A word of warning otherwise you lose your collection

Hi there S4 owners,

Had a gig last weekend, was in a hurry and by mistake forgot to connect the usb cabel to the S4. Started Traktor S4 software on my laptop, it then told me that my collection was invalid, created a new one and gone was my last valid collection. Could not find it anymore (also not as outdated collectionfile)
Luckely I had a back up from the week before.
Word of warning though, make sure you have a backup and make sure that you hook up your usb cable before starting the S4 software.

regards
Peter

 

Having a backup is critical, but I'm not sure your issue was not related to having the USB cable connected. I run my software by itself all the time.

 

I see no relation to a USB cable and the Collection being corrupt.

Did you try loading a Back up Collection from the Back Up Folder in your Traktor folder?

Traktor makes backups of the collection and any of these previous to the invalid collection should work.

Karlos

 

Edited my post. Meant to say was not related to having the USB cable connected.

 

Hmmm, I connect the USB cable afterwards on occasion and I have lost nothing... Back up everything is always a good idea

 

Guys,
I am not sure either but it make sense to me that if the controler (S4) is not connected and it finds collections and settings that point to that controller the software get's confused.

When I started the S4 software it said collection good not be used and it created a new one (which logicaly was rather empty
Will try and replicate this behaviour over the weekend.

@Karlos: I looked at the backup files but they were all much older than the one I used last. How often does Traktor make a backup and how do I determine which one that is ?

thx
DJP

 

Traktor should make a backup every time you make a change and close the system down. Im surprised that there was no updated Backup so i will check this out and see what 'should' have been there.

Collections can become corrupt and when so Traktor makes a new blank collection.
You then should import your backup (ideally)

The Collection.nml has no relation to hardware. The hardware settings and preferences are saved within the tsi so no hardware malfunction or missing hardware should affect the collection.

In fact every morning (after my gig at night) i start Traktor the KS4 is not present and i have the RED icon showing this. I just select the internal soundcard.

I think it may have been more of a coincidence but, im not saying its impossible for what you say to have happened, i just dont know how it could.

If you can reproduce it let me know and we can look further into it.

You make a very good point though and all users should take note of this:

MAKE REGULAR BACKUPS OF YOUR TRAKTOR FOLDERS.

 

How do you back up your files manually?

 

Just make a copy of your entire Native instrument file in My documents and put it on another hard drive or memory stick..... just in case...!... that contains everything you'll ever need incase you need to do a full new install

 

Thx Karlos,
I will check what backupfiles there were (an which not) and let you know.

Made me think of building some redundancy for the S4.
My first aid now contains;
- valid back-up
- spare 9V AC adapter (as S4 is not powered through USB), so a faulty AC adapter would put an early end to a gig ....
- Denon 1200S (you only need one since you can automix/crossfade songs with one device, works like a charm with the S4

cheers
DJP

 

Make sure to check that your Spare Adapter is 1.2ma (1200) as anything else can damage the S4.

Karlos

 

You can run S4 with just USB power, but you lose a lot of the back lit buttons.

 

Yikes no, actually 1200mA... so 1.2 A. Everything over 1.2 A is good too.

 

LOL yeah thats what i meant doh..!

 

yeah anything over is good (the S4 just won't use the extra available current)

anything below and the S4 won't be getting enough power (will probably go to it's low-power state)

 

Yep, that's right, got one over 1200ma works good.