Is SSL reading the iTunes library? If so, you will need to delete the file from iTunes itself.

Try:

Shutting down SSL.
Open your external drive.
Rename the _Serato_backup folder so it says _Serato_backupOLD.

Re-open SSL and test.

Worked like a champ! Thank you so much!

Sweet:)

@Zach Its still happening... For the longest time Ive been renaming that backup folder and it has been working now it suddenly has stopped working. Still this whole process is prettying annoying either way. There has to be a way to fix this instead of renaming the folder each time... Now renaming the folder isn't even working. Please help me.

If you unplug the external can you delete files that are being imported into SSL from the internal drive?

Yes, they delete with my external disconnected. Sound like a problem with my external. Great. Ugh. Its a 2tb Gtech Gdrive firewire 800 with about 500gb of free space left on it.

Try this:

Shut down SSL.

Open the external drive.

Rename the _Serato_ folder so it says _Serato_1.
Create a new folder on the root of your external and name it _Serato_.
Open the _Serato_1 folder, copy the Subcrates folder, and paste it into the newly created _Serato_ folder.

Also delete the _Serato_backup folder.

Once done, open SSL.
You should see all your tags getting written at the bottom of the screen.
Once its done loading/reading try deleting some files.

Yeah that worked.

I ended up with a ton of missing files though. I have the ? icon on a gang of tracks now and my crates are all mixed up. Should I rescan ID3 tags and manually rearrange the crates?

I did an ID3 scan and Im back to normal now. I ended up with a ton of lost files from todays date though and I haven't imported anything today. Weird. My crates are still all messed up though. Should I shut it down with a SSL back up now and restart? I noticed all my highlighted tracks are gone and everything is back to white text. Ugh

Oh no! It changed the "Date added" to my whole hard drive to todays date. Im fucked. Lol

Nothing I've told you to do would have caused this.
Try using the relocate lost files feature --> serato.com

How are they messed up? If everything is coming from your external drive they should all have been put in alphabetical order.
If you have music coming from different drives into the same crates you are going to run into an issue where SSL will get confused and won't save any structure you put your crates in.
If this is the case for you, the only remedy is to move all your music to one drive.
This is because we, essentially, created a new databaseV2 file.
Sorry.. part of the fix.
If you rely on the 'date added' info I would suggest you add it to a different part of the tag like comments for example.
That way, if and when you need to rebuild your database file again you won't lose your date added info.

As for tracks turning green. The way that feature was intended to be used is to let you know what tracks you've played within a particular set.
After each set you should be turning your tracks back to white by clicking the History tab and pressing the 'clear' tab.

Is there anyway I can go back? If I could go back a step then I could organize the stuff I need to by date then redo the database again.

Yes... shut down SSL, open the _Serato_1 folder.
Copy the databaseV2 file and paste it into the current _Serato_ folder.
There is already one in that location so you will need to 'replace' it with the old one.

Ok I havent even tried the last step you suggested but now the problem is back and Im no longer able to delete again.

Hey Zach!

Sorry for the late response. I just got back from a 2 week vacation:)

Did you try deleting the _Serato_backup folder again?

Yeah and no luck.

Have you tried updating to 2.5 and then deleting or renaming the _Serato_backup folder on the external? If not, I would do so.