How do I move my DJ library to an external HD without losing date added?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

How do I move my DJ library to an external HD without losing date added?

Ok, so my DJ laptop is now completely full, and my imac will be soon…My question is how do you go about moving your DJ library to an external without losing the date added info? (this info is essential to me when DJing)

Thanks for any advice!

2

I would look into a cloning tool. I don’t have experience with CCC but I’m going to assume it preserves file dates.

There’s a tool called rsync that will also do this for you if you know how to use it, it’s a standard UNIX tool and is already installed on your Mac.

Keep the source until you are happy with the results! If you muck something up you can do it again.

EDIT:

3

why is the date added so essential?

4

For the ones who like to play fresh stuff, I believe.

5

I din’t know if this will work, but I would assume if you just move the files to an external HD, delete the files from where they are now, do a consistency check and then when it can’t find the files click the relocate button and point it to the external HD, that would keep all the imported dates etc. in place. Maybe test it with a brand new file first.

6

What software are you using? With Traktor you can export your track collection / library to your external, from in the software, may take a while but I think it then automatically uses that file path and keeps all your track information intact etc.

7

This has worked in the past for me. I am very time/life event associative when buying music and thus remember when I purchase tracks I want to play…Date Added is very important for me. I even create separate folders for each batch of tracks I purchase on my backup drive in case things get messed up.

8

I have an action set up in MP3Tag that adds the Created Date (and time) to the Sort Date field in the files tags.

This ensures that the date created/downloaded/saved always stays with the actual file.

Here’s a thread where papo helped me. Seriously - this little bit of help from papo opened a whole world of library management techniques for me:

Thanks again, papo! :thumbsup:

9

Thanks for all the tips here folks, I’m in the same position especially regarding the date added as in my residencies it’s essential i keep stuff fresh and my playlists are organised by this..

Thanks,