Why I use an EXTERNAL DRIVE for My Music Files and Library

Links for Lacey Hard Drives in pinned comments.

[@priyonjoni]

Product Links: Lacie Thunderbolt + USB 3.0 2TB Drive amzn.to/2LQe4wl Lacie USB-C 2TB Drive amzn.to/2Yu9Xfr

[@senseii562]

Is it really wonderful bro

[@JayDeeOfficialx]

The LaCie hard drive model you have it's so hard to find now a days in 2021, I was lucky to find the one with the thunderbolt 2 cable around it 5TB, what model or year is the one you have?? any idea where can I still get one.. I have a late 2013 iMac desktop

[@knightsoffrequency6575]

I bought this harddrive but when i came to play on a CDJ its standard USB not USB C. Did you purchase a USB C to USB?

[@metasisofficial7950]

Great and informative video man, thank you very much!

[@DJMonee727]

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR AN EXCELLENT EXPLANATION on ALL OF IT !!!

[@KE010101]

Lot of good information, much appreciated!

[@erickcaceres305]

Great content. Keep up the good work!

[@ebnyflyer]

You have given me some convincing reasons for going to an External HD. I will lean toward a SSD as the cost has really come down over the years. Thanks for the Info.

[@francescapescehughes6859]

Thank you so much. Brilliant advice

[@djs1wiley972]

Thank you for making the video

[@juliogalindo5314]

Very helpful video thank you

[@djbabyboi]

I have the newer Lacie with Thunderbolt and USB-C. Great video, thanks!

[@priyonjoni]

I’ve gotten a few comments suggesting a better solution is to use cloud storage instead. I think some folks are missing the point. When speaking about your music library, I’m specifically talking about when you perform with it with your DJ software. You can’t access a cloud in a club or venue with no internet. And I don’t believe at the current moment you can create a Serato/Traktor/Rekordbox/other library through a cloud. No, this is not a backup solution, or a solution for putting all your projects or VSTs. This video is a solution for “performing” with your music library. You should always backup your external to another hard drive at home OR a cloud. Also, I recommend carrying two identical externals in case one fails. 2 should be sufficient.

[@ChuckBoMomy]

I have the same Mac what I have done is replace the standard drive to a ssd 240GB and remove the CD drive and put there a 500GB drive. On Amazon there are special cases for the cd drive replacement. I can't see now my Mac is super fast boot op 10sec. And I have a raspberry server at home with a 2 Terra and I do my backups there. So my computer's can access it. Very easy to install. Osmc activate samba and attache drive and done. So I make my playlist on my PC Back it up on the raspberry and to my Mac and I am ready to go

[@jamescheddar4896]

yeah ideally you have a copy in the cloud, and 2 hard copies

[@stevemcc1842]

Great video, I always use an external hard drive, because as a mobile DJ (that don't stream music) I have over 2TB of music that I take with me. When I get a new laptop switch over is easier and when I upgrade to a bigger harddrive switching isn't hard. Hard drive prices are coming down (slowly), but an SSD that I need is still around $200 US. I out grew 500 GB and 1TB long ago. I would buy a SSD today if I could walk into all my gigs knowing I would be playing the same 50 to 80 songs. External hard drives are the way to go and I know Rekordbox, Serato and PCDJ and I'm sure VDJ too, store the song loaded in the players to cache to keep playing to the end of the song, if the hard drive gets unplugged.

[@djmarv4091]

Used external strictly for the past 8 years or so. I have that LaCIe Thunderbolt but I swapped out the mechanical HD for an SSD. I have a 4TB SSD in mine for my audio and videos. You can easily get a 1tb or 2tb SSD. Most guys who play videos from time in memorial have always used external storage.

[@ls4life544]

I guess all I have to say is that you and I have the same process because of the same benefit. The biggest and best advantage is that you can save time in the case of having to use another pc with your library. The fact that the music is already analyzed and you software library is save on the external HD, you do not have to worry about re-analyzing you track and adding cue point etc. Also you can have as many copy of you external HD and they will all work the minute you connect them to another pc.

[@tobydulanski3000]

Using Serato DJ Pro and a new MacBook Pro as of November 2020 with the Intel chip and 512GB SSD 4 USB-C ports obviously one for power. Download Backups are on a LaCie 2TB mechanical hard drive My actual Music Library is on a SanDisk 1 TB SSD sorted by Artist If this MacBook stops functioning I have a backup MacMini and my wife has this same MacBook Pro. I have heard that that using an External Hard Drive with Serato was a recipe for disaster from many people but they never explained their reasons behind the statement. Thank You Pro yon Joni for showing an example of load speeds for both. I was going to try it, but you did it first, LOL!!!

