Library & files
Relinking missing files
Relinking points your library’s database back at audio it can no longer find, after the files were moved, renamed or unplugged. The track entry survives with its grids and cues; only the path to the audio is broken.
In practice
Relink, never re-import: the entry still holds your grids and cues, and re-adding the file throws them away.
Point the software at the folder the files moved to and let it match the tree rather than relinking one track at a time. If a whole external drive is missing, check that it mounted with the same name before touching anything — a drive that came back as "Music 1" looks identical to a thousand deleted files. Afterwards, do the move again properly: file operations belong inside the software, where the database follows them.
Relink
The right fix
Re-import
What loses your work
Drive name
Check this first
Where these come from: Recovery practice across the major DJ applications, not catalog figures — each names the operation differently but all of them repair the path rather than the file. For what we can measure, see the database holding those paths.
Why it matters
The reassuring part is that a missing track is a broken pointer rather than lost work. Everything you prepared is still in the database, waiting on a path — which is why the fix is relinking rather than re-importing.
The dangerous part is re-importing anyway. Adding the files fresh creates new entries with no grids and no cue points, and then you have two of everything: the prepared ghost and the blank copy your search will find first.
Frequently asked
Why do my tracks show as missing?+
Because the files moved, were renamed, or live on a drive that is not mounted. The library entry is intact — only the path it stores has stopped resolving.
Will relinking lose my cue points?+
No. Relinking repairs the path on the existing entry, so the grids and cues stay. Re-importing the file is what loses them, because it creates a fresh entry with nothing on it.
How do I avoid missing files in future?+
Move and rename from inside the DJ software, keep the audio in one tree you will not reorganise, and give external drives names you will not change.
Related terms
Library database
Your DJ software keeps its own database of everything it knows about your collection — file locations, beatgrids, cue points, crates, play history. The audio files sit elsewhere on disk; the database is what turns them into a library.
USB prep
USB prep is exporting the tracks, grids, cue points and playlists you need onto a drive a club player can read. What is not exported does not exist once you are behind the decks.
Crate
A crate is a folder of tracks inside your DJ software, named after the boxes vinyl DJs carried. A track can sit in as many crates as you like without being copied, because a crate holds references rather than files.
ID3 tags
ID3 tags are the metadata written inside an audio file — title, artist, album, genre, year, comment, and on DJ files often BPM and key. They travel with the file rather than with the software that read it.