No Album No Artist

[d6jg]

It pays to carefully set up dbPoweramp to rip your CD's in something like the following format - 1-01 - trackname.flac, where 1 = Disc no, 01 = track number - this avoids the occasional situation where a multi disk CD has identically named tracks on more than 1 Cd which happen to be in the same place track number wise. I have seen it.
It's also the time to consider whether you want to add replay gain tags which can easily be configured in dbPoweramp - perhaps not so much an issue with Classical music but definitely worth it in pop/rock collections.

[Labarum]

Lots of us have many more than 1000!

That's a bit careless!

You will probably know off the top of you head: how much disc space do I need for 200 CDs?

[d6jg]

That's a bit careless!

You will probably know off the top of you head: how much disc space do I need for 200 CDs?

I don't. I have about 3500 using just under 1TB

[d6jg]

[Labarum]

I don't. I have about 3500 using just under 1TB

200*1000/3500 = ~60GB

3500 is a big enough number to establish an accurate average.

If my discs go on 60GB then a 128GB micro SD card is twice as big as I need for operating system and data! And they are dirt cheap.

That seems to be the way forward and I get everything on a little box the size of a pack of cards!

[RobbH]

....how much disc space do I need for 200 CDs?

The amount of space required to store a CD with flac compression will vary, depending on the complexity of the waveform (full orchestra will probably need more space than a recording of solo flute) and the length of the recording (a reissue of a 40-minute LP with no added material will need less space than a full CD with 70+ minutes of the same material). Around 300 Megabytes per CD seems to be a good approximation. In a quick check just now, I saw some CDs that were under 250 MB, and a few that were over 400 MB. Chances are good that you'll get everything to fit on a 128 GB SD card; if not, 256 GB cards are available. And, as suggested, be sure you back up that card!

[Labarum]

Chances are good that you'll get everything to fit on a 128 GB SD card; if not, 256 GB cards are available.

Thanks Rob.

I remembered I had a spare Scandisk Extra 64GB that was in my wife's phone - but she has a new phone. My brain finally got into gear and I remembered I stuffed it into my 7" Samsung Tablet for safekeeping; and remembered I have my FLAC collection on it. When I transferred it to my Chromebook I noted the 64GB was only half full, and there are three 24/96 albums in the FLAC folder. For some reason the folder has three copies of the same Gimell (Hyperion) download - two in FLAC and and one in ALAC. Why I have it three times I cannot say, but gobbles space.

Listening to it now - I had forgotten how clear it was!

I'm tempted to try that 64GB card as a training exercise, but a bigger one wouldn't break the bank!

[kidstypike]

200*1000/3500 = ~60GB

3500 is a big enough number to establish an accurate average.

If my discs go on 60GB then a 128GB micro SD card is twice as big as I need for operating system and data! And they are dirt cheap.

That seems to be the way forward and I get everything on a little box the size of a pack of cards!

It's not straightforward though.

You would need to create an image of your present SD card, and burn that to your new bigger SD card. Or start afresh.

You then have 2 options, resize partition 2 to fill the Whole card, or create a 3rd partition for your music. This apparently isn't recommended.

Whichever option you choose, I'm not sure how you would create a usable backup strategy.

[kidstypike]

Thanks Rob.

I remembered I had a spare Scandisk Extra 64GB that was in my wife's phone - but she has a new phone. My brain finally got into gear and I remembered I stuffed it into my 7" Samsung Tablet for safekeeping; and remembered I have my FLAC collection on it. When I transferred it to my Chromebook I noted the 64GB was only half full, and there are three 24/96 albums in the FLAC folder. For some reason the folder has three copies of the same Gimell (Hyperion) download - two in FLAC and and one in ALAC. Why I have it three times I cannot say, but gobbles space.

Listening to it now - I had forgotten how clear it was!

I'm tempted to try that 64GB card as a training exercise, but a bigger one wouldn't break the bank!

You can't use that 64GB card in your pi with the music files already on it. You need to burn an image to it, which would reformat the card and remove your music.

[Labarum]

It's not straightforward though.

There is a YouTube tutorial on how set up an rPi, and that is how he does it. to do it. He does not point to the "Not Recommended" warning. What is the general view in this forum?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMaqasfN3w0

Look 6min20sec in.

I do have a 128GB USB stick I was looking at it a couple of hours ago. It's a button rather than a stick so would sit close up to the case of the rPi. That is another way to do it - I suppose the data store does not have to be as fast as the microSD card. Doing that means I do not have to mess with the Boot Disk. (Except to make sure I have a backup!)

Knowledgeable opinions would be welcome.

[Labarum]

You can't use that 64GB card in your pi with the music files already on it. You need to burn an image to it, which would reformat the card and remove your music.

Understood.

The 64GB card has an out of date version of the FLAC library anyway. I did a lot of editing yesterday.

(And answer out of sequence.)

[RobbH]

....
I do have a 128GB USB stick I was looking at it a couple of hours ago. It's a button rather than a stick so would sit close up to the case of the rPi. That is another way to do it - I suppose the data store does not have to be as fast as the microSD card. Doing that means I do not have to mess with the Boot Disk. (Except to make sure I have a backup!)

Knowledgeable opinions would be welcome.

You will certainly get some knowledgeable opinions. Mine, however, is more opinion than knowledge. I prefer to have the music on a usb flash drive and the operating system on the SD card. I think (but could easily be wrong) that in that case the usb drive is SLIGHTLY less likely to corrupted than the SD card in the event of a power interruption. Both need to be backed up, though.

[Man in a van]

My preference is :

Keep the OS on a small capacity card; 16gb is more than enough, expand the files system to 2gb at the max

Use a usb stick (I currently have a system with a 128gb stick) with the music files on, plugged into the rpi.

Alternately a 2.5 inch usb hd drive (not a SSD)

KISS

Format the stick / drive to suit the computer OS which stores a back up of the music files.

Back up the OS on the SD card (this will preserve cache, preferences and pathways)

ronnie

Spread the risk

[Labarum]

Keep the OS on a small capacity card; 16gb is more than enough

Use a usb stick (I currently have a system with a 128gb stick) with the music files on, plugged into the rpi.

That's the way I will be going. Thanks.

My 1TB drive I can put back on the telly - I don't need 1TB for a 200 CD collection which I will not be expanding.

[Labarum]

I got my flac library copied from my 1TB USB hard drive and will put that back on the TV.

The flacs are now of a new 128GB USB flash drive - the button sort, so it looks very neat.

I did have a problem getting the library re-scanned. I tried everything and really was floundering in the dark. LMS said it recognised the new storage and mount point, and I established a Samba share on the Chromebook and could see the flacs.

But they would not scan! I switched from the Material skin to the default skin and the library scanned. Well I don't know!

All now seems well, and I have 88GB free on the 128GB flash drive - that's more than enough for the CDs I have never ripped, and for any more I might buy in my remaining years!

I thank everyone for their help, patience and generosity.