[@N.n.i.k]

I currently have over 6TB available storage for my music. At the moment I have around 1TB worth of music. I sync them up via HDD and for my DJ gigs i use my self-made 240GB SSD formated as FAT32. which is pretty solid

[@djkram1966]

I've read a lot about moving Rekordbox & using a External drive for Rekordbox collection to DJ from on Windows. I've googled several things, and I've only found info for MacBook info. I'm trying to to set up my new drive, on a new PC. I'm wanting to do it right from the start. My library is large (not 1, 2 ,TB but several TB) I'll need access to the whole thing for what, and where I do my stuff. So far I've set up Recordbox 6 on my Pioneer Xdj Rx3. I analyzed about 30 tracks to make sure everything's working. I'm confused on on how to set up everything related to and of Rekord box dj. I want all my record box stuff to live on my external drive. This way I can keep my laptop unclogged up with music etc. Would you happen to know of a step by step on how to do this The Best Way? P.S. I'm new to The Digital Dj Way. I'm coming from analog vinyl DJ

[@kd1752]

Good stuff 👍🏿👍🏿

[@stevellaustin]

My main laptop has a 2TB 2nd drive that I installed and use it as my music library. I also have an external hard drive that I use for backup as well as the library for my other laptop which is a Surface pro with only a 250GB internal drive. I have had no issues connecting my external the between the two laptop and having the files readily accessible to play. The trick is to make the external hard drive when connected to the Surface the same drive letter (H:\ drive in my case) as the drive letter of my main laptop’s internal hard drive. Works well for me. Performance using an external vs internal drive has been a non-issue for me even though the internal drive is obviously faster Regarding my backup (actually sync) I do that once a week or sooner if I have made major changes i cannot afford to loose. This is best practice regardless of where you choose to store your library.

[@adrianburns7363]

Hi, I'm looking to do this with an external ssd( 2TB) if I change my internal drive letter (c:)holding all my music then I will have to relocate all the files in rekordbox? When you back up/sync do you clone the internal drive ? Thanks in advance.

[@hot4futureyears2come]

I have my music on my P.C but two back ups on external drives . I find having music on the laptop it the fastest way to get to my music. and i heard (not by many people) but some people had issues with usb ports regarding slow loads and usb drop out (2milsec). But i do have a Windows 10 laptop with three usb ports with a ssd drive running serato pro or rekordbox . I know the WORLD thinks a macbook is the way to go to DJ professionally but that is another topic for another day, But what i love about the external is that i can take it to another PC to run my crates with someone else laptop. But with rekordbox i can use my backup drive to play music without worrying about setting the serato format. By the way, your external drive is one of the best out there. reliable !

[@eric-janvandenbogaard9415]

A controller setup also uses the USB interface :( so i guess things will go bad faster that way ?

[@hot4futureyears2come]

behexen250 amen

[@michaelholland4141]

Great Info. I’m currently using a Samsung T5 500gb SSD. Any difference between that and the Lacie thunderbolt? Is the model you have with the detachable cable still available?

[@djcruza]

I'm only speaking for Macs here, but how I transferred my Serato library to my external SSD was that I gave it the external drive the exact same name as the internal drive/partition where I had all of my music and I copied all those files and folders, including the Serato library folders. So now I use my external drive in my new laptop with Serato with my crates and tracks in place without any files needing to be relocated.

[@priyonjoni]

Dj Cruza 🙏 thanks for this one!

[@eezyv1]

I used an external for a long time. After I had a catastrophic loss of all my music, I became a backup warrior. I have 3 backup externals, a backup mbp mid 2012 to go with my regular mbp mid 2012 both w 16gb ram and a ssd. All backed up regularly. No issues with an external, buy whatever floats your boat.

[@justinlefebvre206]

Than how do you keep your hot cues? Because if I use an External HDD my hot cues dont work

[@eezyv1]

@@justinlefebvre206 never had an issue with hot cues after I analyze the track and save when I close serato ...

[@DJSupe]

I prefer the newer model because I do not have to worry about misplacing my thunderbolt cable. Also if the attached thunderbolt cable were to go bad, I can use a USB-C cable via the other port (or USB-C to USB 3.1 cable since I do not have a newer Macbook) I have an older Lacie drive and I find that the orange rubber bumper can impede the connection somewhat so I have on occasion removed the rubber bumper to ensure I had a more secure connection to my cables.

