CD's not showing at all under an artist

[David Mednicoff]

Dear all

In trying to understand a minor problem I posted about in another conversation, I ran into an additional more serious problem. 

When I try to look at all of the CD's under a different artist, where I know there are many ripped CD's, it doesn't work at all and instead displays a different artist's name repeatedly.

This is obvious some sort of data glitch. I have tried scanning the disk to refresh the music index several times without success so far. 

Does anyone have any suggestions of fixes? The "artist" in question is J.S. Bach, so there are hundreds of CD's for this artist, and they has always been accessible until today. Do I need to try to restore from my USB backup? With nearly 3300 CD's on my BD (and about 1000 or more or so to go), these glitches about consistent access to my music are starting to be a real problem.

Thanks again.

David

[Daniel Taylor]

There are others who will be able to give more definite answers.  But in the meantime, I suspect that you may be running into an overall character limit for the albums of an artist, especially if the album names are near the 170 character limit.  If any of the album names exceed that limit, the results can be very strange.

If it was working until recently, you could try either deleting the more recent albums, or, to avoid having to re-rip them you could assign them to a different temporary artist, such as BACH-Temp.  As each album is removed from that artist, at some point it should go back to the way it was.  If you can determine the threshold at which things changed from working to not working, it will help us zero in on the exact problem.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi David,

I would very much like to know/see what the files on your B2 HDD actually look like (the B2's UI is actually based the index built by the Scan Disk function),.

Can you please turn on the B2's NAS and look at the file structure from your PC or Mac.

Fred

[David Mednicoff]

Thanks, Fred. 

I tried doing a "Repair Disk" and then scanning to try to fix the index. It didn't work.

I enabled NAS and looked from my Mac. The file structure loaded as I expected and correctly, 

My J.S. Bach artist folder has 278 folders (albums) within it. Whenever I try to open it in the B2 interface, it displays one of the first CD's I downloaded (an Ella Fitzgerald album) in duplicate about 100 times. This is a very recent change.

My Mixed Composers artist folder has 91 folders (albums) within it. As Daniel suggests, I had given some individual albums lengthy names to indicate which composers were on it. It's therefore likely that the average length of each title in the Mixed Composers folder is longer than in any other artist folder. I tried shortening some album titles, but the problem persists.

I had not been adding to the Bach folder much recently, as I ripped CD's to the B2 in alphabetical order by composer last name. However, I probably added a few recent albums to "Bach" because they were compilations.

I'll try doing what Daniel said, and put some of my Bach CD's in a new/second Bach folder and see if it helps.

I welcome further suggestions. The Bach problem in particular is annoying. I can play a CD fine accessing it directly, so I am hoping/assuming that nothing is wrong with my B2 but it is a strange file glitch.

Thanks again!

D

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi David,

I think your NAS work has reassured us that the underlying LINUX file structure holding your music is correct and not scrambled. Your music holdings on the B2 are OK.

As I intimated in my last post the Brennan Scan Disk function reads this LINUX file structure and builds from the folder names it finds a Brennan specific database of the music holdings on your unit.

It is this database that is then used to populate the Brennan Web Interface and the front display.

I think as Daniel has suggested that some of your file names which are OK at the LINUX level have been too long for the Scan Disk function and caused this function to overflow its prescribed storage boundaries. If this is happening the output of the function will be corrupted and the Web UI content will be very odd!

The solution is to do as Daniel suggests and find and rename the offending file names. 

It is my opinion that this will be easiest done via the NAS file manager tools on your PC, but after changing the file names at the LINUX level this way you need to run a new Scan Disk on your B2 so that it reflects the changes you have made.

Hope this helps 

Fred

[Daniel Taylor]

In the not too distant past, there has been some discussion along the lines of other limits within the B2 and/or WebUI that have only been exceeded on rare occcasions.  I wonder if this is one of those cases.  Assuming that no one of the individual album names exceeds 170 characters, is there a limit of how many characters the WebUI can hold for a given artist?  (That's a question for Brennan.)

In the meantime, I think David should continue along the lines we've discussed, in the hope that things will start behaving properly again.  If that happens, we'll have more information to help figure out what's going on.

[David Mednicoff]

Thanks, Fred Daniel.

A few updates:

(1) I tried putting over 100 of my 278 Bach CD's into a new Artist Folder. There are now quite a bit fewer CD's in the regular Johann Sebastian Bach folder than there have been for several months. I also tried renaming the main Bach folder. I ran Scan Disk after both of these things. It hasn't made a difference. When I try to open the Bach folder, a bunch of repetitions of the same CD from a different folder appear. The CD's in the Bach folder don't have very long titles, and were all fine until yesterday.

