Read-only files and drives have certain restrictions when being used in the Serato Studio software. These files or drives have restricted access, impacting the software's ability to write and save important information.

Files on Read-Only Drives

External storage devices with read-only restrictions are most commonly in this state due to the device being formatted incorrectly for the computer you are using.

For example, using an NTFS format drive on macOS or an APFS/Mac OS Journaled drive on Windows.

Other factors include external storage devices with a physical write-protect switch, encrypted storage devices, or storage devices with restricted permissions.

When using files from Read-Only drives, all metadata (Cue Points, Analysis data, ID3 tags, Beatgrids) will only persist within the session. Any changes to your library files and crates contained on the read-only drive will also only persist for the session.

Closing the current session or starting a new session will wipe all changes that you have made to the metadata.

Importing files

When first importing files into the library from a drive with read-only restrictions in place, a pop-up message will appear:

Note: Serato Studio will still import the file or files you have selected. These will remain for the duration of that session.

File browser

Files that have been imported from a read-only drive are marked with a gold lock icon. When hovering over the gold lock icon, the following message will be displayed in the status bar.

• This file is stored on a read-only drive, so changes will not be remembered if you disconnect the drive or quit the application. Learn more.

Note: It is possible to get into a state where your drive is read-only however permissions on the file allow the file itself to be both read, and written to. If this is the case, there will not be a gold lock next to the file in the Serato Studio Library and metadata will be saved as normal.

Files tab

Drives with read-only restrictions are displayed with a gold lock next to them in the Files tab of the Serato Studio library. When hovering over the gold lock icon, the following message will be displayed in the status bar.

Read-only files on writable drives

It is possible to have read-only files when using a drive with reading and writing capability. This can be due to the permissions on a specific file or parent folder.

In this case, changes to the metadata (Cue Points, Analysis data, ID3 tags, Beatgrids) as well as changes to the library will persist across sessions. The metadata will not be saved to the file itself, meaning these changes will only be apparent in Serato applications on this computer

Read-only files that have been imported from a drive with reading and writing capability are also marked with a gold lock icon. When hovering over the gold lock icon, the following message will be displayed in the status bar.

• This file is read-only, so changes will only be remembered inside Serato applications on this computer. Learn more.