[@tecbabu2921]

Nice sir

[@DJsalsoul]

Question when you transfer your music files to external from another external. Are you copying the complete external hard drive. Then copy and paste thing to the new external hard drive. Thanks in advance. I super enjoyed all your videos very informative. Keep cranking them out peace....

[@jimbecarroll5780]

Not a DJ but got some very useful info for my file's. Same application. And like they say back-up back-up back-up .

[@MghUnit407]

Would I be able to save plugins and vst on it to make them load faster? It takes a long time for me to load up tracks with plugins that have large sample libraries, would getting a usb external help speed up loading those vsts?

[@DJ_FIFO]

Question. I have all my music on my external roughly about 1Tb, is there a way to save my crates on serato. Seems like every-time I exit the program I have to recreate the my crates by dragging the folders from my external.

[@coolyanky]

hey Pri yon Joni, do you have another video explaining on how to setup the external drives to be used with the DJ software be it Serato or Rekordbox? I'm contemplating on doing the jump specifically on Rekordbox but I'm a tad confused as to how to do the initial setup in order to have the program read the files correctly with the proper metadata etc. thanks for the great content. cheers.

[@eric-janvandenbogaard9415]

I like this video very much ! it's something everyone has to deal with, I thought the Lacie drive you have there is even a hybrid one ! a smart drive, that uses SSD for most used files, and HDD for the less frequently used, it's a dillema, older MBP's have more ports, (only Thunderbold2) and not the fastes, the new ones (also bad keyboard?) do have the fast Thunderbold 3, only I don't know how it stands with the general compatibility of USB-C/3.x and Thunderbold3, USB-C might have the same connector.... but i am confused about that, external drive looks like a good option indeed if speed is no issue, but an "unexpected eject" can corrupt files :( and external SSD space can be much larger than the internal storage, One should try in the store is a drive will work, before buying one, a pro of an external one is, one can have different "sets", and have an extra copy, if something gets corrupt, hence not a good "eject" from the Mac OS, and .... Ethernet is no option ? i believe a non controller set up of Pioneer uses ethernet links..... maybe other DJ's can give their experiences, i'm starting with this hobby, and try to make it also easy on my self.

[@DJYagga]

My internal SSD is only 25 % filled, but I still use a thunderbolt external SSD for DJing & producing ... no lag whatsoever 👌🏾

[@g67early]

Is their a speed difference in load time between USB & THUNDERBOLT connections on the external HD device? Just wondering if it’s faster on Thunderbolt connection, because I would run out and purchase thunderbolt. 😂

[@acargok5695]

I have some questions. I’ll be glad if you can answer. Do I have to export the crate file again to the external drive and delete the old one when I make a modification (to update) like change some hot cues etc. Or is it automatically updating as long as it’s connected? Also I can’t “eject” the drive when serato is running, so can I just unplug without turning off serato (so without clicking “eject”) or do I have to turn serato off everytime I want to unplug the drive.

[@priyonjoni]

When you export the library to the external, the files will show as missing when you open serato. You have to click "Find Lost Files". If your library is large, it may take a few hours. Also, it is bad for your hard drive to pull out of the computer without ejecting. AND, Serato does not save any changes to the library until you close it. Unfortunately, it's the way Serato is setup. Unlike Rekordbox which allows you to eject drives.

[@IamDJForerunner]

Question. Once you have music on your external hard drive and you're using it with Serato.Crates are synced/showing in Serato. How do you go about updating music? If you add say 100 new songs to a folder in your External Drive. When you plug it up to your MacBook do you just drag that folder that has the updated music in it from the External to that matching Crate in Serato for it to update?

[@francescapescehughes7854]

I know in rekordbox is If I download more music onto ext hd . Then when I put it into the hd it will say copies of some of these songs exist do I want to replace . Click yes or create another crate

[@casiasilas3510]

I started off downloading my music to my internal hard drive.. if I transfer them to external will my crates and music be gone or corrupted in Serato DJ?

