damn that’s hard …
altho’ the idea of that internal ssd is cool…
've chosen for a MicroSd card to do the job
@mufasa horrible night. Well out of practice on serato lol. Got a banging headache from looking at a small screen all night that was further away than normal. But they all enjoyed themselves so i spose all good really.
@N.D.M it could still happen on a micro sd card lol. The joys of being a mobile dj and carrying a big library lmao
it could still happen on a micro sd card lol.
'm limiting the chances of that happening by taking it out of the prime 4 after closing down each time. also when i rework the library i connect the card straight to my pc instead of through connection with the prime 4. i find it most stable for my needs this way. especially for quick reloads
I agree. On paper it sounds like a great idea.
I’ve read posts here about folks installing separate SSD into a pair of 5/6000. I don’t get it. How are you supposed to maintain the library even with one SSD installed.
@Dj-alzy glad the gig was a success. What are you going to do about the ssd? Format and start afresh?
I know it doesn’t help now, but I’ve used Pioneer systems AND Denon and work in IT as a living… I never put my trust in anything that relies on storage. Whether it’s physical hard drives or SSD, they are both vulnable to failure. My main PC has an external USB drive that I store every track I own or download. I then have another identical drive that is created by Denon and/or Pioneer (depending on system Im using). It’s this identical drive that feeds the Denon. If the worst happens and this drive fails or corrupts, I can reformat and rebuild from my original PC drive. However, I also ALWAYS have 2 identical USB pen drives that contain a folder of New tracks and a folder of classic house tracks, just enough to last a 3 or 4 hour set. Should my main drive go AWOL during a gig, I can plug these drives in and work from those, not ideal but at least the gig has music! Bottom line saftly net if my setup seems too long winded… Once your Denon drive is all good and working, GO BUY ANOTHER SPARE DRIVE and clone it, you’ve always got that backup (even if its a couple of months out of date since you last cloned), you can swap it out. Prices of drives won’t break the bank, but at least you have that piece of mind. PLease always backup, I know its tedious, but long term you’ll enjoy the DJing and not stress about losing everything!
Good Day @DJMarkyMarkUK,
thanks for your precious post regarding “back up”. I proceed as well (making independent copies on an USB-Stick / Server).
One short Question: Did you ever test the backup or did you need to restore? Were the “HotCues” , “Loops” and “Playlists” saved as in the production environment?
Some weeks ago, I had to restore some single tracks (not a complete restore), and I was surprised that “HotCues”, “Loops” and “Playlists” had not been restored.
So I posted as follows: https://community.enginedj.com/t/prime-4-restore-db/39113
I regret all guys, who have a data crash and no back up files, and furthermore never tested, if they work properly.
I’m looking forward to hearing of you and thanks in advance.
Brgds
BeatMaster
Doing it via the Prime 4 connection isn’t possible anyway. For some unknown reason the SD card slot doesn’t show as storage when connected to a computer.
@mufasa I had hard drives installed into each of my old HS5500 players. Using the Music Manager software, I had to do everything twice - once on each player.
There was no way of telling the software to treat the drives as clones. That option would still benefit some users today with Engine DJ.
And those could be as reliable in dealing with drives as the Hanpins are, especially if you used the DDJ Music Manager ahead of time, once again because of a lack of constant automatic writes. If you did plug in a drive that had no database, then I believe the 5500s scan and write to the drive just once automatically when you first plug the drive in to build a searchable database, but that’s minor.
We know why these issues occur: frequent automatic writes to these drives that cannot be disabled with Engine OS. We know how to easily fix this, and we know read-only is viable because streaming services on Prime gear are able to work without writes to drives. Allowing such options would produce certainty in results while not preventing users from permitting writes, especially if they have backups.
I don’t understand you !! you spent 2200 euros for the prime 4 and 100 euros for an internal ssd !! you are afraid to spend another 100 euros for a usb c ssd where you have the same backup of the library, after all it takes 5 more minutes to synchronize both the library of the prime 4 and that of the external backup ssd ! come here to write i go back to pioneer! instead of trying to prevent the problem with a backup !! then what can I say that I was 300 km from home and my macbook ssd broke and or had to use my iphone to complete the evening !! now with denon and a backup on the external ssd are in place !! any pc could lose the files but you are able to blame only denon !!
Thats part of the issue i wasnt actually at home with all my backups… How many bsckups do i need to carry… cant find tbat bit in manual . So i have now decided to do it a different way. Folders on hard drive are now crates are now playlists. I.e. put all tracks into there own playlist folder crate. Then drag those to collection. If it decides to do it again then I’m in controll as all tracks are withing a hard folder on drive that is NOT created by denon. And the primes will still read the folders as per. See denon thats how simple it can be… now im off to try and complicate the ■■■■ out of the system. Im now going to call my folders bins.and playlists are now request sheets. Crates are now boxes.
This is how it should be done 
. I have never dumped all my tracks in 1 folder and then relied on any software to organise them. Fk that for a game of laughs.
Keep tracks well organised and tagged on a drive your way, when you make a new folder drag that into Engine just for a fast analysis run.
This way no one will ever get stressed over playlists being forever lost or need away to migrate from one software playlist to another (unless you demand hotcues!)
