How do you back up your Serato library?

What you are actually backing up

A Serato backup has two separate parts, and missing either one leaves you exposed.

The first is the Serato folder. This is your database: every crate, smart crate, cue point, beatgrid, and the track analysis Serato has built up over years. Lose it and your music files are fine, but the library that made them usable as a DJ is gone.

The second is your music files, the actual audio. The Serato folder does not contain a single song. It only contains pointers to where your songs live. So a backup of just the Serato folder protects your crates but not your music, and a backup of just your music protects your songs but not your crates or cue points. You need both.

Where the Serato folder lives

On macOS, the path is:

Users > [your username] > Music > _Serato_

Two things people miss:

• External drives have their own Serato folder. Serato creates one on the root level of any drive you have added music from, and it holds the crates for that drive’s tracks. If you DJ off an external, back up that drive’s Serato folder too, not just the one in your Music folder.
• History and preferences live elsewhere. A separate Serato folder at Library > Application Support > Serato holds your play history and preferences. For a basic safety backup you can skip it. For a full move to a new machine, copy it as well. To reach the user Library folder, open Finder, hold Option, then click Go and choose Library.

Why Serato’s built-in auto-backup is not enough

When you quit Serato, it offers to back up, and it creates a _Serato_Backup folder that duplicates your current _Serato_ folder. That sounds like protection, but it has three limits that matter:

1. It lives on the same drive as the original. The backup is written right next to the library it copied. If that drive fails, you lose the library and the backup together. This is the big one: Serato’s auto-backup does not protect against a dead drive, which is the most common way DJs lose their work.
2. It keeps only one copy. Each backup overwrites the previous one. There is no version history.
3. It can overwrite good data with bad. If your library becomes corrupted and you then let Serato back up on exit, you replace your last clean copy with the corrupted one.

The auto-backup is a convenience, not a safety net. Treat it as a same-day undo, and do your real backups yourself, to a different drive.

How to back up your Serato library properly

Follow the steps in the box above. The principle behind them is simple: copy every _Serato_ folder (internal and external) plus your music to storage that is physically separate from your working drive, with Serato closed while you do it.

For extra safety before a big change, like a major library cleanup or a software update, make a dated copy of your _Serato_ folder first (for example, _Serato_2026-06-19). It takes seconds and means any mistake is a quick restore instead of a rebuild.

How to restore or move to a new computer

1. Copy your music files to the new machine or drive first. Keeping them in one folder makes the next step easy.
2. Put the Serato folder back in Users > [your username] > Music. If a _Serato_ folder is already there, rename the existing one (for example, _Serato_old) before dropping yours in, so you keep a fallback.
3. Copy the Application Support > Serato folder back too if you want your history and preferences.
4. Open Serato. It reads the restored library automatically.
5. Relocate if paths changed. If your username, drive letter, or folder structure is different on the new machine, tracks will show orange because the saved paths no longer match. Use Relocate Lost Files to point Serato at the music in its new home. If that does not catch everything, see why Relocate Lost Files fails and how to fix it and how to fix missing files in Serato.

Restoring from a Time Machine backup

If you use Time Machine, your Serato library is already being captured as part of your Music folder. To restore, find the _Serato_ folder inside the Time Machine backup, copy it back into Users > [your username] > Music, then open Serato and relocate any tracks that show as missing.

How often should you back up?

Back up whenever you have done work you would hate to lose: a prep session full of new cue points, a round of crate organising, or right before a big cleanup or a Serato update. Because Serato’s own backup keeps only one overwriting copy, keeping your own dated copies on a separate drive is what actually protects you over time.

Keeping a tidy library makes backups easier

Backups are smaller, faster, and cleaner when your library is not full of duplicates and dead missing-file entries. Crate Cleaner scans your real Serato DJ Pro library on macOS, clears duplicates, and relinks broken files, so the database you are backing up is lean and accurate. It is also useful right after a migration: when restored tracks show orange because their paths changed, Crate Cleaner relinks them to the files on your new drive, so you are gig-ready without rebuilding crates by hand. There is a free trial with no card required.

Try Crate Cleaner free → · See pricing →

FAQ

Where is my Serato library stored? In the _Serato_ folder at Users > [your username] > Music > Serato, plus a _Serato_ folder on the root of any external drive you have added music from.

Does the Serato folder contain my music? No. It holds your database, crates, cue points, and analysis, but not the audio files. Back up your music folder separately.

Is Serato’s automatic backup enough? No. It keeps a single copy that it overwrites each time, and it sits on the same drive as your library, so a drive failure loses both. Copy your _Serato_ folder to a separate drive yourself.

Why are my tracks missing after moving to a new computer? Because the file paths changed. Use Relocate Lost Files to point Serato at your music in its new location, then clear anything that stays missing.

Can I back up my Serato library to the cloud? Yes. Copy your _Serato_ folders and your music folder to cloud storage. Just make sure Serato is closed when you copy, and give multiple _Serato_ folders distinct names so they do not overwrite each other.