[@rohansugunathas]

I'm using a 2013 4th gen i5 Windows laptop, VDJ 8.3, 16gb ram. I hv 128gb SSD C drive & internal 2TB D drive (CD rom removed) So reason i use VDJ instead of the rest is that their library system is awesome. If I use VDJ program to transfer music into an external HDD/ thumbdrive, it copies files & VDJ database all together. As I plug into another computer/laptop with VDJ, instantaneously, my folders/playlist appears, with all cue points, bpm, key,poi and other info. So I do not need to analyse anything. Just plug n play. External HDD is prone to accidents. So that is why my 2TB sits in my CD rom slot. 1 reason why i dont use MAC is limitation of what we can upgrade or mod also PC laptops have way more USB ports.. Mine is 4

[@tuneroneff]

I woul like to see this imprubment in reckordbox,serato . It seeng like they are not conciderig the factt thas a mayor reason people is switching to virtual.

[@djbis]

Rohan, I second your opinion. Windows and programs like VDJ have come a long way! I have always used Serato with a Windows computer and glad to say my experience has been great. Rarely I encounter an issue that isn't too difficult to fix related to the operating system and Serato. People are truly missing out from the options that become available when you get a quality Windows laptop. Good on you Rohan!

[@rohansugunathas]

@@djbis TQ for your support.. Hardware is just a tool, A tool where you can maximize your potential and creativity and also has to be pocket friendly too. wha ha ha.. Sometimes i see some DJ's use Mac & Serato for status purposes. It's sad to see the limitations that they have to swallow.

[@djdannybhtx]

Great video! Question, how do u analyze your tracks while they ate in your external?

[@djstylez7392]

DJ DANNY B It’s the same process. To analyze internal and external. Drag the files to the analyze window. Or the song will analyze the first time it’s loaded into a play deck. I hope that was clear.

[@djdannybhtx]

DJ Stylez got it thank u bro!

[@geraldmcclaren2026]

The speed for the external hard drive is 9.3 seconds and the speed for the Lacie is 8.8 seconds.

[@kdiaz___]

You should do a whole tutorial on how you mapped the external for mac. Then you should show how you save everything and analyze it. I use external also but I’m sure I’m missing some things to make it as seamless as yours.

[@priyonjoni]

Keith Diaz what exactly is happening with your setup?

[@skrypture1162]

Most Daw studios use 2 external hard drives.. an SSD a couple terabytes at least for sound libraries and plugin database and a less expensive smaller capacity HHD for your backups, I’ve even had my Mac boot up from external storage and kept my computer running brand new

[@carlodorazio2569]

Never had an issue. I have 4 external hard drives that are used on one desk top PC and Mac all with serato no issues????? I analyze and it always carries over done

[@geraldmcclaren2026]

I had made a backup of my iTunes library on an external hard drive. I would like to know how can I put this backup on a MacBook Pro with Serato Dj 2.4. I'm confused on the instructions that I received, on the other hand, I don't want screw up my songs on the Mac. I'm a beginner.

[@GeoffreyUrch]

Hi, Like your videos Can you add an external drive of songs to djay pro on ipad ?

[@DjDubUk]

2 questions... 1: I just started collecting Video's for Djing...of course these files are much bigger and take up more room..but I was wondering if the HDD you have would be fast enough to handle Video's or am I better off going with an SSD to get the speed needed? 2: Could you do a follow up video showing us how to load our files onto the HDD and then how to find them in Serato DJ Pro? Thanks for all the great video's you post..Very helpful...Youza BA DJ ;)

[@eric-janvandenbogaard9415]

Video is even worse :) to work on video, edit, render , you need more speed, (SSD) once ready with post production of video, you can store it on (cheap) HDD media

[@jackofalltrades3011]

Regular hdd works fine as long as you have usb 3.0 speed or faster connection. Been using external drives for my video files for years now. SSD is also good since there’s no “mechanical drive”, so it will last longer. Either way are good as long as you keep backups!

[@AudioMaverickcom]

I personally prefer having a dedicated partition or drive INSIDE the computer, for data of any kind. I then replicate that to an external device that I carry with me, along with all the application settings. I also have a backup PC ready to go, in case the primary has an issue that prevents it from being used. That covers most of my scenarios. . I guess having a high end Windows computer and using Virtual DJ doesn't present some of your issues. The index (XML) file in each partition allows Virtual DJ to quickly bring up the file sets. Changing drive letters to match allows for the playlists to work, but filters are not effective. So many options, other than relying on an external USB device...

[@bernercalito8422]

I began transferring music and Serato crates to an external hard drive so I can play on other computers. The problem is that the music that I bought on iTunes got transferred to the external hard drive is not playing on Serato on the other computer, could it be because it is protected🤷‍♂️ if you have a solution of this problem or anyone else let me know please. Thank you.