Keep and maintain a folder system on a drive but always make a full backup as digital files can become corrupt or a drive fail without notice.
On a note - just take what you need for the event or night on a backup drive for that “just in case”. You won’t need your entire library!
1 Like
Yeah i used to do it this way. Then in my own stupidity i decided to use that useless "sync " button in prime. Lesson learnt the hard way… do it the good old fashioned way…
“Folders on hard drive are now crates are now playlists. I.e. put all tracks into there own playlist folder crate. Then drag those to collection. If it decides to do it again then I’m in control ”
Could you please explain the method real slow for a confused Denon-novice? I am in the process of sorting my very big library into “real folders” on my main disk, sorted into genres: (Reggae Example: folders called “Dub”, “Lovers Rock”, “Hits”, “British reggae” and so on). I also have folders for house, electro, ambient, jazz, soul, Afro, filmscores, evergreens…and folders containing artists (James Brown folder = 7 albums / Portishead folder = 3 albums)
I haven’t started Engine yet, and haven’t tried to sync…am afraid to go down the wrong road.
I like to now exactly where the physical files belong - in which folders. It matches my brain and memory. And, I’m really aware of system failure. I want to be able to restore a playlist fast if I get in similar problems like you…I play better sets when everything is accounted for.
How do I create playlists/sync if I wanna make selections from different physical folders? ( example: a playlist with tracks from very different folders. Motown soul → ska → early Marley → dub → electro - breakdance )
Am I doing it wrong?
I’m using a Prime 2 with internal Samsung SSD + backups for every gig/playlist on SD cards.
Advice are welcome 
Thanks
@perform45. Ok the easiest way to expjain this.
Goto serato and make your crates from all your physicsl tracks on hard drives. As you used to do. Now goto engine and tell it to read serato… Drag those crates into engine collection. (Old term used due to denon deciding to rip the terminology book up and rename everything) To do it in a failsafe mode. The crates you make in serato make those physical folders on hard drive. Yes this does mean you may end up with multiple copies of a track…BUT trade off against library going t1ts up during a gig
1 Like
Thank You - appreciate Your help!
I’m not used to Serato - or any other DJ software. I have played with vinyl and doing livesets with drummachines etc. I’m now in the proces of digitising my very big collection (ripping my CD´s / recording vinyl). At the moment the files is sorted in folders on an external “master” disk. I´ll then make playlists (Engine? Lexicon?) and sync to the internal SSD disk in my Prime 2.
I guess I could/should still use Your method without Serato though.
Have I understood this correctly: You recommend to make the playlists into physical “Crates / folders”? -even if the files occupies more space?
So, a track that is used in 2 different playlists, will occupy 3 times its physical space:
1 Masterfolder + 1 Playlist 1 folder + 1 Playlist 2 folder.
Have I misunderstood your method?
Thanks
Ok sorry didt realise you dont use serato.
Right . Take say an album by say avicii. Its on its own folder and contains say 20 tracks.
That album (folder) goes into the ALL or MASTER folder. Same as every other album. Odd tracks make your own folder however you want and put those tracks in there (same as singles on vinyl all in own box).
From there make your playlist folders as you do with vinyl. Organise it however you want that is best for you. Copy and paste the tracks from avicii album into as many playlist folders as you want.
Ok so now we have a hard drive full of folders and you can find everything easily.
That hard drive now gets cloned (complete copy) and put to one side under lock and key.
(Optional but would recomend it).
Now the hard drive can be “read” easily by other software as a backup system. Ie serato or vdj.
In engine open the folders tab in bottom left corner. Click the drives icon and select the drive with all the folders on. Drag the folders from the left hand folders side into the “drive” collection. From there you can now work with just the collection and analyze the tracks. Correct beat grids and add cue points or loops.
Everytime you add an album or track to drive. Dont forget to add it to collection to analyze it.
From there find the folder called engine. Copy it and paste it intoa new folder called BACKUP. Also copy it to a usb key and put it with your master drive. Do this everytime you add tracks or albums
If at any point it goes pete tong. Delete the engine folder and copy paste from BACKUP back to where you just deleted engine foler from.
Hope that makes it more understandable.
2 Likes
Keep breathing guys, take a walk, shake it off… as it comes to backups… When i buy a disk for back up purposes i mostly buy 2 to have an exact clone. Should it be that way ? NO Is it overkill ?? After having what happened to him to me too… HELL NO!
In the end … Tech always will work eventually… but never from the 1st time… or with flaws… i promised myself i would never put me in the disadvantage like that again.
2 Likes
With improvements and diligence it can, but not if it’s abandoned. Cue the funerary music for the MDJs…
2 Likes
@Reticuli exactly. Its fine playing same venue as a pemenant install but for the mobile jock the concept of standalone is the lure. Its bad enpugh havong to drag a complete rig around. Then rig it, play the night, then derig it. The added nightmare and stress of losing everything with 4 hours to go… put yourself in that situation. Yes ok stupid me for not carrying a back up drive. But… …
Hi @Dj-alzy
Sorry for my late response: Didn’t get a notification about your reply…
And thanks for the extended explanation, I’ll follow your ideas 