I am transfering my Mac (that currently runs Roon Server) to a new Mac.
I have read on how to transfer Roon Server, but I am not only after transfering Roon, but my whole Mac, with all settings and Apps.
The question I have is this - if I stop Roon Server, and do a complete TimeMachine backup, then restore this TimeMachine backup to another Mac, do I have to do anything else to have a successful Roon Server?
Or am I better off to stop Roon Server and prevent it from starting up, then do TimeMachine. Then on the new Mac, configure Roon Server anew, and restore from backup?
Note: media is local to the internal Mac SSD, and will be included in the TimeMachine.
Do not use Time Machine to “clone” one macOS install to another. This is well documented that you will run into problems with Roon. Set up the new macOS machine as a fresh install.
That, in itself, defeats the purpose of TimeMachine… are you mentioning this in the context of Roon only? I am still confused what to do with Roon… as I want to clone all my other apps and settings.
You could probably do a Roon backup to an external USB drive. Use the Roon backup routine. Then, totally delete Roon from the old computer and do your clone to the new computer. Do a fresh clean install of Roon on the new computer, plug in the USB drive and restore the Roon backup. Make sure your old computer is on the latest version of Roon before doing the backup.
Yes it does. Thanks for the comment, though, but that was not my original question and I really do not want to argue about this.
I am well aware what a fresh install is, vs restore from TimeMachine.
I was not sure exactly what to do with Roon.
It seems I will follow what @Jim_F said - thanks!
But for theoretical knowledge, what is it about Roon, that it will not work with time machine? If server process is stopped, then what is the problem? The new machine will be a replacement, it will be assigned the same name, and the same IP address. I don’t get it.
No, this is not true - fundamentals of Mac. TimeMachine backups can and are used to transfer to a completely new Mac. And also can be inherited by the new Mac.
No, it is true. I gave an example of an intended use. That does not imply other uses are unintended.
That said, you seem very deep into the Apple “ecosystem.” And that can be a problem when you use cross platform apps like Roon that do not kowtow to Apple. This is one of those issues.
Some machine unique identifier(s) get cloned in the process and cause local network problems for Roon. You can try uninstalling Roon first. But you really have to obliterate the Roon install, including all hidden files. Good luck.
OK, I see your point. And yes, I am in the Apple ecosystem, I use TimeMachine, and I can provision any of my Macs to any configuration in a matter of minutes from TimeMachine, depending on the project at hand.
But I do not agree with intended purporse - TimeMachine is transferable to any Mac, that meets the OS criteria.
I don’t think the Roon database and hidden files are a problem with Time Machine if
You shut down Roon Server before making the backup.
Roon is never used on the old machine after cloning (or at least not concurrently with the new one, I guess).
The hidden files and possibly the database store unique identifiers that identify a particular instance of Roon and must be unique, but aren’t after cloning. So this causes problems if both machines try to use Roon because they look like the same machine to the server by UID but have different states and issue conflicting, impossible commands.
You shouldn’t use Time Machine to backup a “live” Roon database because during operation the database is mostly in RAM and Time Machine (or similar) would back up inconsistent disk states. The built-in Roon backup system ensures that the database is fully written to disk before backing it up. (And so does shutting down the server)
Well, I’m going to be the outlier here. My understanding of the problem with using Time Machine to backup a Roon server is if the backup occurs while Roon is updating the database. This of course would be true of any backup software but for some reason Time Machine is the only one normally mentioned. What I do is stop Roon and then make a backup. I then use that to transfer everything to the new computer. So far I’ve done that 4 times without problems, most recently a month ago. For what it’s worth, that’s how I make regular backups of the server as well. Stop Roon, backup, restart Roon. As far as Database backups, Roon makes those to the NAS drive my music is on.
OK, thanks! So, to summarize what can be a safe bet:
Uncheck “start automatically” for Roon Server.
Stop Roon Server.
Do TimeMachine backup (and include all Roon folders, because currently I have them all excluded for live time machine).
Shut down old Mac. If started again later, Roon Server will not start automatically.
Start up new Mac. Give it the same name as old Mac, and reserve the same IP in the router DHCP as old Mac.
Restore from TimeMachine.
If above does not work, plan B is to remove Roon all together from old Mac, then do Time Machine, and continue with a clean install of Roon and restore Roon DB from backup.
That’s what I would try but I don’t think that step 5 matters. Roon must be able to cope with a machine with a given UID suddenly having a different IP and DNS name because this is normal operation when IPs are assigned by DHCP. I suppose this is (part of) why Roon uses a UID in the first place - in a world where IPs never changed and a machine could reliably be recognized by IP, it could simply rely on the IP anyway.
Be sure that you have a good backup.
I would also uninstall Roon on the old machine, just as a reminder for myself. Even if the server does not start, using the GUI would also cause problems. (The GUI on OLD would tell the server to do A and the GUI on NEW would tell the server to do B, at the same time and coming from the same UID).
Clearly so. But I have other reasons to want to keep same IP for other things (services)… so that is why I manage the IP assignments/reservations in my router for some of my devices.
In any case, I will report tomorrow how it went.