[@juniorgarcia5344]

is that extenal universal can work for pc and mac or when you buy it you need to buy it saying made for mac pr pc?

[@d1themc629]

Whats the model # of your drive? I'm looking for that version

[@djraffis]

How about an external hard drive that would work on Mac and windows pc. What would be the hard drive format to work for both? This would be used with rekordbox.

[@Guitarist888]

Is 2tb good for EDM music and plugins like in native Instruments?

[@Brittdevoogd]

Hi there, so it’s possible to download tracks directly to your external harddrive, and analyse the tracks from external to Rekordbox, so it doesn’t takes space on your computer? I have a MacBook retina 2013 and my space is very limited ( 7GB left)

[@priyonjoni]

This is exactly why we use external drives.

[@navie36]

Hey Doggie!!! 0:55

[@benjamingarcia9095]

I took my CD out and added a 4TB SSD in place of it as a second drive so if my mac goes to shit I just pull the Music drive out and place it in the new mac. But you need to always have backups of your music. I have 3 backups

[@cespaillat11]

I'm having a hard time using an external drive. All my music is in iTunes. Could you PM me a tutorial on how to move my iTunes library to the external and then get Serato to read it from the external drive? I would like to have a plug and play external drive. Thank you.

[@geraldmcclaren2026]

Where on the MacBook pro do I plug the adapter in. ?

[@xitsbiebzforever]

So I just recently got a 256GB MacBook Pro. Before this I has a 16GB MacBook Air which was not good for video editing so I would use a external hard drive! With that computer I think I was running iMovie on my external hard drive because I didn't have enough internal storage. But now that I have 256GB... and I want to get a different editing software... do you think I should run that software on my laptop? or continue to run it on through my external hard drive?

[@priyonjoni]

When it comes to software, it's better to run it from the internal drive. There might be an argument when using an SSD for external, but it's generally recommended to use the internal for stability.

[@telefonista0631]

A quick solution for nowadays is swapping your internal Mac drive to a better ssd with a gig storage. You can also have an external SATA SSD gig drive for backups. Like you mentioned with today’s 3.0 usb speeds everything runs smooth. The whole setup could cost you about $250 which is well under budget if you go to the bigger 🍏 storage pc option..

[@DJSupe]

What can you do with only a gig storage in 2019?

[@telefonista0631]

DJ Supe compared to apple’s storage solution : A lot!!! 😁☺️

[@DJSupe]

@@telefonista0631 I don't know what type of Apple storage you are referring to but 1GB holds roughly 230 songs (at 128kbps). That's only 16 hours of music. I do not know of ANY MacBook made in the past 20 years that only has a gig storage capacity. I can't even find a thumb drive anymore with such a small amount. You might want to do some fact checking because your claim is preposterous.

[@telefonista0631]

DJ Supe I meant terabytes..... sorry 😐👍✌️ keep up the great work!

[@aun93.official]

I have a question on serato can auto import when add new song to external harddrive or manual to drag files to crate library for update?

[@priyonjoni]

Not sure I quite understand your question. Could you reiterate?

[@user-kd9kf9oh3b]

I have 1 tb of lacie ssd. And whenever i connect it to macbook . While switching from one folder to other it shows blank . And keep on browsering and takes too long . Any way out of it?

[@TranceCore3]

I was thinking about having a portable drive specifcally for my music. But since I'm planning for this to be a mobile drive, I don't want any mechanical drives. I already have one of those, and I can hear the disk making noises that make me uncomfortable.

[@lwe3625]

Get a SSD or Nvme external. Those are not mechanical. HDD is mechanical.

[@DJEvillincoln]

Sooooo... What if you get new music? Do you have to go & sync all that music all over again or find each song one by one?

[@priyonjoni]

I have two have two hard drive with identical libraries. To use them, I simply plug them in. The Serato database is a folder that can be copied.

[@cristian46901]

macbook pro 2023 M2 i keep all my files on my lacie 2 tb Hard drive all my files had been analyzed and sometimes it freezes for 3 seconds when loading a song and serato shows a message at the bottom saying writting tags please help

[@bobbyj836]

what about taking out the cd drive and adding a second ssd in its place?

[@cjeezy__uncheezy86]

Hello. I am new to DJing. I have no idea how to get my Apple Music music and playlists to my external hard drive. I want to use an external instead of my laptop due to speed and space usage on my laptop . I have downloaded a software that is suppose to convert my Apple Music library to mp3 files so that I can DJ with them. These files don’t transfer to my external. Why would that be if I have converted them using the converting software? Do you have a better solution to this issue? Thanks!

