How to remove duplicate tracks from Serato without wrecking your crates

Duplicates come with a growing library: pools name one track five ways, and a re-download doubles a folder. Here are three ways to clean them up, and two traps they share.

First, the two traps

Trap one: removing a track from your library pulls it out of every crate that held it. Serato doesn't move those crate spots to the copy you keep. One DJ wrote that the cleanup was worse than living with the duplicates.

Trap two: you can't see which copy holds your cues. Delete the wrong one and the track is still there, but your prep on it isn't.

Know which removal you're doing. Taking a track out of one crate leaves it in your library and your other crates. Removing it from your library takes it out of every crate, but the file stays on your drive. Deleting the file sends the audio or video file itself to the Trash.

Method 1: by hand, in Serato

1. 1Back up first: quit Serato, then copy two things somewhere safe: your _Serato_ folder (in your Music folder, and on each drive that holds music) and your music and video files. The _Serato_ folder holds your library and crates, not the tracks themselves.
2. 2Sort by name, or search a title you suspect.
3. 3Load both copies and check which has your cues and loops. Keep that one.
4. 4Drag the keeper into every crate the other copy is in.
5. 5Only then remove the extra copy from your library. Delete its file only if you're sure you don't need it.

It works. At five minutes a pair, a few hundred pairs is a lost weekend.

Method 2: a general-purpose duplicate finder

These list files that look like copies of each other. They aren't built for Serato, so they won't tell you which copy carries your cues and loops, or which crates each copy sits in. One DJ set aside a weekend with one and stopped before touching anything, because nothing could tell him which copy carried his cues. Use one as a list-maker, then do steps 3–5 by hand.

Method 3: CrateKeeper

It listens to both copies, music videos included, and holds a pair back if clearing would lose a saved loop. The keeper takes the cleared copy's place in every regular crate, the cleared file goes to your Mac's Trash, and Undo puts it back while it's still there. Try it on one crate first.

Common questions