(2) I can open the files through NAS on my computer. It is slow to do, though and sometimes times out. When it opens, the file structure seems fine.

(3) I have had another problem in the past few weeks that sometime the B2 will show many fewer artists than what I have actually uploading. Running Scan Disk has fixed.

So both of the problems I mentioned remain, although I have tried what Daniel suggested. A bunch of my CD's in the Mixed Composers artist folder don't appear in the Web interface (but are in the folder in NAS), and none of my Bach CD's will open in the interface or iPhone program, even though they appear in the Bach artist folder in NAS.

I'm thinking of trying to create a new artist folder and put all of the remaining Bach CD's in it. Can I do that on NAS? (Using the regular interface will be cumbersome since I don't actually know all of the CD's that remain in the Bach folder).

Definitely puzzling. Thanks again for your help.

David

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

The B2 music management centres (centers?) around a file named 'b2db'. The B2 builds and maintains this file throughout all of its processes such as ripping, compression, renaming, deletion, playing, etc.  It would be very helpful if we could look at your file, as it would give us a good indication as to how the B2 'sees' your collection.

If you would like to do this, here are the steps involved.

1.  Insert a USB stick into the B2's USB C port (the stick only needs to be small volume as the file will only be about 1.5MB).

2.  Format the stick to FAT32 if not already done.

3.  From the B2 front panel, select and run 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'b2db to USB'   (this is a text file so can be read by any text editor).

4.  Plug the USB stick into your MAC.

5.  Select and upload the file 'b2db' into this thread.

We can then examine the file and let you know something more of what is happening.

Regards,
Peter.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi David

On another "topic" entirely :-

From what you said in your last posting about the speed of the NAS, I suspect that your B2 is connected via WiFi.

If this is the case, then (at least while you are  firefighting the problem), you would do better to make an Ethernet (wired) link between your Router and the B2.

NOTE I am NOT suggesting that your connection to the Router is the cause of your problems, just that an Ethernet connection will make life easier if you have to do a lot of NAS work to cure the problem, (once it is nailed down).

Fred

[Daniel Taylor]

This is very peculiar.  At this point, I don't know what to think.  But I would like to know what the actual Brennan limit is on how many Albums you can have for one Artist.  And more to the point, how much memory is reserved for the album names in the WebUI.  Clearly, something is not working right.

If I had this problem, I would try re-flashing my SD card.  One thing that all corrupted SD cards have in common is the weirdness of their symptoms.

[David Mednicoff]

Thanks to all. The idea that this is either a problem with the SD card or some sort of Brennan limit on the memory reserved for the album names in the WebUI is logical. The problem is now consistent since yesterday. That is, most artist folders are fine, but the Mixed Composers not displaying all 97 albums in the UI has been an issue for some time, and the Bach folder opening to the same Ella Fitzgerald album repeated (and not playable) is the same since it started yesterday. All my tracks are compressed with 900GB of memory used total.

 I'm going to try to upload my b2db file here soon -- I actually have a lot of work to do this week, though, particularly since I seem to have made digitizing my music collection onto the B2 nearly a full time job in the past 4 months. 

I hope that my zeal to rip my collection efficiently hasn't put too much of a strain on the B2. I've ripped nearly 3300 CD's since last October 27. When it works, it has been glorious.

While I get ready to upload the B2B file, can someone give me more explicit instructions on flashing the SD? I couldn't quite follow what was on the techy page about this. And, I presume I'm still under warranty (less than 6 months since my wife gifted me the B2 on Amazon US) and can get a new SD card from Brennan if this would help?

Thanks again, all.

David

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

If you upload the B2DB file as an attachment I will have a look at it today.

I have posted more detailed instructions in previous posts, so I'll see if I can find these, and will sent you a weblink.

Your B2, at 6 months old is under warranty, and Paul of Brennan Support picks up on these posts and will give you advice on the SD card situation.

Regards,

Peter.

[David Mednicoff]

Peter 

Thanks. Can I use a regular PC-formatted USB with other files? Or do I need a dedicated USB? 

I don’t have the latter now.

I appreciate your speed and help in any case.

David

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

The USB stick needs to be FAT32 format, otherwise the B2 will not recognise it.  You can use a USB stick that already has other data on it; the B2 writes the data into a file named 'b2db'.

