Best way to move your traktor pc collection to mac

Hello

I am about to move my traktor collection from PC to mac

Could you please tell me the correct procedure in traktor to get everything across to mac the right way !

Also on the mac what is the best format method for external hard drives, I would assume NOT NTFS !

I appreciated any help in this whole conversion from PC to mac


Thanks in advance

 

Don't use NTFS for Mac. MacOS can read but not write to NTFS. Use HFS or if you need to also use Windows, FAT32.

Easiest way to move from PC to Mac is to copy the music folders to the newly-formatted external drive (if that is what you intend to use), specify this drive as the new music location in Traktor on the Mac, copy the contents of the Traktor folder (the one that has collection.nml) from the PC to the Mac installation, then do a Relocate on all the tracks (select all of them in the browser then right-click and select RELOCATE). If you have a big collection this could take a while - when I transfered my collection, which was roughly 300GB at the time, it took me almost a day. I just set it one night then the following evening it was done.

 

Use LAN cable, much faster than any other way.

You can copy both Traktor folder and music collection but due to different path, structures it wont work all automatically like pc 2 pc or mac 2 mac. You might have to do some work manually not big deal.

BTW. I dont understand why people keep on recommending the PITA FAT32.No need for that anymore. It is 2010, there are small apps (sorry dont remember their names, installed them long time back, use Google) for both OSX and Windows that let read and write to both standard formats, absolutely must have.

 

I used to use Paragon, and some other app that lets my Macbook Pro read NTFS drives. HUGE memory leaks and at least once the mp3s I had stored on that drive were read as corrupt/unreadable by Traktor. Agreed, however, that FAT32 is outdated. It's just that besides FAT there is no one format that both Mac and Windows both natively support.

When it comes to fundamentals like storage and memory, I do my damnedest to avoid 3rd party utilities and software. My experience at my IT support and admin day job has been that such utils WILL find a way to fuqq you over, and usually right when the president is waiting for his big presentation.

 

OSX can read NTFS without any paragons, I am talking about writing. Looks like it all got better, no issues in either direction
Edit: found it, it is called "NTFS 3G" as mentioned no issues at all with it.

 

Hi Guys

Thanks for your reply, my new I7 mac book pro should be here tomorrow, so pretty much ready to install traktor and do the move,

My main reason for moving over to a mac system, is because I don't have any faith with PC based operating systems

Windows XP although quite light compared with vista/window7 seems to catch every infection going unless you strap it down with multiple protection applications, and then it runs slow like a pig !

Windows 7 seems much more secure but ultra heavy with lots going on in the background so again not good for low latency sound cards etc.

I feel one of the biggest security issues is NTFS, with its hidden streams area of the hard drive ! this is where many root kits live !

To get round this poor security filing system (NTFS) I use a Linux based storage NAS
to keep all my files.

At least I know no nasty Viruses, Trojans, root kits are living on the drives where my music is stored (On My NAS).

What worries me reading this post is, people are talking about NTFS for mac's ! surly this will have the same security issues as the PC if the mac can read NTFS

I.E. NTFS viruses now attacking the mac NTFS drive and files.

If anything FAT 32 although much more dated is more secure than NTFS because it does not support hidden streams ! so this must be safer to store music on !

The hidden streams of the NTFS files operating system has been Microsoft's Biggest Nightmare because of all these Newish Stealth Root Kits Attacking PC's and thus making them so un reliable for the professional !

Thus I am not sure if NTFS for macs is a good idea, I feel not, but would love some feedback from you all

Regards


John :|

 

Reading Mac Filing System On A PC

Due to my worries with NTFS, please read my previous post above

If I was to format my external drive that I want to use with my mac book pro with apple format.

Is there any PC applications or drivers that can read apple hard drive format


This would allow safe compatibility between Mac / PC without using NTFS drive format



Regards

 

1 PC viruses won't attack a hard disk in NTFS if a Mac system is running... Viruses are bound to the operatiing system, not the file system.

For Traktor use, FAT32 is working prfectly at least for data transfer. You don't move often files that are bigger than 2Gb which is the main limitation of NTFS.

NTFS 3G (which is the free version of Paragon, and the version found on Linux systems) is a bit slow when it comes to writing but is good enough for playing.


Paragon also provides HFS+ filesystem AFAIK for Windows (or use macdrive for Windows)

 

Thanks for your reply


So are we saying the best solution for using with mac is FAT 32? for external hard drive although its a old


Regards

 

That is what I use, no issues.
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

 

A real strange issue since I have moved over to mac is when I drop a file onto the deck it creates a duplicate file in my file list ?


1) I have copied my pc setup traktor files in the doc folder over to mac
2) I have plugged in my music usb hard drive in the mac
3) I have relocated my music files in traktor on the mac to the usb hard drive


why is traktor creating a duplicate file (so I now have 2 of the same music files) in the traktor track list area

it does it for every music folder, drag the music file onto the deck and you get
another identicle entry in the track list area


I HAVE ALSO NOTICED THAT ON MY MAC THE HARD DRIVE MUSIC FOLDERS DON'T SEEM TO HAVE THE ICON's TO SHOW THAT FOLDER HAS BEEN IMPORTED INTO THE TRAKTOR COLLECTION ?

