How do I move part or all of my library to a new drive or NAS?

This guide describes the safest way to move any folder with audio files, that has already been imported into Crates  to a new location.
For example a user asked: “I want to move an entire folder with subfolders from my mac to my NAS. It’s about ~300GB. What’s the best way to do this and keep using the files  in Crates?”

Before you start

• Mount the destination drive or NAS and note the target folder (for example: /Volumes/MyNAS/Music/).
• Keep the same subfolder and filename structure at the new location.
• Ensure there is enough free space on the destination drive.

Move the files

1. Quit Crates App & Server (you could also make sure to stop ‘watching’ the folder or parent folders to be moved, but easier  to quit)
2. Quit any other apps that might be using or locking the files.
3. Move (cut and paste) the base folder you want to relocate — this may be your entire library or just a subfolder — to the new drive.

Relocate inside Crates

1. Open Crates  again and go to menu Library → Relocate Files.
2. Set Old Path to the original base folder you moved.
3. Set New Path to the new folder on the destination drive.
4. Click Relocate. Crates updates stored paths when the old file is missing and the new file exists.
5. Play a few tracks to confirm playback works from the new location.

Common pitfalls

• Old copy still present: paths will not update. Rename or remove the old folder.
• Folder structure changed: relocation will fail to match files. Keep identical relative paths.
• Drive not mounted or writable: mount the drive or fix permissions, then rerun relocation.

If only one or two files moved

Use the per-track Relocate Audio File dialog: right click a tune → Edit → Audiosources panel → click tab of audio file → click the … menu → Relocate. Then point directly to the new file instead of running a bulk relocation.