Database is Corrupt (on S5000 Players)

Engine DJ Hardware Media Players
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Hi, I’ve already browsed the other similar topics regarding corrupt database. Here is how mine is different: I do not use Engine Prime (or any DJ music library management). I purchase my songs online and drag them into organized folders on my USB flashdrive (Been doing this since I’ve owned my players). I do not know how this happened. Possibly, when someone accidentally unplugged my power source weeks ago. Once, (2 months ago) I had to remove my flashdrive from the player after following procedure to safely remove several times and the icon was stuck spinning after 5 mins. I’ve used many times since then, but the last 2 weeks while playing, the “Database of (USB-1) is corrupt and may not work properly” displays.

Once I select “OK” the crates disappear from both linked players “No tracks found” Then, Player 2 will prompt me with the “Select Media Source” screen as if I had just input my flashdrive. This has happened consistently since the issue started, and is stressful to the max. I have to continue playing at my events, just repeatedly selecting the prompts, hoping for no abrupt crash from the players.

Here is the info about what I am using with the SC5000s (and answers to questions asked)

What version of Engine Prime are you using? 1.3.1 (not trying to use Beta before weddings and holiday season) >> but if that is the only answer, I’ll do it!! Have a wedding this weekend.

Are you able to consistently reproduce the behavior with specific workflow steps? If so, please outline the exact steps to reproduce. Yes. I simply input my flashdrive into USB-1 (front) and after a few minutes (or songs), the “Database of USB-1 is corrupt…” dialogue box pops up. Once I select OK. Players still work (but crates disappear), and then Player 2 prompts “Select Media Source” After playing 1 song, the “Database is Corrupt…” pops up again and this goes on until my set is finished!

Is this happening with the internal HDD or external media devices or both? External (SC5000, not Prime 4).

What brand media device and capacity? Sandisk Extreme USB 3.0 (32 GB)

What is your eject process for media devices on Prime hardware? Press “Media Eject” button, after a few seconds shows empty grids, and I remove. The one exception is noted above, but this occurred a month before and still played fine without any issues (until the last 2 weeks).

At this point, I just need my music to play on my players. Can I simply delete the Engine Library folder on my flashdrive? What could happen? Do I have to reformat my entire flashdrive?

Please help immediately. Wedding this Saturday. Thank you.

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Hey man,

Sorry to hear this. First thing, use a PC/MAC to take FULL backup of the complete contents including the denon db.

Then try to remove the DENON DB folders from the USB. Give it a try. You will no longer have analysis data, history, cue points, loops etc but those are simply rebuilt on the fly.

The Denon will probably recreate a new empty db. I am not a Denon tech but that’s what seems logical to me.

I have 2 SSD which I keep in sync with the tool chronosync. That way I always have backup. I would seriously go nuts if this happened to me man pffff.

Perhaps you can take regular database backups on a folder on your computer? I think simply copying the denon folder will be enough and if ever a new problem arises, you can then put back the latest copy.

Good luck man and let us know how it went. CHeers Harvey

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Hi Harvey,

I appreciate your tips and feedback. I just finished backing up my USB flashdrive to 2 sources, including the corrupted Engine Library Database folder. I deleted the Engine Library folder from my USB flashdrive and am testing it on the players currently.

As assumed, cue points, analysis data, history, etc. is gone. An inconvenient loss, I didn’t have many songs with cue points, but fast loading analyzed songs, crates and history were valuable. They are backed up now (the corrupted Engine folder that is), hopefully there’s a way to read or export them later.

I’m playing songs from several folders randomly to see how everything is functioning, so far, so good after 10 minutes and about 20 songs or so.

This is far from a solution for the issue. I don’t know the cause, but after reading other user’s experiences, I am guessing it is from losing power a couple weeks ago during one of my live sets. Naturally, I should have backed up the flashdrive’s Engine Library folder, but as I previously mentioned I do not use Engine Prime and didn’t see a benefit to this action at the time. I will be sending the folder to the Denon techs so they can research and compare from future problem solving.

I do plan on eventually using Engine Prime on my MacBook Pro and updating to the latest Firmware, but most likely right after NYE when I have a short break from events to test everything. I’ll update soon again if anything of note takes place.

Thanks again! Regards.

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Hey man,

Glad you’re back on up and running. A power failure is no excuse for a corrupted database. If Denon were smart, they’d use 2-way writing, meaning, first store data in a temporary table which acts as an auxilary storage place. If then a failure occurs, the main DB is still in tact; If the failure occurs while copying from this auxilary space to the main database, when power comes back, the main DB can then be restored using data in the aux space.

This approach takes more time to develop but is fault proof. We whould file a bug report and ask this as an urgent fix I feel. This is absolutely unacceptable for professional gear.

Please have a look at chronosync. Will help you. Also, if you need a lot of space, a portable SSD is handy as it is way cheaper than a USB and equally fast. Check out samung T5 for example. Weighs 55 gram.

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Follow up for anyone reading:

After being forced to delete the corrupted Engine Library database folder in my flash drive, my linked SC5000 players did not read the full contents of one of my music folders. In total that folder is 4.2 GB with ~440 music files (all mp3; 3 .wav files). The behavior is inconsistent. This is what happens: after clicking the folder, it displays music files “A-D” … skips all the way to “S-Z”! I press the back button to return to another folder for a minute thinking maybe it is still loading. When I return to that folder it reads “Updating” and a few more letters are now available. But never the entire track list!

I eject the flash drive and turn off my players waiting a couple minutes before powering on and repeating the steps (did this 4 times at my last event). Each time, a different list of files is read… “A-C”…“M-S”…Sometimes only “A-C;” The most tracks read “A-G”…“R-T”…!!!

After a couple days, I was in my home and tried this again. Same results, no full track availability. Yes, I ensured that indeed all tracks were in the folder after inserting into my laptop. But the SC5000 players would not read the full music files in that one folder.

Mysteriously, at last night’s DJ event, it read the entire list of tracks! I just tested it right now at home and it is reading the full track list. Again, I don’t know what the cause is, but this is by far a frustrating experience. I’ve only been using these players since June, and yes the functionality surpasses my previous CDJs. However, there are many quirks and issues, some more major than others that I did not have with the former. For instance, I did not have to worry if the tracks I purchased and prepped in a folder would be read by my players. It seems I have to insert and re-insert my thumb drive into USB-1 (front port) at least 3 times before the players will recognize it! Talk about stress.

I’m glad this forum exists to help resolve known and unknown issues. I have not seen anything like mine posted in the Report Bug section. I hope anyone reading, especially from the Denon team can address this. It started out as a “Corrupted Database…” message on my players, which I then deleted the Engine Library folder to continue using my players as I had more events to prepare for that week. This was a temporary fix, I did not anticipate that the result would be the SC5000 players not reading 300+ tracks in one of my folders! I still don’t know what the ghost in the machine was that decided not to read all the tracks and all of a sudden read them. Unpredictability is a problem.

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I don’t know what caused your problem. Perhaps the database got corrupted at some point and perhaps Denon has some sort of auto-repair in there… Only they know. The thing is, it is now sure that these databases are fragile and if they get corrupted, you lose valuable information.

For those reasons I recommend you do what I do: take a backup of the Engine Prime folder on your USB/SDD before every gig.

I keep 5 versions. So when I made edits in Engine Prime, I save the DB. I check of all works, of so, that’s my Backup_202002178 and then I delete Backup_20191203 for example. You noticed the date after Backup, right?

This way, if ■■■■ hits the fan after playing, you only lose your history of that 1 gig as well as loops/cue points you added while playin that gig.

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