Couldn't you just backup your files to CDs?

I'd look into the Lacie Porsche Design 7200 rpm Firewire Hard Drives. They "rarely fail", have up to 200 Gigs of space and a firewire connection. Not too expensive either, considering you could back up ALL your mp3s.

They sell them at turntablelab, www.turntablelab.com

ok so you back up your cds or you back up on external hard drive.....so say you only use turntables and your laptop goes out....what then?

this is not so much of a concern that you lose your music....more so you get a corrupt file at the club or there is something wrong with your computer

you better dust off your old wax till you get your problem fixed haha

problems do happen, and if you dont have any cds or records, and all your stuff is on ssl and your computer or whatever dies, then i guess it's time to bring on the next dj, unfortunately.
that is why you always come prepared.
for example, a buddy of mine was putting together a party at a local bar, and it was pretty much the kind of thing where a bunch of the djs supplied their tables and whatnot.
just to be on the safe side i brought my dual deck cd player along, b/c i knew that some of the guys were gonna be playing tracks off of cds.
turns out we didnt need it and it sat in the trunk of my car, but at least we had a backup plan.
there were also 4 turntables setup, 2 of the guys were doing a 4 table set, but i'm sure that if a needle would have broken or something (we had spare needles too btw) or if (highly unlikely) one of the 1200s decided to crap out, or a more likely scenario one of the djm mixers pooped, we still had a working setup.
i said all that just to say that always be prepared, i went to a party once and the guy forgot to bring a mixer, how prepared is that?
2 turntables, no mixer. DUH!!!!!
ALWAYS have a backup plan,
Josh

I actually always bring one small case of vinyl with me to my gigs. These are records with just 1 track on them so they play for a long time...and all of them mix together really easily. I have these vinyls, because if my computer does go out or some shit, i have about an hours worth of time to fix it all, or figure something out. Having the long tracks and easily mixable songs help too- because then you can kinda forget about the music for a little while to fix your computer. This has never happened to me, but i ALWAYS have that little case of vinyls with me just in case.

Same here.

I personally play a lot of vinyl, so I always have a crate or bag with me.

Ive been brave lately, I used to tote around a bookbag full of records as a backup. since i got my powerbook i just feel alot more secure until i ran into this little snag. the power cord on my new western digital ext. hard drive has a short in it, took me bout 10 minutes of fiddling around to get it working. so i guess the back up crate wouldnt be a bad idea. or just use an "oh Shit!" cd.(basically a mix cd)

I like to play tunes using the signal from the control records at different pitches.
That'll keep the crowd jumping :)

Isn't every DJ packin an IPOD to rock the party as a backup measure...

Dell DJ 20 gig with a lot of you guys mixes on it in MP3 ( just kidding I do use my own mixes from the day before mostly) and I want that little 1/8 to phone cart converter.
But that and some CDs will save your but everytime.

Kindred, I will switch to an IPOD if one were to magically show up hehehe.

Just having fun with you. If you want to be covered. Two laptops.
and two External Harddrives, A stack of CDs and a crate of wicked mixes, mixits, hot tracks, crate savers, what ever and you should be OK. Man if you burn through all that backup you are in deep doodoo and maybe its a sign you shouldn't play that gig :)

yo....that's it... this computer stuff is wack. Back to a stack of concrete blocks 2 techs and a mixer on a bridge and vinyl ---- where I plugin at???

It is pretty much impossible to build full redundancy into absolutely everything as it would involve, among other things, a second laptop but here are some of my suggestions:

Redundant Operating Systems
Partition your hard drive into three partitions, two for a dual-boot OS setup, the third for your MP3's. If some system files corrupt or the machine just starts running like a dog, reboot and choose the different OS and your back up and running.

Have a backup hard drive
Take a ghost image of your laptops hard drive so that if the HDD fails, you can just pull out the disk and replace it and your back up in 3 minutes.

Redundant MP3's
Burn your MP3's to DVD-R and if they fail you can copy back 10 hours of MP3's within 5 minutes (just make sure you have a DVD drive!)