It would also be useful if you could run 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'List Albums' .   This will write into a file called 'B2AlbumList.txt' on the USB stick.  This will be a relatively small file, probably under 100KB in size.

I have found the additional re-flashing instructions and am doing a bit of tidying up on them. I'll post this shortly.

Regards,

Peter.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi David,

One word of warning, Formatting a USB stick to FAT32 will erase any data already on it!

Fred

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

<Subtitle - How to Rebuild a MicroSD Card>

***** Note ---- these instructions are for the later B2 model (post March 2017 approximately) which has the microSD card inside the case.
      The instructions for the early model B2 (pre March 2017 (approximately) are slightly different as the SD card is directly accessible from outside the case.

The microSD card rebuild process is reasonably straight-forward to do, although it looks a bit scary when you look at the instructions.  Below is a link to those instructions. Look in the left hand panel of the webpage shown below and scroll down to 'New SD Card'.

https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/Techy

There are two download links in that webpage; one for 'balenaEtcher' and the other for 'b2bSDimage18June2021.zip' (the B2 software image file).  These are all you need to rebuild your microSD card.

The 'balenaEtcher' is the PC/Mac program that is required to flash the microSD card.

The 'b2bSDimage18June2021.zip' file is the software that is to be written (flashed) onto the microSD card.

I have boiled the instructions down into a series of steps below, which might be of help to you.

You will need a USB - microSD card adapter if your PC/Mac doesn't have one fitted.

You can usually reuse the existing microSD card as the 'balenaEtcher' software will overwrite the card with the new software (this is called re-flashing) or alternatively you can use a new microSD card.

1. Download & install 'balenaEtcher' onto your PC/Mac.
2. Click on the 'this file' text which will take you to a download image named 'b2bSDimage18June2021.zip' to your PC and download this image to your PC/Mac.
3. Power down your B2.
4. You will need to open the B2 unit (on the back panel, remove the two upper screws marked with a chevron (^) symbol.
5. When you are easing the back panel out of the case be sure that you don't open it more than about 3 centimetres, otherwise you can inadvertently 'pull' the CD drive able out of its socket.
6. Remove the microSD card from the B2  or use a new microSD card.

7.  Plug this into your PC/Mac.
8. Start up 'balenaEtcher' application on PC/Mac.
9. Select 'Flash from file' option and select the location of the 'b2bSDimage18June2021.zip' file.  (DO NOT unzip the file).
10. Then click on 'Select target' button and select the microSD card as the target.
11. Then click on 'Flash'.

It will take 'balenaEtcher a few minutes to write the software file (flash) to the microSD card and then verify it.

12. On your B2 install the newly flashed microSD card.
13. Power up the B2.
14. Check the software version which should show as 'B2B Jun 18 2021' (or similar).
15. Run a 'Settings'--> 'Web Upgrade' to further update to the latest software from the Brennan website.
16. Reboot the B2
17. Run a software version check - should now show 'B2B Oct 22 2021' (or very similar)
18. Replace the two screws in the back of the case.

So from a bare microSD card to full upgrade should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.

Regards,
Peter.

[David Mednicoff]

Dear Peter

Attached are the b2db and B2AlbumList files. I was able to use an old USB drive, and also get my money back on the two thumb drives I had purchased for backup that claimed to be 2TB but definitely were not (I now have a small Toshiba drive that backed all of my music up progressively and is nearly up to date).

One observation is that, when I try to open the J.S. Bach Artist folder in the Web UI or app, the very first item in b2db (Ella Fitzgerald Best of Song Books) loads multiple times instead of the albums in the Bach folder. 

I'm certainly curious what might be going on, and eager to have the interface working again. Thanks again for your help!

David

[David Mednicoff]

And thanks for the instructions regarding the SD procedure. I'm not sure any of our current computers have anything that can read an SD card though. I'll wait to see if this is something I really need to do.

D

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi D

Lack of a reader is not a big problem

see

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Integral-AMINCRSD-Digital-Frustration-Free-Packaging/dp/B0047T6XWY/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3DZ1RIR36TWJM&keywords=SD+Card+adapter&qid=1645975488&sprefix=sd+card+adapter%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-6

Fred

[David Mednicoff]

Peter-- one final thing. I don't know how a b2db file is supposed to read, but I see that some tracks on albums are not listed sequentially. Also, perhaps I should note that I have sometimes deleted tracks on albums because they duplicate tracks found elsewhere. I believe I always changed the numbering on each album so the tracks were sequential in the Web interface. I have renamed almost every classical album to go with my preferred taxonomy of listing artists as composers by last name, first name. Some albums have long names. There are also a few composers listed with foreign characters, which I could remove if that matters, as someone implied earlier.

David

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

I have just downloaded the two files, so I can look at them now.  I'll update you as soon as I can.

Regards,

Peter.

[Mark Fishman]

I see in your B2AlbumList.txt file that you have about 30 albums with artist+album names that are longer than 170 characters -- the longest combined length is for #671 Bach, J. S / Concertgebouw Orchestra 1940-1958 Van Beinum Disc 4 - Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in d  BMV 1052 (Lipatti), Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 4 (Menuhin); Schubert, Rosamunde; Schoenberg, Five Orchestral Piece, at over 214 characters.

I don't suppose you'd be willing to shorten the album names? NAS should help for that.

I've attached a sorted copy of your album list -- lines are sorted by length, with the line length at the beginning of each line, shortest to longest. It was created using this Linux command:

cat "B2AlbumList.txt"  | awk '{ print length, $0 }' | sort -n -s  > lines

[David Mednicoff]

Thanks, Mark. It does sound as if I should spend some time shortening some album titles. I'll give it a go when i have a chance using NAS.

David

[David Mednicoff]

Dear Mark

IT WORKED!!!!

(pardon my shouting in joy)

Thanks to your helpful advice and the file you sent me, I went through all of my CD titles over 170 characters and shortened them on NAS, did a ScanDisk, and turned the B2 off and on again.

Everything seems to appear and display correctly in the interface. Huzzah!

I really appreciate the mutual support in this forum, and am glad to know that I can keep moving forward with my CD-ripping. Only about 1000 more to go....

Beware not to name CD titles more than 170 characters, friends.

One more question -- does this mean I need to redo my USB backup from scratch or will progressive backup be ok (the music is all the same...)?

Warmly,

David

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Well done David.

Re your backup.

The 'Export to USB A/C" function is incremental, your changed file names will be seen as NEW stuff and added to the backup, your OLD

 Files and their names will be there too!

So if you had to do a restore,  you would get both back!

My best advice would be for you to get a second USB backup device and make a new backup on this, then reformat the current one and make a new clean backup on this. 

Going forward use one of the drives for periodic incremental backups while you rip and occasionally do a larger one to the second USB.

When your work is complete then make a complete, fresh backup to both devices, one after the other and keep one of these somewhere safe other than your house ( in case of fire or flood).

Your collection is LARGE and represents a great deal of time/work, you cant have too many backups!!

Fred

[Mark Fishman]

VERY glad to hear it worked.

And it proves (if proof were still needed) that over-long filenames can have far-reaching consequences for how (or if?) the B2 operates. It doesn't only cause problems for those particular files.

Maybe it's time for the programmers to error-check some inputs in the code, and truncate long names to fit the maximum buffer sizes... Hmm?

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

That is really good news!   That 170 character limit needs to be carefully watched and observed.

I loaded up your 'b2db' file into one of my B2's and could see that the overall file structures looked good, so the most likely problem was that the very long album names were at the root of the issue.

I have attached a couple of screenshots which show the internal memory data table usage of your b2db content (I am emulating your B2 counts on my B2).  You are not anywhere near any of the main limits, artist table, album table and tracks table, so you are safe to continue.

@Paul; a suggestion that some practical limits are built in to the software in order to prevent this type of situation from arising?

Regards,

Peter.

[David Mednicoff]

Peter -- Thanks so much for this. 

I am truly gratified by the speed and clarity with which you, Mark, Fred and Daniel responded to my concerns. Being able to work this morning with all of my CD's (well, 3300 of them anyway) accessible from my computer is a real joy. Since I am clearly the sort of person for whom the B2 was designed, understanding more about the file system (and its limits) is most helpful. The 170-character limit definitely causes strange behavior in the Web interface, and, unknown to me, this is why I have been seeing odd glitches for at least a few months.

Warmly,

David

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

That's no problem and it's great that you are back up and running.  Yes, the B2 is a great device; it has really got me listening to music in a different way.  A further big change for me has been the adoption of Sonos wireless speakers; the new Brennan implementation of these has been another big step forwards for me!

Anyway, good luck with your ripping sessions.  We advise the forum to rip in batches of no more than 30 albums, and then let the B2 compress these before doing another batch of 30.  That helps the B2 'recover' from each ripping session before starting the next one.

Regards,

Peter.