Backing Up Roon Database

Have my Roon Core on my Innuos ZenMini MkIII. Have managed to backup the Innuos music files to a large USB which is connected into the Innuos. No problems there, and have been able to schedule repeat backups.

When I go into Roon on my laptop (working as a Control) and try to set up a scheduled backup there of the Roon Database itself (not the music on the Innuos), I just can’t work out a valid path to add to make this backup happen.

What I’m trying to do is get the Roon database to backup to a USB stick plugged into the F: drive of my laptop. I’ve had same problems trying to set a path to the OneDrive storage on my laptop.

Now… Am I just doing something stupid here? I can’t get Add Network Folder to accept any sort of path address to any part of my laptop.

Hoping for some help please.

Most likely you forgot to create the network share first.

I thought file sharing was working but…

Thanks for that tutorial link. I’ll read it through and then have a look at what’s going on with my laptop. Hadn’t appreciated that I’d need a reasonable amount of systems savvy.

Hi @David_Carter,

As @BlackJack mentioned you will need to share the folder first. The easiest way that I have accomplished this is by using method #2 outlined in that link, right-click folder on windows -> give access to -> specific people. You can then use your Windows login and follow the adding folders by path documentation (at the end) on how to add network shares.

Thanks,
Noris

OK Noris. I’ve read through that documentation and think I understand the process.

But what folder on my PC am I actually trying to share and then backup when I’m saying “Roon Database”?

I can see a Roon folder with lots of sub-folders within ThisPC\OS\Users/AppData/Local/.

Is that the thing that is storing the Roon library / playlists / etc info that I’ll be wanting to backup?

I’ve read through that documentation and think I understand the process.

But what folder on my PC am I actually trying to create a share and then backup when I’m saying “I want to back up the Roon Database”?

I can see a Roon folder with lots of sub-folders within: ThisPC\OS\Users\AppData\Local.

Is that the thing that is storing the Roon library / playlists / etc info that I’ll be wanting to make shareable and backup?

Sorry. I should have also said.

What I’m trying to achieve here is backing up the Roon Database (NOT the Innuos library) to a USB stick in the F: drive of my laptop.

So presumably I need to share the laptop’s F: drive on the Network in order to be able to add it as a destination folder for the Roon Backup to go to?

What I’m trying to achieve here is backing up the Roon Database (NOT the Innuos library) to a USB stick in the F: drive of my laptop.

So presumably I need to share the laptop’s F: drive on the Network in order to be able to add it as a destination folder for the Roon Backup to go to?

Some more reading for you: User Guide > Getting Started > Backups

So the database is on your ZenMini then.

That’s why you need to create a share so your Roon Core on the ZenMini is able to see and access it over the network.

Exactly!

Keep in mind that you don’t want to setup scheduled backups if the laptop (and it’s F: drive) isn’t available every (most of the) time the backup should run.

Excerpt from the guide I linked above:

Backing Up Without A Schedule

If you don’t want backups to run automatically, you can also run a backup at anytime by clicking Backup Now, on the Backup tab in Settings.

You can backup to the same location later, and Roon will only save the changes since the last backup. Later, you can restore any of the backups you have saved to that folder.

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Once again, thank you so much for your generosity with your knowledge.

I’ll give all that a try this afternoon.

Take your point that if backing up to F: Drive then you can’t make it a scheduled one.

Many thanks.

Dave

Hi @David_Carter,

@BlackJack’s explanation here is correct, thank you for posting that! I have just one other question here: to avoid having your laptop powered on each time you are running the backups, would it not be simpler to attach the USB drive directly to the ZenMini?

I presume it must have at least one available USB port on the back, and if you consider attaching the drive directly to that port and set it up as the backup destination that might be better in terms of an “always-on” backup location.

If you’d like to share the F: drive on your laptop folder, that’s fine too, just know the limitation of only being able to access it while the PC is powered on and connected to the network.

Thanks,
Noris

Yes, I do already have a large storage 2TB USB drive attached to a USB port at the back of my ZenMini Mk III. That’s what successfully performs my Innuos library backup. I’ve connected that to my laptop and checked that files are being backed up there properly.

Whatever I try, I’m still unable though to make a Roon Database backup happen, either to the now networked F: drive of my laptop, or to the ZenBackUpDrive USB attached to my Innuos ZenMini.

I thought I’d been able to set up the Roon Backup to that USB as a scheduled backup of Roon, but when it tries to run it, that backup fails, as it also does when I try to force run a Roon backup. Please see attached image that shows this happening.