If you want a fully redundant set up, this would really mean a second mixer, third turntable, extra cables, extra needles etc etc etc. In my mind, you need to weigh up the risk of something failing vs the cost of having a backup for it. Your laptop, if it is releatively new (and it should be to support Serato) and from a reputable vendor (ie: NOT Dell) should not fail, though if it does it is likely to be the hard drive or power supply. So keep a backup of these two things. Otherwise, data, whether it be OS, Program Files or MP3's can also corrupt. Redundant OS's, hard drives and MP3 files can save your butt here. I reckon with these things there is really very little more to gain from buying a second laptop, especially considering the huge extra cost invloved.

word mister simonB

listen to the man.

AP

what I do.

Backup my mp3 collection to dvds. Bring a small book of Cds to gigs as backup. Easy enough.

This maybe a little off-topic. Sorry...

I have a problem with "if you no longer buy vinyl". If you no longer buy vinyl I think you might be selling out...

OK, maybe you're buying less vinyl because you're buying cds and mp3s but c'mon, what kind of dj are you if you're not pounding the pavement, digging into crates and getting inspired by new sounds?

I agree to you to an extent because times are definately changing man. I have bought 1 record in the past 2 years but I spend even more time "digging" only now most of my time is online filtering new tracks and seeing if they will be the next big hit. Same ideology....different format. But believe me....I have spent many years digging for vinyl.

i wanna be diggin in 8 tracks!

I belong to a record pool i still get vynil but i transfer them straight to CD. vynil get put in a box stored somewhere...someplace..

same thing is happening to Cds => mp3 laptop
it is still "media" you still have to mix it. it just got alot Lighter compared to crates n crates of vynil.

im getting old i have no more crew!

Does anyone else think it's annoying when you are at a party and you get that one person that says you are not a real DJ if you are not using all vinyl? I often sit there and ponder if the pioneers would really have stuck to vinyl if they had the option to go digital. People often don't realize that certain things were done out of lack of options. Ah well...I take comfort in knowing that I will be able to go home after a gig nowadays without a sore back. =)

There is a lot of music that you cannot get on vinyl, i.e. white label remixes etc. Therefore you still have to buy vinyl to seperate yourself from the group. People who know what serato does and knows its limits should know how great of a product this is.

To answer the question at the top of the forum...why is having a second laptop considered obscure?
Have a few mixed CDs and a backup laptop.
I Know a backup is a little costly, but how much do 4 flight cases and records to fill them cost?
Makes me feel ultra secure and confident in having a glitch free night. Ive never had to go for the backup, but it feels great having it with me.

I agree. If you travel a lot and you cant afford youor setup going down, having a backup system is a must.

There are Denon DN-4000's at both my residencies. I use SSL with the SSL CD's.

I have a smart playlist in iTunes called "Essentials" - basically the tracks I *always* play at least once during the night.

I burnt out the essentials playlist to 10 audio CD's. If the worst came to the worst I could run off those CD's for the night.

Obvioulsy, every 3 months or so I will reburn the essentials. For the sake of a very small cost (in CDR's) I have peace of mind...

I carry a very small cd wallet (that came with my Blox Box backpack) - also in the wallet are my backed up SSL control discs. It basically an emergency wallet.

Happy days!

I'll always bring a crate of records... Jus' in case. :)

I bring a CD Wallet... which I need to update! :(

so what happens when u blow the house fuse... thats y i carry a set of bongos and a cheerleading horn so i can keep the crowd going while the facilities people fix the problem...shouting "Rock rock tha planet rock....don't stop!"

LOL

One word: bongos. :D

dude, mike and supernatural did that shit a week ago. the fuse blew out, and they made everyone clap and stomp there feet and chant to a dark ass room. i walked in there my jaw dropped.

and right after, the "spiked" kool-aid was given to everyone with a promise to reach mars - or something like that. :) Damn cult leaders. :P

yo Lorrence, i didn't know u were not with us in the room when that happened....i lost my voice later that evening :)

must have been a strange site...i bet u were like "wat tha hell!?"

hey ya'll are jacking my thread.......even though it is amusing...... bongos are just too big to bring a long unless your bringing your own equipment....

sowwee peeti-V.. i'm prob gonna pick up two small mp3 players

yeah i use my ipod as backup