How to move your Serato library to a new Mac (without losing crates or cues)

Your music files are only half the library. The other half is Serato’s database: crates, cue points, loops, beatgrids, play history, smart crates, and the paths that tell Serato where every file lives.

If you copy the audio but miss the database, your working library is gone. If you copy the database but move the audio to a different path, your crates may appear with orange missing files.

What do you need to move a Serato library to a new computer?

You need two things:

• Your audio files.
• The _Serato_ folder.

On the old Mac, the main _Serato_ folder is usually here:

~/Music/_Serato_

That folder contains the Serato library data for the Mac: crates, cue points, loops, beatgrids, play history, and smart crate definitions.

If your music lives on an external drive, that drive may also have its own _Serato_ folder. External-drive libraries are often easier to move.

How to transfer a Serato library to a new Mac

Start on the old Mac.

Quit Serato before copying anything. Serato writes to its database while open, so you want the library closed before making a backup or moving files.

Then follow the clean path:

1. Quit Serato on the old Mac.
2. Back up the old library before changing anything.
3. Copy your music folder to the new Mac.
4. Keep the same path structure if possible.
5. Copy the _Serato_ folder into the new Mac’s Music folder.
6. Launch Serato on the new Mac.
7. Verify crates, cues, loops, beatgrids, and history before deleting anything from the old Mac.

If your music lived here on the old Mac:

/Users/alex/Music/DJ Music

try to put it here on the new Mac:

/Users/alex/Music/DJ Music

That includes the macOS username. The ~ shortcut hides it, but Serato’s saved paths include /Users/<name>/... under the hood. If the old Mac used alex and the new Mac uses alexdj, the paths changed.

You can still recover from that. It just means Serato may need help finding the files.

How to back up before moving Serato

Before the transfer, make a backup you can roll back to.

Copy the entire _Serato_ folder from the old Mac’s Music folder to another drive or cloud folder, and date-stamp the copy. If you use external drives, copy each drive’s _Serato_ folder too. Back up your audio files separately.

The guide on how to back up your Serato library walks through the backup and restore process in more detail.

If the new Mac opens to a mess of missing files, you want the old working state preserved while you troubleshoot.

Copy music to the same path if possible

Serato stores file locations. A track in:

/Users/alex/Music/DJ Music/House/Track.mp3

is not the same path as:

/Users/alex/Music/Serato Tracks/House/Track.mp3

even if the audio file is identical.

For the easiest move, keep your main DJ music folder in the same relative place on the new Mac. If everything was under ~/Music/DJ Music, put it under ~/Music/DJ Music again.

Do not use the move as the moment to rename every folder unless you are ready to reconnect missing files afterward.

Copy the _Serato_ folder to the new Mac

Once the audio is in place, copy the _Serato_ folder from the old Mac into the new Mac’s Music folder:

~/Music/_Serato_

If the new Mac already has a _Serato_ folder because you opened Serato once, quit Serato first and move that new folder aside before replacing it.

Then launch Serato and check the practical stuff:

• Do your crates appear?
• Do tracks load?
• Are cue points and loops present?
• Do beatgrids look right?
• Does history show what you expect?
• Are tracks orange or missing?

Open a few crates you actually use for gigs, not just one test track.

What if the username or folder path changed?

If the username, folder name, drive name, or path changed, tracks can show as orange missing files.

That does not always mean the audio is gone. It usually means Serato is looking for the file at the old saved path.

Use Serato’s Relocate Lost Files workflow to reconnect the database entries to the new file locations. Start with the smallest useful folder, like your main DJ music folder.

The full troubleshooting guide is here: How to fix missing orange files in Serato DJ.

After relocating, test before doing more cleanup. Load tracks, check crates, and confirm Serato connected to the versions you expected.

Moving Serato with an external drive

If your music lives on an external drive, moving Macs is usually simpler.

Quit Serato on the old Mac, eject the drive properly, plug it into the new Mac, and open Serato. If the music and the drive’s _Serato_ folder stay together, the move is much cleaner.

Keep the drive name the same. If you rename the drive during the move, paths can break and tracks may go orange.

Also check that the new Mac can read the drive. Do the test before the gig: plug it in, open Serato, load a few real crate tracks, and make sure they play.

Does Migration Assistant move Serato correctly?

Migration Assistant can make this easier because it often preserves the user account and folder paths when the username stays the same. Still, do not assume everything worked. Open Serato on the new Mac and verify the library before wiping, selling, or repurposing the old one.

If the username changed, be prepared to relocate lost files.

Clean duplicates before moving if the library is messy

A new Mac migration is a natural moment to audit the library.

You are already copying files, checking paths, and deciding what belongs on the new machine. If the library has years of duplicate downloads, moving all of that wastes transfer time and SSD space.

CrateSweep does not migrate Serato libraries. It is not a transfer tool.

Where it fits is duplicate cleanup before the move. CrateSweep can scan your Serato library for duplicates, group the copies it finds, and let you review results for free. If you decide to delete, the app backs up the Serato database before the deletion run. For the cleanup workflow, read How to remove Serato DJ duplicates in 2026.

The practical order is simple: back up, clean obvious duplicates, verify the old library still works, then move less to the new Mac.

Do not rush the final check. The move is done when your crates, cues, loops, beatgrids, history, and audio all work on the new Mac.