I’m newish to the Engine DJ ecosystem after many years using rekordbox.
I want to clarify how Engine backups work so I have a proper routine for regular backups.
- I currently have my music library files stored on a MacBook where Engine DJ lives.
- When new music is added, I use the Sync Manager in Engine to sync to my SC6000 where I installed a SSD drive.
- At this point I have 2 copies of my library and the Engine database, which is OK.
Here’s my statement / question… when I perform a Library Backup within Engine, that gets saved to the local drive and I make a copy and offload it to another location. However, that process does not backup the actual music files, correct? I’ll need to do that manually some other way.
If so, I’m going to make a feature request (if one does not exist), and I think it would be beneficial if when performing a library backup, you have the option to backup the music files as well as the database (playlists, cue points, etc) along with any location you choose… local, external SSD, cloud etc. This way, if you get a new computer, have a drive failure or corruption, you simply install a fresh copy of Engine, perform a restore and it all goes back in one step.
(This is how rekordbox works).
1 Like
Hi @DJNixInTheMix,
You’re 100% Correct. A “library backup” is more of a “Database backup”, which does a physical copy of the database only. This helps ward off risks like database corruption.
The database includes cached data including: art, waveform data (two types), metadata about the tracks you “imported”, playlists, cuepoints, loops, etc., but not the music itself.
A backup of your music & database could be performed by a few strategies:
- Using a backup app like TimeMachine (or any reputable 3rd party windows app) to an external storage device (USB, Thunderbolt, thumb drive, NAS, etc.).
- If the above isn’t a great solution, manually copying your library & database to an external storage device.
I use an external drive for my library because I use two different computers to manage my music & load onto my SC6000Ms.
The strategy i employ:
- Entire mac automated backups using Time Machine (this captures the
Engine Library/ database.)
- Source music is on a NAS
- I routinely copy my entire source drive to another NAS as a backup “image”.
A feature like you suggested could help many non-technical Engine DJ users holistically backup their music & database easily with a single button.
3 Likes
Dear all,
experience I made, is to train “how to restore”.
So you are skilled in case of emergency.
Brgds BeatMaster