How to Back Up a Rekordbox or Serato Library (Not Just the Music)

Your music is the easy part

If your laptop dies tomorrow, you can probably get your music back. It is on an external drive, in a Beatport or Bandcamp download history, or in a cloud folder somewhere. What you can't download again is the work you put on top of it: hot cues, memory cues, loops, beatgrid fixes, playlists, crates, tags, ratings and play history. That all lives in your DJ app's database, not in the audio files.

Most DJs who "lost their library" lost the database, not the tracks. So a backup that copies your Music folder and nothing else only covers half the job. This guide shows where Rekordbox and Serato keep that data, how to back it up and restore it, and how to check that the backup actually works before you need it. If you want the general strategy first, read the 3-2-1 backup rule for DJs.

Where Rekordbox and Serato keep your library

Rekordbox 6 and 7

Rekordbox keeps its library in a database file called master.db inside the rekordbox folder:

• Windows: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Pioneer\rekordbox
• macOS: /Users/user/Library/Pioneer/rekordbox

On macOS the Library folder is hidden. In Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G and paste the path. master.db holds your playlists, cues and track info. Beatgrids are stored separately in the share folder inside the rekordbox folder, so back up the whole rekordbox folder, not just the one file.

Serato 3

Serato 3 keeps its database and crates as files in a _Serato_ folder in your Music folder:

• Windows: C:\Users\user\Music\_Serato_
• macOS: /Users/user/Music/_Serato_

It also creates a _Serato_ folder at the top of every external drive that has music in your library. Each of those folders holds the data for the tracks on that drive, so backing up only the one on your laptop leaves the external drives uncovered.

Serato 4

Serato 4 moved the library to a new database in a different place:

• Windows: C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Serato\Library
• macOS: /Users/user/Library/Application Support/Serato/Library

Both folders are hidden. On Windows, type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Serato in the File Explorer address bar; on macOS, use Cmd+Shift+G in Finder again.

Serato 4 no longer reads the old crate files in _Serato_/Subcrates, so a backup of only your old _Serato_ folder won't bring back crates you made in Serato 4. External drives still matter: each drive gets its own library in _Serato_/Library at the top of the drive. If you have used both versions, back up both locations.

How to back up (and the trap that breaks it)

Close the app first

This is the mistake that ruins most manual backups. A DJ app writes to its database while it is running. Copy the file halfway through a write and you get a backup that looks fine but won't open. Fully quit Rekordbox or Serato before you copy anything. On Windows, check the system tray as well, because Rekordbox can keep running there after you close the window. Lexicon has the same rule for its own imports and syncs: it won't sync to Rekordbox until Rekordbox is fully closed, and it waits for Serato to close too.

Rekordbox's built-in backup

Rekordbox 6 and 7 have a backup built in that saves your collection, playlists and analysis data (beatgrids and waveforms) in one ZIP file:

1. In Rekordbox, go to File ➡ Library ➡ Backup Library and click OK.
2. Rekordbox asks "Do you want to back up music files as well?" Choose No if your music is already backed up separately. Yes copies every track into a rekordbox_bak folder next to the ZIP, which makes the backup huge and slow.
3. Choose where to save it, ideally an external drive or a synced cloud folder, and click Save.

Don't confuse it with Device Library Backup, which is a different feature for USB exports. It backs up the library on your exported USB drives, not your collection on the computer, and it doesn't back up music files. It also needs the Professional plan with Cloud Library Sync turned on.

A copy of the whole rekordbox folder (with Rekordbox closed) is a good fallback that doesn't depend on any menu.

Serato

Serato has no backup button like Rekordbox. Serato DJ Pro 3 offers to back up your library when you quit: it copies the _Serato_ folder to a _Serato_Backup folder next to it. That backup only keeps the latest copy, overwrites it every time and sits on the same drive, so it won't help if the drive dies or the problem goes unnoticed for a few days. The reliable method is a manual copy to another drive:

1. Quit Serato DJ Pro or Lite completely.
2. Copy the _Serato_ folder from your Music folder (C:\Users\user\Music\_Serato_ on Windows, /Users/user/Music/_Serato_ on macOS).
3. On Serato 4, also copy the Library folder from C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Serato (Windows) or /Users/user/Library/Application Support/Serato (macOS). This is your Serato 4 library and crates; without it, your backup only has your Serato 3 library.
4. Copy the _Serato_ folder from the top of each external drive with music in your library. On Serato 4 it includes that drive's Library folder.
5. Give each copy a clear name (for example _Serato_ (Samsung T7) or Serato Library (MacBook)) so they don't overwrite each other in your backup location.
6. Add the date to the folder that holds them all (for example Serato backup 2026-11-07), so you can tell an old backup from a new one.