YET WHEN I COPIED THE FILES FROM THE PC THEY WERE ALL IMPORTED INTO THE COLLECTION

ON THE MAC ALL FILES ARE COMING UP IN THE COLLECTIONS AREA, BUT I KEEP GETIING DUPLICATION WHEN I PLAY A FILE

I FEEL SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG ON IMPORTING THE MUSIC ACCROSS TO THE MAC

any help would be much appreciated


Thank you
---
Could we please go through a step by step guide of the exact procedure for copying collection from PC to MAC

I think I am nearly there but some strange things going on with mac

I have copied everything from the N.I. Folder on the PC to the Mac

But its seems to be adding a duplicate file almost re adding them to the mac collection when I play each file on the mac

I also notice that the folders on my hard drive do not have the icon to show they have been added to the tractor collection


So the collection has not go in the mac correctly, though they are all there and I can see them

Thanks

 

Remember what I mentioned about the paths ? While music collection is no problem the Traktor folder is different story, I called NI regarding that and they confirmed it, also my conclusion regarding using 2 computers (1 as backup) - if it is pc pc or mac mac-OK, the mixed set is too unpractical to manage, update on regular basis ( with 2 PCs you can run Synctoy daily and have mirror system updated at all times).
I have not tried it yet Mac to PC but I expect same issue like PC to Mac, despite similar structuring/names (partition etc) even though on surface everything looked OK all the playlists had to be updated/recreated manually, the info from other OS wont work.
(in practical terms, deleted all from playlist and imported new from Traktor´s browser-explorer

 

Thank you


Yes I was informed to copy the Traktor folders from the PC to mac but this seems to be causing major problems,


The way I have done it on the mac is to import collection files, point to the hard drive


by starting fresh on the mac this seems to have cured some of the issues, still getting lots of pausing when clicking, maybe mac usb is not as good as pc or maybe my hard drive is crap ?

Ok I understand that the paths are different from the PC, where can I get the info to edit the correct paths on the mac

What files need to be edited and what program on the mac do you use to edit

The must be so list of files / procedure one needs to follow to a loow a smooth trasition from pc to mac without starting from fresh and loosing all the play lists !

Thanks

 

My collection is organised with brain, no itunes, intelligent,logical folders structure so it was not that much of work to recreate the lists.
I dont know if exporting playlist and importing on Mac will work, could be same issue as with copied Traktor folder but you can try.

 

Just wondered what files you have to edit on the mac to make the paths correct, i.e. remove the pc paths and add the new apple path structure


Thanks

 

I did not edit anything, it all worked like this:
I used to use a pair pc notebooks with exactly same structure - had partition "M" with mp3 and Traktor folder only. Updating with Synctoy worked perfectly, had mirrored system @ standby at all times.
When replacing one of the PCs with MBP created "M" partition with mp3 and Traktor folders hoping it will work ( this trick works with my Live and Samples partitions used for production Ableton Live I can still use pc as mirrored standby computer). Also it is not mac><pc issue but Traktor issue, something under the hood that wont let it work this way.
After first start and directing Traktor to correct folders it looked all just like the original (on pc) however trying to load a song would result in the blinking red thing=error.
Since all my basic playlists are plain export from folders it did not take me much time to recreate those lists (after deleting all the "old playlists").
Since now MBP is my main Traktor computer I tried once to update in reverse way and there was same issue, so regular updates are out of question , will replace that pc with another mac at next opportunity.

 

Hi yes I agree, copying the folder from the pc to the mac does not work

when you launch tractor after you have done this and relocated the collection on the mac all looks well but you do get red bar errors when droping file on deck.

then after a while it will play the tune but it creates a 2nd version in the track area of the song so you end up with two of the same songs

a real strange issue by copying the traktor pc folder to the mac:|

 

The file you're looking or (in the terminal) /Users/yourusername/Documents/Native Instruments/Traktor/collection.nml

BACK IT UP!

Then... you can use a simply find & replace assuming all your music is in the same directory. If not, it will get tricky. Note that for some reason Traktor likes to write traditional directory locations such as /Users/myname/music/wave/ like /:Users/:myname/:music/:wave/:. Pretty sure it will not work otherwise.

I wouldn't recommend that. No telling what's needed by one OS and not the other.

Copying your data should be a no brainer though... well... close to one.

 

Traktor folder is mysterious indeed, it takes increadible amount of time to copy, initially I thought that it is due to file system (NTFS;FAT etc) I guess because it has "microscopic" size files but zillionls of them.
Anyway, I did finally copy the collection from Mac to PC and found possible cause of confusion (though it does not have to be the only one). To what eye can see I named everything and structured the same way - partitionname Music and letter M assigned when I see the path in Traktor they are differen Win does not "see" the label only letter of the drive also M:mp3 (mp3 is the name of my collection folder) while for Mac it is Music:mp3. Same goes for the Traktor folder which is on those M/Music partitions along with "mp3".
That does not explain why and how Traktor has the problem while Ableton Live has no problems at all on both OSs finding drive L-Live and S- Samples with all their contents, allowing me to easily mirror those with no issues.
Conclusion - collection seems like no problem to transfer or backup to pc even using Synctoy but that is the end,the Traktor folder is no,no. One time to move pc>mac or reverse can be done, using both with one as backup stand by - definitely gigantic pain in all sort of places.

 

Hi

In my case my remote drive on the PC is drive letter D and root folder is called DJ Collection and I have sub folders for my music under the main root folder

When I plug this drive in the mac it does not even come up with a drive letter it just shows up as a named drive on my desktop ?