I’ve tried altering which USB port on the back of the ZenMini the storage device is connected to. No change.

Basically, when I go into the Backups section of Roon and try to add a network path for the Roon backup to take place, I still don’t see either F: drive of laptop or zenbackupdrive as options available to me.

I have definitely set the Innous backup toggle to Automatic, as previous posts suggested that would force the zenbackup option to then show, but that hasn’t worked either.

I’m just totally out of ideas. Any further thoughts? Why is this so difficult?

Well, I went through the process of networking my laptop’s F: drive as you advised. It definitely says on my laptop that it’s networked, but I still can’t create a network folder path to it to backup the Roon database.

I’m having no problems getting Innuos library to backup to the 2TB USB storage attached to back of my ZenMini. Have checked, and folders are definitely being copied to there via automatic backup.

Thought I’d try to set up a Roon database backup to same USB drive, and as far as I was aware, I’d managed to set up a scheduled Roon

backup. However, when it tries to run, it fails, as it also does if I try to force a Roon backup to the USB. Attached image of what I’m seeing.

Basically, when I go to Backup tab of Roon and try to set up a backup, neither the F: drive nor the Zenbackup drive are showing as options to which I can create a network backup path.

Am totally out of ideas now. Any more thoughts?

Because of the findings from another thread: Try using a folder instead of the Drive as backup target.

What have you tried to do so? What was the error message from Roon?

  • F:-drive: As you already stated, you haven’t managed to add the network share yet.
  • zenbackupdrive: When it’s connected to the ZenMini then it’s a local drive and thus should be just there (like it was back when you created the scheduled backup that’s shown in your screenshot).
    If not, then the drive is not connected.

First off, I’m using an Asus running OS Windows 10, not an iMac or other Apple hardware/software.

When I try to set up Network Share Location as: \zenmini\zenbackupdrive
it says “invalid path”.

I’m confused when you suggest the USB zenbackup drive is not connected. It always is connected to the Zenmini to do the Innous music backup.

You’re correct it’s not showing as a local drive though. I was only able to grab the Network path to set up the failing scheduled backup when an Innuos backup was being performed. Once that’s finished, Zenminibackup disappears from view of potential Network Share.

Attaching image of what I’m offered when I try to add a Network Share for Roon to backup to.

Correct. \\zenmini\zenbackupdrive might be a valid path.

This is the ‘Chose folder to back up to’ window. What you get when you click on ‘+ Add Network Share’ - what you need to do to add the f:-drive from your ASUS - is shown in my previous post.
It actually shows your local (as seen from Roon Server) Music folder (\\ZENMINI\Music). Click on the up-arrow to navigate to \\ZENMINI.
grafik
If your zenbackupdrive is connected, it should now show up in the list on the right (you maybe have to scroll down first).

Maybe I’m getting this also completely wrong as your not really showing us what you’re doing or have done or just using the wrong terms to describe it.

Maybe a ZenMini user can confirm the path for local files?

As it seems, that you no longer want to use the F:-drive of your laptop and @noris was the one that suggested the use of the external hard drive connected to the ZenMini, I’m flagging @support again.

Hi @David_Carter,

Are you certain that the zenmini/zenbackupdrive folder still exists on that drive? From the screenshots that I see Roon can’t access that folder listing anymore, are you able to still see it when using another method to connect to the zenmini such as Windows Explorer? If the USB drive does not show up as expected with Windows Explorer either, then this might be a hardware issue so please do let me know this info.

Thanks,
Noris

Thanks Noris.

I’m attaching some screen shots of what I see when I open File Explorer. As you suggest, under the Zenmini main folder, I can’t see the Zendrive there.

however, if I plug the Backup USB drive into the F: drive of my laptop, I can then see that device and its folder structure in File Explorer as one would expect.

Just also a screenshot of the latest message when I try to set up a backup to the zen storage drive:

Failed scheduled Roon Backup message from this morning says “Backup directory not available”.

Any thoughts? Thanks. Dave

Hi @David_Carter,

Thanks for sharing those screenshots.

Since the ZenMini does not show up in Windows Explorer either, I would get in touch with Innous Support. They have helped with similar issues in the past and if Windows Explorer can’t access the drive location, then it is also assumed that Roon can’t either.

If you would like, you can send them this thread that shows the troubleshooting we have done so far and the Innuous staff member can contact us if they have any follow up questions, drives failing to show up on hardware does not fall into the Roon software category of issues but rather a hardware one that needs to be discussed further with the manufacturer.

Thanks,
Noris