Rekordbox usb format how to#
Rekordbox usb format mac os#
Rekordbox usb format software#
Rekordbox usb format mac#
Rekordbox usb format windows#

Make sure you select the drive, not the partition below (otherwise you will miss vital setting later).

Select the USB drive in the drive list on the left.

Start “ Disk Utility” by pressing Command + Spacebar and type “disk”, select the first item in the list or press Enter.

Rekordbox usb format mac#

Apple HFS+ Formatting USB drive for Rekordbox on Mac.The Pioneer CDJ machines support three types of file system formats: We can only guess as to why Pioneer choose to support these older standards instead of the newer standards, more than likely something to do with licensing issues. FAT32 is replaced by NTFS in 1993, HFS+ is replaced by APFS in 2017. Supported standards have been replaced by newer more reliable ones with less (storage) limitations. HFS+ however is notorious for getting corrupt after a while. You can can only format and read a USB drive with HFS+ on a Mac, not Windows. Because of the broad support this is the recommended format.Īpple’s Hierarchical File System is an alternative to FAT32 (also known as “OS X extended” in Apple’s Disk Utility) and allows you a bigger storage than 32GB.

You should be ok if you don’t format your drive above 32GB. It might work at first glance, but it will lead strange behaviour later in your DJ set. You can get tools that “force” formatting above 32GB, however, since it does not conform to the FAT32 industry standard, Pioneer does not support it.

Rekordbox usb format mac os#

FAT32 is supported on Mac OS and Windows, but is limited to 32GB. Don’t use it.įAT32 is the follow up of FAT16.

Rekordbox usb format windows#

Also, all modern Windows & Mac computers support FAT32 nowadays. I disregard FAT because it is a old format. Below is a table of the different format options, and details of what is supported by Rekordbox and what is not.Īlso known as FAT16 is an acronym for File Allocation Table 16 bit. There are many different options to choose from, some work and some won't.

Rekordbox usb format how to#

In this article we will dive into the correct settings, and explain how to format your USB drive on Windows and Mac the right way.īefore we start there are some things you need to know about formatting, like what is supported and what is not. So, choosing the right settings is important for convenience and compatibility. Have you had any issues spinning with thumb drives and CDJs? What’s been your preferred file system when it comes to thumb drives, and why? Share your thoughts below.How you format your USB drive impacts the speed of your Rekordbox export, and if your drive is recognized by DJ controllers and CDJs like the CDJ 3000. Read this next: Tips & Tricks: How To Choose A USB Drive For DJing I show you how to do all of these in the video above.

Rekordbox usb format software#

Another disadvantage is if you’re formatting a thumb drive larger than 32GB using a Windows PC, you need to download extra software in order to do the formatting. That’s not a problem though if it’s a USB stick for spinning since you probably don’t have a song that’s got a file size that huge. Sure it has its disadvantages: it’s an older file system, so you can’t add a file larger than 4GB to it. At the time of this writing, it’s the closest thing we’ve got to a “near-universally compatible” file system. This ensures read and write compatibility with both Windows and Mac computers, and guarantees compatibility with Pioneer DJ’s CDJs, XDJs as well as other media players including the Denon DJ SC5000 Prime. Learn to DJ on any gear: The Complete DJ Course That’s why if you’re going to be spinning with a USB drive, we recommend formatting it to FAT32. Pioneer DJ’s CDJ media players are also able to read music files from drives formatted with FAT32 (FAT 16 and HFS+ are also included).įAT32 works on both Windows PCs and Macs, and it’s one of the file system formats Pioneer DJ recommends when it comes to CDJ and XDJ use. However, there is one file system that both Macs and PCs can read and write to: FAT32. Macs can read NTFS thumb drives, but can’t write to them. Here’s a cheat sheet: modern Windows computers use the NTFS or exFAT system, and Macs use the HFS+ (MacOS Extended Journaled) system. There are lots of file systems out there: some are compatible only with Windows computers, some only with Macs, and some are readable by both Macs and PCs, but can only be written to by either a Mac or a PC. Formatting it lets you specify what file system you want it to use, and this is dependent on what operating system you’re using. What’s a file system and why should I care?Ī file system is a hard drive’s way of organising data. One way to troubleshoot is to make sure you’ve got the USB thumb stick formatted properly using a file system recognised by the CDJ or XDJ.

Maybe you plug it into an XDJ-RX and track waveforms don’t appear as they should. But that’s not always the case: sometimes the drive can’t be read by an older CDJ. Spinning with CDJs and thumb drives is straightforward: you plug a thumb stick into a CDJ’s USB slot, and you’re all set.