Guide
How to prepare a USB stick for CDJs
Updated
Most USB trouble in the booth comes down to three things: how the stick is formatted, a bad copy, or a stick that's on its way out. All three are easy to rule out at home.
The quick way: plug the stick in and let Fadero format it, export your crates and check every file. Here's how.
Making a stick with Fadero
- Plug the stick in to a computer with the Fadero desktop app. It appears in Fadero straight away.
- Format it for CDJs from the desktop app if it isn't already. That wipes the stick.
- Pick your crates and export, as Device Library or OneLibrary. Your cues, beatgrids, phrases, waveforms and crates go with them, and on DJ and Pro your CDJ and mixer My Settings too. No rekordbox needed.
- Let Fadero check it. It reads every file back and makes sure each arrived complete, so a bad copy turns up at home, not in the booth.
- Eject properly, and carry a second stick.
Next time, updating the stick only copies what changed. Bring it home after the gig and Fadero reads what you played.
An export replaces any rekordbox library already on the stick. Free includes one stick of up to 100 tracks; DJ and Pro export as many as you like. About USB export · Which players
Choose the stick
- A good-quality USB stick from a known brand. Cheap sticks fail more often, and slow ones make the player slow to load tracks.
- Keep it for DJing only, and carry a second stick with the same music.
Formatting by hand
If you format a stick yourself, these are the formats players read.
| Format | Which players |
|---|---|
| FAT32 | Every CDJ and XDJ that plays USB. The safe choice. Files can't be bigger than 4 GB, which is plenty for music. |
| exFAT | The CDJ-3000 and newer players. Not every NXS2-generation player reads it, so check your player's manual. |
| HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) | Many Pioneer DJ players, but Windows computers can't write to it. |
| NTFS, APFS | Not supported |
Use a single partition with the Master Boot Record (MBR) scheme. Older players in particular don't read sticks with several partitions or a GUID partition table.
On a Mac
Open Disk Utility, choose View › Show All Devices, select the stick itself (not the volume under it) and click Erase. Pick MS-DOS (FAT) for FAT32, or exFAT, with the scheme Master Boot Record.
On Windows
Right-click the stick in File Explorer and choose Format. Windows only offers FAT32 for sticks up to 32 GB; for a bigger stick, use exFAT if your players read it, or a free FAT32 formatting tool.
Formatting wipes the stick, so copy off anything you need first.
Why copying files isn't enough
CDJs want a library database alongside the music, with the waveforms, beatgrids, cues and playlists. Fadero writes it when you export, as does rekordbox when you export to a device. Players read one of two formats: Device Library, which CDJ-3000 and NXS2-generation players read, and Pioneer's newer OneLibrary, read by players such as the CDJ-3000X, OPUS-QUAD, XDJ-AZ and OMNIS-DUO. See OneLibrary explained.
Check it before the gig
- Always eject the stick properly before you unplug it. Pulling it out mid-write is the commonest way to get a corrupted stick.
- Look through it on another computer. Playlists there, and tracks open and play?
- Try it on a player if you can: load a few tracks from different playlists and check cues and grids.
- Don't fill it to the brim. Leave some free space for the player to write its history.
When a CDJ won't read your USB
- Wrong format or partition scheme: reformat as FAT32, a single MBR partition, then export again.
- More than one partition: some sticks come with a second hidden partition. Erasing the whole device clears it.
- Player shows the stick but no library: the export didn't finish or the database is damaged. Export again, and eject properly. Fadero can check any stick again from the desktop app.
- Only some tracks fail: a bad copy of those files, or a file type the player doesn't support. Re-export them.
- Still nothing: try another stick. Sticks wear out, and a failing one can work on a computer but not a player. Check the player's firmware is up to date too.
Sources: Pioneer DJ player comparison and the players' manuals. Check your own player's manual for its supported formats.