[@priyonjoni]

The solution is to download your music using DJ music pool service individually instead of trying to convert your music from a streaming service that doesn’t allow you to download.

[@Thomas_Swift]

Very informative My issue is using an external drive with Rekordbox. My files are not loading.

[@djnandozsunshine]

format it to ExFat

[@lifeofchris_5827]

Do you still use external drive for djing, I am new and just starting up looking for new ideas

[@priyonjoni]

I use an external SSD, the Samsung T5

[@yasalrajabi3674]

Hi pri I have some issu ?? I put all my music library in hard drie and And I made a decision to delete file serato and serato Backup to reset my files from the beginning, and the problem that I haved when I searched for any song on Hard Drive I see the song with the song version, but it is not readable or empty, and I cannot delete the unread version.???

[@priyonjoni]

Look up "how to delete lost or missing file".

[@derzw3rg]

I have 2 2tb external ssds - one i mainly use and a second one which is a backup. Yes this is expensive. Yes this is almost as fast as a internal drive. But the pros outweighing the one con (price)

[@yumyumrazon]

The only problem with external harddrive with a spinning disc is when you accidentally drop it, it may damage the disc. I recommend using an SSD as your every day carry on drive and use a spinning drive as a backup.

[@priyonjoni]

yumyumrazon forgot to mention the Lacie has a large rubber protective band around it. I have dropped it a few times before and haven’t had an issue.

[@yumyumrazon]

Pri yon Joni Yes, Lacie drives are ok. But in general, a spinning drive is a spinning drive. If you accidentally drop it, it may damage the platter inside the drive since it is a mechanical drive. I still recommend use a USB Flash drive or an SSD for everyday use. Then use the mechanical drive as a backup of your whole music collection.

[@geraldmcclaren2026]

I clicked on the thunderbolt cord twice but the Lacie external keep coming up.

[@deadlegend3427]

If I use a flash drive is their a difference?

[@rmp5s]

Granted, I'm not a DJ...but I AM a musician and I've worked in IT for over a decade now. I would never recommend "putting all your eggs in one basket" like this, as the saying goes. External drives tend to get tossed around and it's a matter of time until they fail. What I recommend: Make a Dropbox folder on your local drive. This way, you always have what you need readily accessible on the local drive AND it's all backed up in "the cloud". I've done this for years now. Not only does it mean all my projects and files are backed up, I can also install my DAW and VSTs on ANY machine I want and get right to work. I work directly out of the Dropbox folder. If space is an issue, this is one of the big benefits for PC over Mac...you can get machines with INSANE amounts of local storage for a fraction of what a Mac would cost. You can usually even add more down the road if you want. Hard drives are soldered to the boards on modern Macs...dick move on crApple's part. I know there is software that only runs on Mac and maybe that's a requirement for you, but if at all possible, I would recommend against Macs.

[@priyonjoni]

rmp5s so how do you access your drive and perform with it in a club without Internet? This is not a backup solution; it’s your source for your performance. I have two backups at home of all the files on this.

[@rmp5s]

An internet connection is not required. All files are on the local drive in the machine. Dropbox just mirrors what's in that directory. You can even go in and do "Selective Sync" in Dropbox and tell it which folders you want to keep local copies of and which ones you don't to save space if needed. This way, if your drive fails, all your stuff doesn't go anywhere and you can access all the data from any machine by simply syncing the appropriate Dropbox folders on whatever machine you're working on. It's one less thing to carry, too. :-D External drives, in my experience, are more prone to failure than hard drives...they tend to get banged around a lot more. I've had an external drive, in an enclosure, get bumped off a table and *boom*...gone...just like that. Everything...there one second, gone the next.

[@rmp5s]

It's good that you keep backups, though. Keep a set in a Dropbox folder...you get 2TB of space for...like...10 bucks a month now. They doubled it recently. Dropbox is BEYOND useful.

[@jimbecarroll5780]

I'm a photog and have files l havent even seen yet ! ..sometimes its like "oh wow ! I didn't see these shots" So you can mix tracks from your Ex HD and go back & forth to the internal one during your your set ?

