iCloud as WATCHED FOLDER

Roon Software Discussion
1

Hello all. I am new to Roon and have been reading the KB documentation extensively as well as this forum to better understand what I require to use Roon. I think I want to dedicate a new Mac mini (3.6GHz quad core Intel i3, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD drive) as my Roon Core.

My question is regarding where the music files are stored. I know I could use a NAS or USB-C drives as the storage for these files and point the WATCHED FOLDER to the appropriate directory, but could I use iCloud instead?

I have seen some posts about using iCloud for backup purposes. I would rather use iCloud as my NAS drive. If this will work, what might be the performance implications, if any? Thank you in advance for the assistance.

1 Like
2

Hi David,

I don’t think iCloud is an option within Roon. On my iMac I can see and use Google Drive and Dropbox. iCloud however is not visible…
Using a cloud service might cause performance issues in my opinion.
How about some testing with Google Drive or Dropbox (free accounts), put some big FLACS on it and find out…

3

Nope. Other than local, I don’t think Roon will recognize a location that is not an SMB type connection.

If you have an iCloud drive, it should be easy enough to check. Let us know how things work out.

Oh yeah, one other thing. If you’re not already committed to the Apple eco-system, you’ll probably be happier with a NUC running ROCK.

4

There are a number of tools that allow you to mount Cloud storage as a local drive. Once you have done that roon will treat them as at treats any watched folder. I am experimenting with ExpandDrive but will probably try CloudMounter as advised in this report.

I am windows based so I don’t know if any of these utilities work with iCloud. Caution though. I read reports that these services can be a bit flakey.

1 Like
5

Hey! Roon team! Possibility to use iCloud as a folder is very important for Mac users and I can’t buy subscription without this feature. I store all my music in iCloud…

6

Below is the path to my iCloud Drive folder on my Mac. I am able to add it as a watched folder…

/Users/sean/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/DriveDocs

Note however it appears to not be recommended by Roon (see screenshot)… might be risky?

36%20pm
Screen Shot 2019-05-17 at 4.56.36 pm.png1894×946 154 KB

47%20pm
Screen Shot 2019-05-17 at 4.56.47 pm.png1911×967 148 KB

1 Like
7

How large is your collection?

8

~200 GB and this in only beginning =)

9

I’m a mac user too. I have most of my collection on a RAID external SSD, and a couple of music folders on external Hard drives. About 600GB. Every situation is different. Sounds like you can do it from Sean’s post.

1 Like
10

External hard drive is a solution but I am a mobile person, I don’t won’t to take hardware in all my trips. I’ll try to add iCloud folder, thanks!

1 Like
11

Big thumb drive is another thought. Good luck with the cloud install.

1 Like
12

Make sure you have an up to date offline backup of your music in at least one other place… and setup daily auto-backup of your Roon database also…

Roon shouldn’t make changes to your stored music (unless you manually do something like delete from Roon etc) and iCloud should naturally backup itself all the time… but just in case something goes wrong (somehow) make sure you always have at least one (more is better) separate up to date backup on a USB drive or something.

1 Like
13

I was trying to add some of iCloud folders but Roon doesn’t scan them. =(

08%20PM
Screen Shot 2019-05-17 at 12.27.08 PM.jpg2272×1760 398 KB

14

I just tried it now (for the first time). I see the same issue.

So I guess it goes back to being a ‘feature request’…

07%20pm
Screen Shot 2019-05-17 at 7.33.07 pm.png782×160 13.3 KB

1 Like
15

Yeah! Feature request! How it’s possible to create it?

16

You can create here:

https://community.roonlabs.com/c/roon/feature-requests

1 Like
17

A forum search will show you how other people have accomplished what you want to do.

1 Like
18

Hi, any news on this topic. I’m trying to use my (local) iCloud drive for music files too. But same message as above. Anyone found a solution?

19

Hi, I want to do this too. Any update on the risks / process please?

20

I know very old thread. I use my Desk to keep both music and Roon backups. Recently I triad to use the folder with another music software (Logitech Music Server) and it has no access to either Desk or iCloud…
Alias would be a solution but Roon requires real folder.