rekordbox WON'T SEE YOUR USB?
FIX IT BEFORE THE GIG

• Confirm you are in Export mode. The device tree with your USB only appears in Export. Top-left of rekordbox, switch from Performance or Lighting to EXPORT.
• Check the computer sees the drive first. Open Finder (Mac) or File Explorer (Windows). If the USB is not there either, this is not a rekordbox problem, it is a drive or connection problem. Reseat it, try another port, skip the hub.
• Plug in direct, no hub. USB hubs and dongles are the single most common reason a drive mounts on the OS but never reaches rekordbox. Straight into the computer.
• Restart rekordbox with the drive already inserted. Some versions only scan removable drives at launch. Insert first, then open the app.

• macOS permissions. Newer macOS blocks apps from removable drives until you allow it. System Settings, Privacy and Security, Files and Folders (or Removable Volumes), turn rekordbox on, then relaunch. This one traps a lot of people after an OS update.
• Wrong format. Exports go to FAT32, exFAT (USB drives only) and, on macOS, HFS+, never NTFS or APFS. A drive formatted NTFS (common on Windows) or APFS (Mac) may mount on the computer but will not accept an export. The safe answer for every CDJ is FAT32 plus MBR. Format walkthrough here.
• Write protection. Some drives have a physical lock switch, and some arrive read-only. If the OS shows it but nothing can be copied to it, that is the cause.
• A failing drive. If it mounts, disappears, and reappears, or throws read errors in Finder or Explorer, the hardware is going. Copy your music off now and retire it. Why two identical drives.

If you have the tracks on your computer, the fastest safe route is to reformat a working drive FAT32 plus MBR, export fresh from rekordbox, and eject properly with the rekordbox eject button. If the drive that failed holds the only copy of anything, do not format it, treat it as recovery. The emergency flow below walks the whole thing step by step, including what to do when there is no time left.