[@super3nicolas]

I have my Macbook (2010 Unibody) with 2 hardrives, one bootdrive (128GB SSD) and a "Stuff" drive (2TB HDD) so I guess the old computer wins here (? I mean, if my Mac fails, I just take the drive out of the Mac to a external case so serato does not have to relocate lost files. I always carry a screwdriver on me hahaha so 4 screws are no problem🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Yuzuki1337]

This is what I would do as well, swapping drives from one laptop to another is not that hard in most cases and can easily be done in 5 minutes

[@francescacampanella6055]

Do you keep, if you use it, the itunes library folder on the external hardrive? Thank you

[@priyonjoni]

I don't use iTunes nor do I recommend doing it. Apple is under no obligation to make sure the iTunes playlist works on DJ software and can stop supporting their software at anytime.

[@francescacampanella6055]

@@priyonjoni Yes, I guess at this point that it's the rightest choice. From few months, when I moved all my music to an external hardrive, I'm experiencing that all the i-tunes tracks randomly disappear from the new creates that I create on serato.This literally making me go crazy.The problem is that I bought all the music from i tunes and now I don't know how to solve this issue without losing all the comment, cue point etc on the tracks- Thank you for the response.

[@guillevick]

Whats the diference between "instrument libraries" and " sample libraries"?

[@priyonjoni]

For the most part, an instrument library is a form of a sample library. However, they are in a format proprietary to the plug-in instrument they are used with. Sample libraries are simply in individual standard audio files like WAV.

[@JONQPiD]

Have you heard about the new Samsung SSD T7 external hard drives? Up to 1T of data storage. 😮😮😮🎉🎉😅

[@marksadhra9399]

You can get a 1 TB m.2 NVME SSD for around $100 and a 2 TB drive for around $200.

[@djhightopfade4940]

Is it safe to do this on a USB memory stick / flash drive? They get hot.

[@yingtianfu]

TBH, I don't really know, but my experience with the USB memory stick is that it is not reliable and it is super SLOW!!! I think a USB memory stick is only good for pictures. This is because those pictures take up very little storage which makes the transfer not too long. But if you are going to have bigger files like music files, then DO NOT DO IT!!!!

[@bitterXboifren]

number one drawback to an external is YOINK! that's why I have 2 of them.

[@pstentertnmt]

I bought an SSD and installed it in a external hard drive enclosure and I use that as my external hard drive. Much cheaper than buying an SSD external from WD or Seagate. I back it up every week and I cloned both of my Macbook SSDs.

[@eric-janvandenbogaard9415]

Apple OS will alow you to clone the SSD where the OS is on ?

[@pstentertnmt]

@@eric-janvandenbogaard9415 No, I used a free program called SuperDuper! It creates a fully bootable clone of your existing hard drive. Macrium Reflect does the same thing if you're a Windows user.

[@Dranomoly]

700 Gigs of music?!?! How much of that music do you actually use?

[@eric-janvandenbogaard9415]

I guess when you make an extended data base like struckture with all kind of sorting options in genre, and custom ones, it can be queit extensive :)

[@TranceCore3]

If you collect enough music, especially in high quality formats, you're bound to reach that quickly. lossless formats are significantly larger

[@patheticattemptforcurtbrog924]

I'm getting one so I can get some space on my laptop for music production but still keep my music

[@christianstrahley2438]

You probably forgot about your comment but make sure to just keep basic files and applications on your MacBook, and keep everything else on an ssd. It can really help your Mac stay fast and prevent it slowing down🙌

[@bryanlopez5637]

sir i have a macbook pro mid 2012 and works faster than a newer macbook pro i just hit me up to know what i did ?

[@DJ-Coma]

bryan lopez not possible for it to work faster. SATA SSD’s are nowhere near the speed of M2 NVME SSDs.

[@Priest88]

I do have a ? I dj from an external HD on my macbook pro but I don't understand how to back up my library to another external HD any suggestions?

[@djbis]

The Serato website has a good guide on how to go about managing this and much more. Check out the support pages. Do a search and it will come up.

[@djbis]

use keyword "migrate".

[@georgemapp2855]

I’m confused I use my external HardDrive with my Mac with Serato works fine trying out Rekordbox on the same computer Rekordbox is saying it doesn’t recognize it that it only recognizes FAT 12 FAT 16 FAT 32

[@erikkovac1975]

seven hundred gb? whoa, you have everything in flac/wav?

[@rohansugunathas]

Errrr.. thats a litlle, I have 1.7TB of music & MTV's. hihihi

[@priyonjoni]

Erik Kováč when I download; I get at least four versions of the song. Clean, dirty, mixshow clean, mixshow dirty.

