argos has this specific one for £30 cheaper than Amazon.
As HH has already suggested, that should be absolutely fine for backups, I use one for backing up my NAS too. Although, one caveat, read your manual or check with Innous first just to make sure. I have a Melco too and whilst the WD probably would have worked fine with that, Melco recommended I used a Buffalo disk station to work seamlessly with the Melco as this was tried and tested (well, they would wouldn’t they because they’re part of the same company!).
For peace of mind, and not much difference in price, I chose the recommended Diskstation to use with my Melco, but I’m sure the WD would have worked too; I just felt if I had any issues, Melco would be more inclined to assist as that’s what they recommended.
As they say, ‘You pays your money, you makes your choice’!