Playlist created on PC but not visible on P4

Engine DJ & OS V2.2.2 (both PC SW and Prime4) OS on PC: W10

Setup: I use a single disk setup: All my tracks and my whole collection is located on a movable SSD. So I do not need to sync…whatever I do on PC is automatically reflected on my P4 because I always work directly on P4’s collection. This setup always worked like charm!!!

Current Problem: I create some new playlists with my SSD connected to PC (Engine-DJ). Some of the new playlists are visible on Prime4, some are not! I cannot tell any criteria why they are shown on P4 or not…it is simply non-deterministic! And change on exisiting playlists are not reflected 100%, too.

Workaround: On PC manually check each and every playlist with the “drives” view and drag and drop what is missing. WHAT A MESS!!!

That’s because it is the wrong aproach. Probably you have some music on your c:\ drive, some on your P4 Unit. When you disconnect from your pc, obviously tracks on your c:\ drive won’t show on P4. The best and correct way is to have all your music on your computer, and export to your P4 drive. If you want to use your p4 drive as your main collection, then you must have all your tracks on the p4 drive only.

I disagree @rcatelli. @Uwe_Rieke does it the way i do it. Saves using the dubious “sync” feature. Its actually faster doing it this way, and much easier to update and change. It also cuts down to almost zero the infamous red track syndrome Transfer music to a main folder on external drive and use that drive to make playlists up. @Uwe_Rieke make sure the tags or playlist names DONT contain any funny character’s like à, è, ì, ò, ù, Although they show on pc they WONT show on prime 4

Thanks @Dj-alzy for clarifying this. I x-checked and there are no special chars (in my case German äöü etc) in any of the affected playlists.

@rcatelli: You did not quite get how I use my setup so let me further explain: When I unplug my external SSD from my P4 I simply have NO (0) tacks on my P4 anymore. I have no inbuilt storage in my P4. It is all on the external SSD. So no sync or alike typically needed. This approach has many advantages but needs proper backup and at least one mirrored spare drive, just in case… You understand?

Is it the same with the backup drive… If so was it ok on previous version… If so i would roll back a version and try update again via usb stick.

If it still happens roll it back and raise a ticket on it.

I get perfect how you use it the only difference i have is i do have an internal drive but it has an old cover most things library on it just for safety sake and peace of mind

@Uwe_Rieke Sorry, I believed your collection was on a internal P4 SSD. But my related possible source for your problems may still be the same:

So now your collection is on a single external drive, you eject it and plug to your P4, right?

Are you absolutely sure you’re not dragging tracks from C:\ or any other local drives? With your aproach you must download tracks, move all to your external drive, and drag to playlists from your external drive. If you drag from C:\ all your playlists will be visible from your computer, but only the ones created with files from your external drive will be visible when you connect to your P4.

Engine creates a separated database on each drive of your computer - so if you accidentally drag tracks from C:, you’ll have 2 databases showing together on your computer, but only the one located on your external drive will be showing when plugged to your P4.

Sorry for the weird english I’m from Brazil.

@Dj-alzy I understand some people have sync issues - maybe I’m lucky, but I play with 3 unlinked SC5000’S, on stick per player, and I sync to all 3 sticks from a USB hub two days per week without issues

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@rcatelli yeah i didnt have issues with sync i just found it easier to edit the main drive. Then i im using my mares unit i only got to grab one drive and bosh my library as i like it… Horses for courses … each to thrir own mate

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Sure, I’m not against your aproach. But as it is slightly different from “default” workflow, some caution steps must be adopted. In fact I believe that your approach may be the best for huge collections.

I personally have a internal unit only for engine. For me this is the best aproach. All is located on a internal d: drive. No need to backup on fresh windows installs or any other issues. Recently my main c:\ windows SSD had a catastrophic failure - I just got a new ssd, installed windows and engine prime, and voila my collection from d:\ unit was back - 0 efforts to have it back running. I backup it just copying the whole D: to a external drive.

Yeah i have to make regular wedding playlists up so for me tjis is the best way. Its not for everyone agreed its just what works nicely for me and my workflow

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Wrong !

Special characters work great on the Prime 4! If these characters are a problem… you should rather look at the version of the Idtags in your files! All my tags are in id3v2.3 version I use Jaikoz to normalize the version of my MP3 tags.

I made myself a file with a very large number of special characters and it was very well found and read by the P4.