Moving files from internal hard drive to new, larger internal hard drive

Roon Core Machine

Roon Nucleus B - bought new 4/22 - 2 TB internal hard drive

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Ethernet connection to modem for Nucleus and iMac.

Connected Audio Devices

USB to DAC

Number of Tracks in Library

60,000 tracks

Description of Issue

My 2 TB internal hard drive on my Nucleus is filling up. My plan is to buy a 4 TB SSD and swap it into the Nucleus.

What are the steps involved to copy the music files from my existing 2 TB internal hard drive to the new 4 TB hard drive?

Does this make sense: I install the new 4 TB hard drive in the Nucleus and format it. I connect the old 2 TB drive to my iMac via USB through the device that came with that hard drive. Then with Finder, copy the files from the Data → Storage → InternalStorage → Roon Imports folder on the 2 TB hard drive to the same folder in the new 4 TB hard drive?

I have a backup of all these files on my iMac, but I have made some improvements to the metadata through Roon, so I would love to be able to copy the existing files to the new, larger internal hard drive. That way I can keep all the good info in the existing database rather than starting from scratch copying from my iMac.

Surely someone else way smarter than me about this stuff has done this. I looked on support and in the community for guidance, but came up dry. If I missed it, shoot me the URL.

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks!

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When you say you’ve improved the metadata, was that done with the roon tools or outside of roon with an external program?

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Good question: I made changes through Roon, mainly via the Album editor. I did not make the same changes in the files on my iMac. I got lazy and was so enamored with the Roon and Nucleus, I was not thinking long term.

The idea I had, which I hope will work, would be to put the music files on the new larger hard drive and then, with the new hard drive in the Nucleus, import through Roon the last backup of the database of the old smaller hard drive.

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The files themselves aren’t actually edited in roon tools just the roon library view of the files, that’s why I asked.

To copy the files to the larger disc, I would take out the old disc and put in the new one and format it in the nucleus.
Then attach both discs to the Mac and do the copy there rather than trying to do it over the network.
I don’t know about Mac but on a pc I use this sort of temporary connector.
https://amzn.eu/d/gMVadrW

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Roon NEVER alters you files !!. Any editing you did is stored in the Roon DB so before you do anything Back It Up (I know you do this routinely anyway).

While @ged_hickman1 is correct , you may need some form of USB enclosure for the new drive to do the transfer external to the Nucleus.

When I set up my NUC with a new 4Tb SSD , my files were on a 4Tb drive within my desktop PC , I did the transfer over the network . I would …

  1. Back Up the Roon Db
  2. Ensure the 2 Tb SSD is backed up to ANO Drive on your network, keep the same folder structure (Important)
  3. Put the new SSD into the Nucleus
  4. Go To the Web Admin page and Format the new drive using the Nucleus OS.
  5. Reboot the Nucleus (may not be needed but it never hurts)
  6. Copy and Paste the 2Tb Files exactly “as they are” , same file structure etc to the new Drive . That way all your new paths will be identical to your old paths . These paths are already stored in the Roon Db along with any changes you have made to metadata so they should automagically sort themselves out
  7. WAIT , it may take a while (my 3Tb took around 20 hours)

You should then be good to go

If you have any issues you can restore you’re Roon db as of step 1). You shouldn’t have to reimport anything .I didn’t all the paths were sorted on the transfer

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Thanks @ged_hickman1 and @Mike_O_Neill for your guidance. You have been immensely helpful. After formatting the new 4 TB drive, having both it and the 2 TB connected to my iMac as external drives, outside of the Nucleus, is a better way to go than my original idea of having the new one in the Nucleus. I will make a fresh backup of the database first, before installing the new SSD for formatting. I will remove the new drive and connect both as external drives to my Mac. I will plan on a full day for copying. It helps to hear from people with a complete understanding of how this stuff works. Thanks, Tim

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Hmm. The internal dri es are formatted ext4 on a nucleus. I thought that MacOS doesn’t mount them natively.

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Not natively.

–MD

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Thanks @Rugby and @MikeD . . .

The macFUSE solution that I found online warns that writing to a ext4 drive will likely lead to a loss of data. So that sounds bad.

Given this, I could borrow a PC from my wife’s company for the copying. Would that avoid this problem?

Thanks for your help.

I would copy the backup over the network.

–MD

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Sounds like @MikeD 's suggestion is the only way. Problem is I lose the work I have put into the metadata stored on the current Roon database.

One more idea: a computer running Linux. Would that mount two external hard drives and allow me to copy the old Nucleus internal hard drive to the new?

Thanks much.

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If you transfer the music files only, which will be on a different hard drive than your database, then all of your edits should be intact.

–MD

Let us know how it goes!

Wes

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