CDJ2000NXS2 USB errors during DJ set in bar

It was last Tuesday, my first real gig. The bar had 2 x CDJ-2000NXS2 (linked) and 1 x DJM-900NXS2.

It was my first time DJing on CDJ's for real.

I spent months digitising my vinyl, and ripping old CDs to 320kbps LAME MP3s, correctly tagged.

I spent almost £100 on 2 x Sandisk USB 3.0 USB sticks (one for main, one for backup in case something happens on the night).

I spent some weekends learning how to organise my music on Rekordbox, analysing my music and sorting into playlists.

I spent money renting a CD DJ studio with same equipment as the bar, to practice for the gig.

I formatted 1 of the USB stick as HFS+ (Mac OS Journalled) which had super fast transfer speed, and I transferred my playlists).

I formatted the other USB stick as FAT32 and I put the main playlist on it, (I didn't copy all the other music because it was just too slow).

I used the HFS+ disk in the left CDJ. The tracks came up, like they did during practice.

On the right deck, I pressed LINK. And the tracks showed up there too.

GREAT.

After 1.5 hours, everything going fine, during the right deck playing a song, I could browse on the left deck, but EVERY song I selected, all the buttons on the deck started to flast, and the message came on the screen:

"Media File is Collapsed or Unavailable".

Then after that message, it said at the bottom:

"E-8302: CANNOT PLAY TRACK(300A)"

This happened on every single track. I tried different songs, different playlists.

So, plan B, I inserted my FAT32 USB stick into the right deck, and on the left deck I pressed "LINK", and the songs showed up. But when I tried to preview them, the SAME error messages came up.

I tried to skip to the next track on the right deck but it didn't work. And I tried to eject the USB while the song was playing but as soon as I pressed eject, the sound went quieter so I knew it would finish abruptly.

So in the end, I had to fade out the music, SILENCE IN THE CLUB, and power the CDJ (left) off, then on again. It worked for another 1.5 hours til the end of my gig.

What happened, and why? Will it happen again? Should I take backup next time, like my iPhone and AUX lead, in case?

I did so much preparation, I used equipment worth £6000, in a top bar, and it went wrong :-(

Any feedback appreciated.