Engine Library Collection on external disk

Start with a new database

Rename the “Engine Folder” in C music and on the root of the HD

Use this as your base. Add all tracks from the HD to Engine.

Then use FreeFileSync to clone the HD to the SSD

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I was afraid you would say this hahah

So you have a “database2” folder do you make a new one along side that ?

Im new to this part.

I had another suggestion also ??

What about copying my 4tb HD raw files to my spare ssd ??? that has all my stuff analysed ??? That way I would be just using the ssd to plug in when I needed it ?

If that went ok I could copy the ssd to my other ssd and I would have the 2 copies ???

I could potentially forget the engine library and the 4 tb hd raw files drive ???

Také a look on ATGR software. Mac only. https://www.atgr.nl/

@mufasa when you do this, do you drop the tracks in the “main collection” (on the left side of Engine DJ), or in the collection that will be created in your external SSD (Drives)?

When you acquire new music…where do you save it to?

Yes I drop it to the main collection tab (LeFt tab)

You can do that. I will recommend using a cloning app to clone the HD to the SSD.

The parent folder “ENGINE Library” rename that to anything else for ex “Engine Library Dec21”

You have to rename it on the HD and your computers Default Music folder usually in C drive. If you have other installed drives in your computer, check those as well for any Engine Library folder and rename those

At First i started to drop them into the Engine Dj Left Hand Side then i dragged to the ssd from there. This may be where i have gone wrong. If i could start fresh id just drag the tracks straight to ssd ??? but what is done is now done its really how i can rectify this the databse is so large 65,000 tracks that starting again will take forever :frowning:

New Music i first save the raw files to my 4tb HD (Raw Files Music Collection, then drag to Engine. What may have happened is that some tracks have been dragged to Eng Lib Collection left hand side and others to ssd.

How though do i have tracks in different and wrong folders? i always drag them to the correct playlists be it eng lib or ssd ???

Unfortunately in Engine DJ if you want to move the tracks, you have to delete the database and start from scratch. There is no way to change the path inside it without losing everything.

Thats not good news :frowning:

95% of my databse is ok, but when i plug into my laptop my ssd my hd with raw files on and the eng collection all differ in tracks as in they all have different amounts on ??

I have an ssd fully analysed so i can play on my players i am lucky in that respect.

The main thing now which I am considering is to copy all my raw music files to my spare clean SSD and rebuilding from scratch. I still have one ssd analysed so im not totally stuck. But Im thinking of using the spare ssd as per Mufasa stategy so one drive does it all and you keep a copy of it

Yes, this is a good idea. Maybe start with a few tracks (30 or 40) then verify that you get the operation you want to achieve. Then transfer the other tracks as well.

Yes, this is good.

  1. All your Music files must be on an external drive (ExFat is advisable)
  2. This drive will be referred/called to as Collection drive going forward
  3. We will no longer be using music files stored in the computer’s internal storage.
  4. Whenever you acquire new music files, it has to be saved to the Collection Drive first
  5. Start Up Engine DJ 2.0
  6. Drag the music folders from the Collection drive to the Engine Collection (Pro-tip - its smarter to have one Main folder on the collection drive called DJ MUSIC or DJ COLLECTION)
  7. Do your thing as you will normally do - analyse, hotcue, grids, playlist etc (But do not export or use Sync Manager to do anything - we don’t need it)
  8. When you are done with your prep work, disconnect the drive from computer, and connect it to your P2, P4, 5/6000, Numark or Go.
  9. You will see everything shows up just like you expect - playlists, tracks, hotcues etc

The Collection Drive holds your music (valuable) - PLEASE CREATE A CLONE OF IT - I use Carbon Copy Cloner. Your Clone is the back up incase something happens to the drive.

The CLONE will function just like the original drive (Bonus)

To make further changes to your library, you must always plug the drive into your laptop.

If you start Engine DJ (Desktop) without the drive you would just have an empty library (If you did everything correctly) - If you see red missing files that means you missed a step.

If everything works fine, you can delete all the music stored in your laptops internal drive…and get that space back for your ever expanding exotic grown up movie collection.

or you can decide to keep them as a back up.

You can still make small exports to other drives as well from the Collection Drive using sync manager eg say you are playing a small set.

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  1. if you drag to the collection tab (left panel) it will create a folder and subfolders
  2. if you drag to the collection tracks window, all tracks are added to database (no folders created)

Thank you :slight_smile:

So Once my raw files are on my SSD I can drag them to the left panel and let them build ??? I will not attach any other drive just the 1 SSD drive let it all do its thing and eject. Then copy clone it.

The only Thing i will lose is my playlists as they are tracks dragged from other playlists to make up my playlists. This is not too bad as I have a drive analysed now il note them or screen shot them so i can re do my playlists. :slight_smile:

Another good thing for me is i have no music on my laptop at all its just on the ext drive.

I use a laptop mid range i was tempted for a mac as im told it will speed everything up but as its just for use with engine only to analyse. (I have the prime players and no laptop required) then I cannot justify the £ for a mac :frowning:

you can still salvage some of the playlist but from what you described, it does appear your whole library management process was not optimal to begin with.

  1. to salvage playlist - use lexicon

  2. upload your old HD engine library database with the playlist to lexicon

  3. disconnect the HD from laptop

  4. connect the new SSD (that you copied the tracks to)

  5. Use the relocate function in Lexicon to find the tracks in the new drive (SSD)

  6. now download the relocated playlists to your engine library from lexicon

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That is just unfortunate. From all the posts I read so far, it really feels like the import needs polishing. I mean I cannot for one instance imagine a professional picture organizing software to not allow to rescan a folder and import a new file…or allow deletion of an existing one. And those type of software are trying to solve a very similar problem.

I also hear how recordbox even has a watch feature that watches set directories for changes and imports files automatically.

Perhaps some of these issues are being worked on. I don’t know. But it sure feels like the import needs some work.

Yes you are right. In fact, if you see the feature requests, you will find a request to get this among the first places in the ratings rankings.

Yes, we all hope so. But for now the only solution to not start from scratch is to rely on third-party software to perform this shift.

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So My Raw Files Are Almost Copied to my SSD 1 now so I can start my re build for the 6th Time, I hope this is the last time. The SSD will be clones after. So i will have an SSD 2 also. Thank goodness I still have my old database saved on a HD (even though its bad and a mess) i can still play on my machines with them until I have finished my new rebuild in the background. Thank you guys for all your help on this I recevied an email yesterday from Denon some 3 days later, apart from repeat my problems im not sure what they can do now.

One Question also please ???

Obviously with a collection of 65,000 it is not possible surely to have every single track that may have a few Artist Track Title spelling errors … I have been very thorough but this still can happen. So I am able to make any changes am I right in the Engine Collection but obviously not to the raw files as this will make them disapear ???

Is there any software that can scan your raw files so I can check all before plugging in my SSD 1 into Engine and starting to build ???

I use MP3tag to edit the tags and filename of the MP3 file. However, you have to change the name of the file before adding it to the EDJ collection, otherwise the link to the file will be lost.

Merged some posts for better reading.

I could write a windows app to do this if it doesn’t infringe on Inmusic ip. Should just be an update to the sql db tables. I am looking at writing something that looks for file system changes from my external drive and auto-updates the collection. This would make life easier.

Creation of the Engine Dj library with folders stored in the media that will be used with Prime Serie players :

https://fb.watch/9NKRm5CuRz/

Or

Creation of the Engine Dj library from the Music folder of the C drive to an external medium :

https://fb.watch/9NK-uJ8zTw/