Best practices for USB music storage for Nucleus? Questions

Andrew_Thompson · January 11, 2020, 6:08pm

I successfully migrated my Roon Core to a new Nucleus and all is working well. I was anxious about the process, but thankfully it went as planned

I’m currently using an external USB SSD drive connected to the Nucleus to store my music files and Roon watches that. However, I have a few questions about this approach.

I formatted the USB drive as OS X Journaled and later read that that is a read-only format for the Nucleus. Is it worth reformatting in a different format?

I cannot easily add new music to the USB drive - I would have to disconnect it from the Nucleus, connect it to my iMac to move music onto it, then reconnect the drive to the Nucleus. Is there an easier way to do this or is there any risk in doing this? I tried and I cannot view the USB drive on the network even though the Nucleus shows up just fine.

I cannot easily backup the music drive (see previous comment - I assume I have to do the same thing). Again, is there an easier way to do this?

Should I consider a different approach to storing the music files for the Nucleus, instead of the external USB drive? That might the previous concerns less of a concern or simply be a better approach in general.

I’m currently using a Resolution Audio Cantata USB DAC for playback, which I’ve had for many years and love. I have a dCS Bartok with headphone amp on order for headphone listening and I’ll use the ethernet connection with the Nucleus for it (both connected to the router). I’ve also tested a HomePod through the iPhone Roon app and it works fine too.

Roon is so awesome!

Thank you.

mikeb · January 11, 2020, 6:34pm

I’m sorry, but as you’ve found to your peril, you should have formatted the disk with ExFat so that it’s R/W compatible with both OS X and Nucleus. If you are planning to regularly add music to your Nucleus (over the network), I would consider reformatting it and starting over.

Rugby · January 11, 2020, 6:38pm

Completely agree.

mikeb · January 11, 2020, 6:42pm

As you’re thinking of starting over anyway, why not fit an internal drive in the nucleus, and use the then redundant external usb one as a backup.

Andrew_Thompson · January 11, 2020, 6:48pm

Yes, I’ll reformat and try that. Will I be able to then see the drive on the network and write to it?

I’ll look into the internal HD option longer-term.

Thanks.

xxx · January 11, 2020, 6:50pm

The Nucleus has a “Share” for its internal drive.

See this article -
https://kb.roonlabs.com/ROCK:_Importing_Music

Jim_F · January 11, 2020, 6:59pm

And if you want a totally silent Nucleus, use an internal SSD.

Andrew_Thompson · January 11, 2020, 10:57pm

I reformatted the external drive to ExFat, recopied my music files onto it and everything is back up and running.

After restarting the Nucleus and the iMac I’m also now able to access the external HD on the Nucleus and thus able to view, add, copy music files!

danny · January 13, 2020, 2:52pm

yes. exFAT.

your USB drive is at: smb://nucleus/Data/Storage/XXXXX/

use the smb path – it works and is the easiest thing to use. if you can’t get it working, the community and our support team can help.

Internal drive works too. but if you are ok with something hanging off the back, USB is more flexible.

My advice if you want USB storage:

exFAT, USB, SSD, 4tb or larger
use SMB to add music or drag/drop to Roon app from Mac/Windows
use NAS or another computer to do a backup locally once a night – just a quick sync from the USB to some other drive in the house
use some form of backup like Backblaze to backup the backup from step 3 to the cloud

Mike_Rife · January 13, 2020, 2:56pm

Totally silent? Unplug it:grinning:

David_Whittemore · January 15, 2020, 7:32pm

Unless you’re a purist, I don’t think you need solid-state. However, their prices are dropping rapidly and why not have faster, silent, stable internal storage.

Of course if you need >4TB, your options are pricey. There are 8TB SSD’s (Micron 5210 Ion).

In terms of your question, you can store the files on your PC and connect via the web interface, thus having two copies. You can get a Raid 1 USB drive that mirrors it (keep in mind it’s not a real backup- a surge will fry both), but does save from drive failures usually.

Just ideas.

Rugby · January 15, 2020, 8:09pm

Not a fan of QLC memory.

danny · January 15, 2020, 11:06pm

Why? The downside of durability is irrelevant for storage of music or any other data that is long lived.