Well yes. Like if you stop the Roon server, it’s not like everything’s gone on the next start. I also guess it does intermittently, based on the requirement that the DB is on an SSD for performance reasons. If it loaded the whole DB into RAM on startup and never wrote anything during operation, then the disk performance wouldn’t matter much (except for startup and shutdown)
Congrats on getting rid of the issue!
I have no idea how often or when changes are committed during normal operations. However, I am pretty sure they are committed before a Roon backup.
And I am a fellow user not an official.Roon employee.
Yep, it’s a good feeling. I just confirmed that Roon’s database backup, and then my environment snapshots and backups all occurred as schedule. Whew!
Thank you to you and Rugby for your help.
Me, too. 2018 (NIB) with only Roon and Safari.
Im very happy to say, that there has not been any issues last three month with my Mac mini M1 server. The new MacOs works excellent with Roon
Best of all, is that all my Marantz has been Roon Ready 
You can update a 2012 Mac Mini to a more modern operating system using Open Core Patcher. There are lots of very good videos covering this on YouTube. I‘m thinking of taking this route. Is there a recommended way of stripping the Mac of all unnecessary apps? I‘m thinking just Roon & Plex for movies and attaching it to my LG TV & B&O Stage.
I’m thinking of migrating my NUC (NUC8i7BEH, M.2 SSD 512GB, 16gb RAM) to my 2018 Intel Mac Mini (3.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD). I have about 2TB of music at this point, and currently sits on an external USB 3.0 spinning harddrive (which has yet to die). I’m hoping for a significant performance improvement with using and navigating my library on the Mac Mini once setup (it can get pretty slow on the NUC). Is it worth getting a 4TB SSD for my music and plug that into the mini for even better performance, or is a spinning harddrive basically providing the same type of speed performance (i.e. an SSD wouldn’t help much for reading/playing the music)? If SSD is a good idea, does it matter which kind to get (e.g. Samsung T7 good enough?). Thanks for any feedback!
Moving music storage from HDD to SSD alone will not provide any significant performance benefit. The HDD performance is more than adequate.
Operations like search and focus and general client navigation rely upon the database but do not access the stored music itself and so performance will not be affected. Analysis of newly added albums may be improved but this is a relatively rare operation.
have to say I love my M4 Mac mini as Roon server. I have had Zero! performance issues with that thing since I have it running headless in a kallax unit next to the router. NVME SSD connected to it.
I Access it and update the M4 or move files around with “screen sharing” on my MacBook Air.
(in case I want to update Mac OS, move files around).
Im glad I didn’t go for a NUC or expensive NAS only to run Roon.
I’ve just ordered a Mac mini M4 as my Roon server. Can’t wait to get it into my hands. I’ve ordered one with 2 TB SSD, so it will have enough storage for my music library.
Question. I have a late 2014 Mac mini with the original HD and an Aura SSD.
Is it possible to install Roon ROCK on the HD drive and still be able to access the music I have installed on the SSD?
i might be confused by the terminology, but I don’t think you’d install ROCK, which is more of an OS that runs on a NUC.
You’d just install roon as an app on your Mac.
I have recently added a Mac Mini M4 to my network as a server for both Roon and JRiver Media Center. Perhaps that’s overkill – it’s a lot of processor for the task – but I’m happy with the smooth operation from the Mini, which is connected via Ethernet to the NAS (Synology) with the audio files. I also like that I can use Screen Sharing to get to the Mini if I need to do anything.
I have been running an i3 NUC for 5+ years. 3,300+ CDs, with most music (nearly 1TB) in Apple ALAC and TIDAL FLAC formats. I debated changing over to a Mac Mini (which I owned), but thought (as NUC wasn’t busted) I would just change the external, portable 2TB, 5400 Rom HDD for a 2TB SSD. The change was amazing. Both in response speed to every command but also in the speed of scrolling my decent quality Cover Art. I shall now wait until the NUC dies or becomes useless.
I hope this helps. It’s definitely a highly recommended upgrade from
@Oliver_Meyer, I just came across this thread. To answer your question, yes it is possible to install ROCK on Intel MacMini. BUT, onboard networking will not work. To get networking working you need to get a USB to Ethernet adapter. I used a $10 adaptor of Amazon with my 2012 i7 MacMini and ran ROCK as the OS and Roon Server for about 2 years. No issues whatsoever. I have since moved on to an i5 Lenovo m90n as my Roon Server simply because I wanted to repurpose the MacMini for something else.
Note, you CANNOT use ROCK on Apple Silicon Macs.
I use the M1 as server and 2nd as Bridge. One issue not resolved as support ticket on initialisation DAC when sample rate changes; I could not follow through as we have the 5th heatwave this summer and the temperature in our living room is well over 30 degrees.
Thanks for sharing your personal experience in using a 2TB SSD for your music - I’m still using my original NUC for ROCK and an ancient USB 3.0 spinning harddrive that refuses to die (while my Intel Mac Mini continues to collect dust - I haven’t had time yet to migrate over to it). The latest Roon/ROCK software updates have definitely improved responsiveness with my large music library, so the urgency to move to my Intel Mac Mini with external SSD have diminished some. I would need at least a 4TB SSD for my music library - it’s just a-shame how expensive they are nowadays. If I ever find a deal I may just get one and see how much better it is using it with my existing NUC.
I have been running Roon Server on my Mac Mini M2 16Gb for the last few years. But wanted to utilise my outdated Mac Mini Server from 2011. This is an Intel I7 machine with two 1Tb SSDs. Since I don’t use any DSP this machine is fast enough, but the latest MacOS for this machine is not compatible with Roon anymore.
So I purchased GentooPlayer, installed it to a USB stick and got it running on the Mac Mini i7. That worked as a breeze, so now I have installed it on the primary SSD and I have enabled Roon Server within GentooPlayer. After a quick update to the latest version from my Roon remote, it works perfectly. I am happy that I can have a dedicated Roon Server Mac Mini again via this route.