[@rohansugunathas]

@@priyonjoni Exactly!. DJ's play different gigs for different occasion. Having different mixes is good to keep in your library. I believe even Pri may download different genres too for a particular song. Am i correct?

[@kakaoen4]

I really hope you just have a slow machine because otherwise i´m really glad i´m not using Serato because that thing was really slow loading the songs. Even my old crap laptop running traktor almost loaded tracks instantly when i used that. Now i just Rekordbox which is also instantly loading but that i can understand because of my desktop being really fast. The only slow thing is analyzing and that is where Rekordbox sucks ass because it gets slower and slower untill it just takes forever for each track which means a restart of the software plus it´s sort of unstable too.

[@Javarrol]

My external harddrive takes about 55 mins to load all my songs into Dj sersto . So I just dropped the necessary tracks about 450 gb pre loaded.. So if the hard drive disconnects im Still good.

[@noramoss]

I know this is old but I'm sure you know that ssd external hd exist now and they are fast.. 1GPS.. I'm waiting til cyber monday to get like 4 samsung or sandisk 1TB external ssds

[@brooklynboy1000]

my lacie just died

[@Dannypizano209]

Time Machine!?!?!?

[@mickeul16]

don't forget to mention one thing: it has value for an Apple laptop where any upgrade of SSD costs you an eye, when it's possible to do In the Windows PC universe ,it's more easy to get a more capacitive SSD for a smart price. (and yes, it's possible to mix well and comfy with a Windows laptop which contains at least a 7th generation Core i3, 8 GB of ram and a huuuge HDD/SDD,let's break the DJ's myth "you MUST have a MAc to mix")

[@priyonjoni]

Mickeul16 the price of internal SSD is just one factor. But there still is the backup issue in case your laptop fails. Having an external is the easiest way to take your music and play on a different computer, instantly. Backing up your music files from an internal drive to an external still takes several steps that take time to get it to instantly be play ready, especially since you have to run the “relocate lost files”. And because of that; not everyone practices it or does it often enough.

[@mickeul16]

@@priyonjoni anothr solution is to have a NAS (that requires only a ethernet Cable and a few points of configuration) it's a great alternative if you take at least a 2 bay one, you have your backup and witha replication, you have a backup of backup It is a very useful solution (I am tech info before to be an amateur DJ so kept in touch with backup's solutions)

[@OerythiaDeQuatrefages]

I've been faithful to the Apple brand since I switched from Amiga decades ago but now I really have enough of Apple & LaCie, my Macbook Air internal drive just died after overheating and the rugged raid thunderbolt drive was a joke due to its weak cabling connection. Please let me what are the 3 top PC you'd recommend for DJing, music playback, remixing and composition? I'm open to think different although I just can stand the Windows OS ,-)

[@mickeul16]

@@OerythiaDeQuatrefages I can give you the specs of mine if you want: A Lenovo with Core i3 4th Gen, 7 years, and not exclusive for mixing, a general purpose laptop, and a good amount of RAM (8GB). The main trouble potential is sometimes the lack of stabilty of Windows, as you come from MacOS, may need a time of adaptation for you.

[@marypetracek2885]

Hi

[@Singhk47]

You finish the track the mix is done you take it to the car…..

[@rupertcortes3980]

By using file type exFAT.

[@AllanSCloc]

MUSIC GETS LEAKED IN THE CLOUD DONT DO IT, USE AN EXTERNAL LIKE THIS ONE ☝️

[@nathanstutoring]

Facts bro, good insight!

[@flyrobin2544]

VDJ

[@rogerm1111]

It's much better to use your internal storage on your laptop to store all of your music. If you don't have enough storage space, upgrade to a larger SSD or hard drive. If you are unable to upgrade the storage in your laptop, replace it with one with upgradeable storage. Using an external hard drive is great for backups and of course, everyone should have a backup of their music collection, but in my opinion is a terrible option to use instead of internal storage. Internal storage is more reliable and it's also a lot more convenient not have to use an external drive.

[@rogerm1111]

@@amymixesandmasters1385 I actually watched the video and disagree with what he said.

[@jayharrison9617]

SOLUTION! Waste all your hard earned money and buy an upgraded Mac for $3500+... every 4-5years. Expensive, but a whole lot easier and it gives you peace of mind. OR switch to a PC and spend a $1000 less for almost the same specs as a MacBook Pro.