Do this whenever you've done a lot of crate work, and before every Serato update. Updates are when libraries tend to break, and the move from Serato 3 to 4 changed where the whole library lives.

Restoring, and testing it before you need it

Restoring is the backup in reverse: close the app, then put each folder or file back exactly where it came from.

Rekordbox: if you used Backup Library, go to File ➡ Library ➡ Restore Library and choose the ZIP. If you backed up music files too, the rekordbox_bak folder has to be next to the ZIP. If you copied the folder by hand, close Rekordbox and replace master.db (or the whole rekordbox folder) with your copy.

Serato:

1. Quit Serato completely.
2. Rename the current folders first (for example _Serato_ old) instead of deleting them, so you can go back if the backup turns out to be the wrong one.
3. Put your copy of _Serato_ back in your Music folder, with the name _Serato_ exactly.
4. On Serato 4, put your copy of Library back in C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Serato (Windows) or /Users/user/Library/Application Support/Serato (macOS).
5. Put each external drive's _Serato_ folder back at the top of that drive. A drive with a missing or wrong _Serato_ folder shows up without its crates, even if the rest of the library looks fine.
6. Open Serato with all your drives connected and check a few crates.

To restore Serato 3's own backup instead, quit Serato, make a copy of the current _Serato_ folder, then copy everything inside _Serato_Backup into _Serato_ and replace the files there. Do this on each drive.

Two things catch people out:

• Rekordbox Cloud Library Sync can undo your restore. If it is on, Rekordbox may overwrite the library you just restored with the version in the cloud. Turn it off before you restore.
• Paths must match. Your database stores where each file lives. If your music drive now has a different name or letter, your tracks show up as missing even though the restore worked.

The only backup you can trust is one you have restored. Once a season, try it on a spare user account or a second computer: restore the database, point it at your music and check that a few tracks still have their cues, loops and grids. Ten minutes on a quiet Tuesday beats finding out at 2am before a gig.

The Lexicon approach: one library that holds everything

Backing up two or three DJ apps, each with its own folders, on every drive, is a lot to get right. Lexicon keeps one library with all of it (cues, loops, beatgrids, playlists and tags), so that is the one thing you need to protect.

Automatic database backups. Lexicon backs up its own database before potentially dangerous actions, such as application updates, importing from a DJ app and relocating files, and again when you close Lexicon (once per day at most). You can also make one at any time with Backup ➡ Database Backup ➡ Create Database Backup, which saves a ZIP to Documents/Lexicon/Backups. Restore one with Backup ➡ Database Backup ➡ Restore Database Backup. Keep in mind that restoring completely replaces your current database, and that backups in that folder older than one month are cleaned up automatically, so move or rename any you want to keep.

Cloud Database Backup. On the Ultimate plan, Backup ➡ Database Backup ➡ Cloud Database Backup puts a copy of your database in the cloud, so you can restore it on a different computer. Lexicon reminds you weekly to make one.

Cloud Storage for the music. Database backups don't include your audio. Cloud Storage uploads the files themselves: right click a track or playlist and choose Upload to cloud. Essential includes 1,000 tracks and Ultimate 10,000 (counted per 25 MB, so a large WAV counts as more than one), with an add-on for unlimited storage. If you lose a drive, Backup ➡ Cloud Storage ➡ Restore Files downloads the missing tracks.

Backups of your DJ app, too. Before Lexicon writes to a DJ app, it makes a backup of that app's database (the first sync each day), so you can roll back. For Rekordbox, these go in a Lexicon folder inside the rekordbox folder; for Serato, in a Lexicon folder inside _Serato_ (Serato 3) or the Serato Library folder (Serato 4), and on each external drive. The guide How to restore a Lexicon or DJ app backup lists every location.

Rebuild any DJ app from it. This is the real safety net. If your Rekordbox or Serato library gets corrupted, you don't need a perfect backup of that app. Restore your Lexicon library and sync it back to Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor or Engine DJ, and your playlists, cues and tags come with it. For the full picture of what Lexicon protects and how, see Data safety first: how Lexicon backs up your files and database.

Quick checklist

• Back up the database, not just the music
• Quit the DJ app before copying anything
• Include the _Serato_ folder on every external drive
• On Serato 4, include the Serato Library folder too
• Back up before every DJ app update
• Keep at least one copy off the laptop
• Test a restore before you need it
• Turn off Rekordbox Cloud Library Sync before restoring