Managing same music library in two different locations

Hi there,

I have been reviewing the forum and found no answer for the following use case.

My Roon install is as follows: Roon Core installed in a 2014 MacbookAir with 8gb RAM, music library is sitting in a Synology NAS and managed by Roon as a watched folder.

I spent quite a number of weekends in another house and would like to keep using Roon taking my MacbookAir with me. Plan is to ask Roon to use the same music library which will now be copied in an external 2Tb USB drive (which is a backup exact copy of the NAS folder watched by Roon). I will point Roon to the music folder at the USB drive and ask to use it as a watched folder. I would like to avoid ending up with folders duplicated and all my edits, favourites, etc information lost in the process.

In order to avoid the issues above, do I need to disable or remove in Roon, access to the Synology NAS watched folder if the NAS is no longer in the network (I would be in a different place)? Now back at home with the Synology NAS available, do I need to disable/remove in Roon access to the USB watched folder? Or will Roon automatically detect whether Synology NAS is in the network and use the watched folder in the USB drive (and viceversa)?

Great if someone can help

Thanks!

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If the two sources have identical content then you should be able to do what you want here.

I would go into storage settings and disable the NAS just before you head away.
When you get to your 2nd place, I would just enable the USB drive.

Roon will do a scan and after that you will be OK. Edits and tags etc will be preserved.

There is no auto function here for Roon to know where you are, so, just enable/disable as and when you need.

Hope that helps.

So clear and so helpful!!

Many thanks ncpl and have a great weekend!

I understand your goal here, and this type of use case is something we’re planning to support in the future as a first class kind of feature. For the moment, it’s not really supported, so it can be a little more tricky. I want to give you the information you need to do this right, and also to correct one piece of information here to make sure this goes as expected.

Roon tracks files using the audio content, so the system can track files even if you update your tags or even your file name. If you’ve made edits, added songs to playlists, built up a play history, or marked tracks as favorites, all of that information will be attached to the file’s audio content, which in most cases should ensure your edits are not lost.

The only thing to be careful of is if you have two copies of a song in Roon’s database at any given time. This is allowed (of course), and in that case Roon will be tracking two copies of your files independently, meaning Copy 1 could have all your edits, playlist info, etc, and Copy 2 could have nothing, or a completely different set of edits.

So, the point is, if you’re simply disabling the drive, you’re not actually removing Copy 1, if that makes sense. So, with the first copy of your library disabled, you risk introducing a 2nd copy of everything into your library at this stage:

You can try it, but my recommendation (after first ensuring you’re backing up your database) would be to actually remove the watched folder when you’re at the second location, before adding the second copy thus only keeping one copy of your library online at a time. It feels more scary, I know, but just be aware that having two copies of your music in Roon at a time risks Roon thinking you actually intend to have two copies, as opposed to Roon thinking you’re simply moving your library back and forth between two drives.

Hopefully that makes sense, but let me know if you have any questions @Alvaro_Iza

Hi @ Mike, I hadn’t considered the two as live when just disabled. Sounds safer to remove as you describe. It’s a bit brutal but at least it will work until the other functionality to support better this is out.

Very many thanks Mike. Crystal clear to me and looking forward to Roon’s outstanding skills to deliver on this particular use case.

Well done and keep up with the good work.

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