I'm having a problem with corrupted data.
The problem - data gets corrupted within the files when using USB3.
I often record vinyl records to high-resolution 192Khz-24bit .wav files.
My motherboard is an ASUS P7P55E-E Deluxe which has 2 USB3 ports controlled by an NEC USB3
controller. I have the latest Renesas driver installed.
I have two external USB 3 Hard drives, a Lacie 2TB USB3 "Quadra", which also can use an
eSata" connection, and a Lacie 2TB "Minimus" which uses only USB3, not eSata.
I have found that there are random data errors in my music files after being copied to USB3.
The bad thing about this problem is that nothing appears wrong until the files are actually
opened and examined, or played.
For example, I recently recorded a batch 16 Hi-Rez 192/24 files totalling about 4.1 GB.
When copied from my internal "C" drive, a 150 GB Western Digital Velociraptor, to either external
drive, the copying process appeared to take place correctly, that is, the files were written, and the
file sizes were all correct. However the data within some of the files had small bursts of "garbage"
data, replacing the good data.
When I open a file using Adobe Audition, the program first scans the file, and generates a
"waveform" (time vs. amplitude) image from the wave file data. This waveform image often
contains what appear to be full-scale "spikes" in it, which when expanded for closer viewing, can
clearly seen as "garbage". If I did not look at the file in this waveform view, I would not know
anything was wrong until the music is played, and I hear loud noise pulses.
I have been finding this problem for quite a while, maybe a year or so, but thought
maybe I was doing something wrong, like performing some other function on the computer while the
copying was taking place. But the problem occurs even when I'm doing nothing else.
Initially, I thought the problem was occurring when using both USB3 ports at the same time,
such as when copying from one USB3 Drive to the other USB3 drive. But the problem exists, even when
just copying from my internal Hard drive a single USB3 drive, with the other drive turned off or
disconnected.
Out of the need to be able to copy files quickly and correctly, I tried using the Lacie "Quadra" with
the "eSata' connection instead of the USB3 connection. In this case there were no errors at all,
even when copying the group of 16 files back and forth 16 times. I created odd-numbered folders,
01 thru 15 on my internal drive, and even-numbered folders 02 thru 16, on the Quadra drive. I then
put the 16 files in folder-01, and then copied its contents to folder 02, and then copied the
contents of folder-02 to folder-03, and so on, up to folder-16. Using the eSata connection, every
file in folder-16 was correct.
When I tried this same 16-folder copy test using the the USB3 ports, the number of erroneous files
increased with successive copies of each folder. For example, when this copy-test was run using the
Lacie Minimus Drive, corrupted files were found in folder-04, and by the time the files were copied
to folder-16, 6 of the 16 files were damaged.
After all this I was thinking that maybe the USB3 ports and controller, on my motherboard might be
bad, so I purchased a USB 3.0 PCI-e host card, and installed it and its driver.
When I ran the same copy tests using the new USB3 ports on the PCI-e card, the same intermittent
garbage errors occurred.
BIG Question -
Has anyone ever tested USB3 Drives and ports for data accuracy, and not just speed ?
While it has only been a year since I noticed the data corruption imbedded in otherwise good
appearing files, it is possible I have have many corrupted files, and just don't know it yet.
Have anyone ever encountered this problem before ? Is there any kind of file
compare" program, so I can be sure my copies are good ?
Any help would be appreciated.
Chris Petroski
cspetro@verizon.net
The problem - data gets corrupted within the files when using USB3.
I often record vinyl records to high-resolution 192Khz-24bit .wav files.
My motherboard is an ASUS P7P55E-E Deluxe which has 2 USB3 ports controlled by an NEC USB3
controller. I have the latest Renesas driver installed.
I have two external USB 3 Hard drives, a Lacie 2TB USB3 "Quadra", which also can use an
eSata" connection, and a Lacie 2TB "Minimus" which uses only USB3, not eSata.
I have found that there are random data errors in my music files after being copied to USB3.
The bad thing about this problem is that nothing appears wrong until the files are actually
opened and examined, or played.
For example, I recently recorded a batch 16 Hi-Rez 192/24 files totalling about 4.1 GB.
When copied from my internal "C" drive, a 150 GB Western Digital Velociraptor, to either external
drive, the copying process appeared to take place correctly, that is, the files were written, and the
file sizes were all correct. However the data within some of the files had small bursts of "garbage"
data, replacing the good data.
When I open a file using Adobe Audition, the program first scans the file, and generates a
"waveform" (time vs. amplitude) image from the wave file data. This waveform image often
contains what appear to be full-scale "spikes" in it, which when expanded for closer viewing, can
clearly seen as "garbage". If I did not look at the file in this waveform view, I would not know
anything was wrong until the music is played, and I hear loud noise pulses.
I have been finding this problem for quite a while, maybe a year or so, but thought
maybe I was doing something wrong, like performing some other function on the computer while the
copying was taking place. But the problem occurs even when I'm doing nothing else.
Initially, I thought the problem was occurring when using both USB3 ports at the same time,
such as when copying from one USB3 Drive to the other USB3 drive. But the problem exists, even when
just copying from my internal Hard drive a single USB3 drive, with the other drive turned off or
disconnected.
Out of the need to be able to copy files quickly and correctly, I tried using the Lacie "Quadra" with
the "eSata' connection instead of the USB3 connection. In this case there were no errors at all,
even when copying the group of 16 files back and forth 16 times. I created odd-numbered folders,
01 thru 15 on my internal drive, and even-numbered folders 02 thru 16, on the Quadra drive. I then
put the 16 files in folder-01, and then copied its contents to folder 02, and then copied the
contents of folder-02 to folder-03, and so on, up to folder-16. Using the eSata connection, every
file in folder-16 was correct.
When I tried this same 16-folder copy test using the the USB3 ports, the number of erroneous files
increased with successive copies of each folder. For example, when this copy-test was run using the
Lacie Minimus Drive, corrupted files were found in folder-04, and by the time the files were copied
to folder-16, 6 of the 16 files were damaged.
After all this I was thinking that maybe the USB3 ports and controller, on my motherboard might be
bad, so I purchased a USB 3.0 PCI-e host card, and installed it and its driver.
When I ran the same copy tests using the new USB3 ports on the PCI-e card, the same intermittent
garbage errors occurred.
BIG Question -
Has anyone ever tested USB3 Drives and ports for data accuracy, and not just speed ?
While it has only been a year since I noticed the data corruption imbedded in otherwise good
appearing files, it is possible I have have many corrupted files, and just don't know it yet.
Have anyone ever encountered this problem before ? Is there any kind of file
compare" program, so I can be sure my copies are good ?
Any help would be appreciated.
Chris Petroski
cspetro@verizon.net
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram