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Topic: Corrupted MP3 Files (Read 6350 times) previous topic - next topic
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Corrupted MP3 Files

Hello everyone,

I synch my whole music archive to my external usb drive since about 1 month now. Today I stumbled across a corrupted file and noticed, that it's not the only one being corrupted. I fear there is no way to repair the files, but if anyone could know how, than here's the right place to ask.

Problem: The files just end in the middle of the song, after some seconds or near the end, totally random. In spite of that, the filesize windows tells me is still like before. I tried to rebuild the mp3 stream in foobar and fix the vbr header afterwards, resulting in the file cut down to the corrupted position where it already ended before, only with "correct" information of the file length.

I used PureSync for the synchronization process, and I already noticed problems (multiple synch threads I never started etc.) which I sent to the developer JumpingBytes. But this one by far exceeds my patience. I wanted to safe my files via backup and now I ended up losing a big amount of my data, wtf!

I uploaded a sample file for you to have a look at, so perhaps someone can tell me if the signal is lost or can be recovered. But since 7zip was already able to shrink the filesize I guess the data is lost.

Sample of corrupted file

Thanks in advance.

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #1 –
Have you run a memory diagnostic on the PC that you are copying from?  Years ago, I had a problem where files that I backed up from one machine to another, and then to DVD, were being corrupted.  Over time, I tracked the issue down to a bad memory module in my PC.  I'm still stumbling across the occasional corrupted file thanks to that!

Your PC manufacturer may have included a memory diagnostic in the BIOS or provided an app.  Any Linux distro has a program called memtest which you can run from the boot menu.  Memtest has located bad memory for me twice!

Something you might consider is generating md5s for all of your mp3s and store them in each album.  This would allow you to perform a verification on the files without having to resort to playing them.

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #2 –
If you are overclocking then that also could cause problems.

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #3 –
Well, it could be the problem with the syncing software, but I seriously doubt it. Software mostly use system copy routines while providing with an easy to understand graphic interface to configure when and where and at what condition you want the files copied. As pdq said, if you overclocked your system, it could cause problems like this, and maggior said it could be faulty memory, I agree, you should check your system memory with software like memtest, you can download it for free from thei site.. Moreover, if you used FAT32 on USB disk, and were not following "you can now safely remove" rules but just turning off your drive, same thing would happen - you rendered your file system unusable, and I am betting that is the problem on your drive - your file system got corrupted.
What to do now, I do not know. More details, please.
Error 404; signature server not available.

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #4 –
Thanks for your attention. First off, I do not overclock. I will check the memory issue, but I doubt this one. Corrupted file system rings the alarm, as the external drive is Fat32 and my internal one NTFS. I never had problems before synching, and yes, I did remove the drive and reconnect it again as I also use the drive for xbox reading purposes. I thought nowadays it would be no problem to just remove the drive, well bad joke on me. What was also wondering me is the fact that the dates of the external files where totally different from the ones on my local drive, which led Puresync to resync the files to my disk. How could this have happened, if I never touched my external drive for reading purpose? That's why I first thought PureSync went all wrong. Some files on the backup where newer than the ones on disk, but they definitely were not altered by me in any way.

So, how can I check if my filesystem is corrupted? The win tool says it's ok, can I trust it?

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #5 –
Quote from: Zephyre on
Thanks for your attention. First off, I do not overclock. I will check the memory issue, but I doubt this one. Corrupted file system rings the alarm, as the external drive is Fat32 and my internal one NTFS. I never had problems before synching, and yes, I did remove the drive and reconnect it again as I also use the drive for xbox reading purposes. I thought nowadays it would be no problem to just remove the drive, well bad joke on me. What was also wondering me is the fact that the dates of the external files where totally different from the ones on my local drive, which led Puresync to resync the files to my disk. How could this have happened, if I never touched my external drive for reading purpose? That's why I first thought PureSync went all wrong. Some files on the backup where newer than the ones on disk, but they definitely were not altered by me in any way.

So, how can I check if my filesystem is corrupted? The win tool says it's ok, can I trust it?


You can't just remove an external drive by unplugging it.

You must go through the "unplug or eject hardware" procedure so that Windows can write out any information to the drive that may be stored in the system memory cache.  This information frequently includes the FAT32 table and anything in the write cache.

NTFS is much better for an external drive, but since you want to use it with your Xbox, you have to stick with the worse FAT32 system as the Xbox 360 doesn't recognize external drives formatted to NTFS.



Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #6 –
I guess so. But I still wonder why the timestamps where so diverse. Apparently the file information is lost =/

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #7 –
Hi again, I just wanted to ask if there is a tool to check audio files (*.mp3 and *.ogg) for consistency, so I can see on one sight which files have been corrupted.

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #10 –
FAT32 is a disaster for file integrity. Buck up and switch to NTFS if you're on Windows. It's really the only option if you care about not smoking your tunes.
EAC>1)fb2k>LAME3.99 -V 0 --vbr-new>WMP12 2)MAC-Extra High

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #11 –
How and why did you rule out memory issues?
Creature of habit.

Corrupted MP3 Files

Reply #12 –
Quote from: Soap on
How and why did you rule out memory issues?


I am aware of the fact that I did not use safe removal, and since the sync program sometimes ran without me starting it, it could probably be that I disconnected the drive during synchronisation too (ouch). I will now recover my database and then consider the ntfs option. And I won't synchronize in both ways anymore.