QNAP Folder Structure Issues

Hello Kirsten,


You are exactly right and some of the volume settings needed correction. After selecting the correct device I set appropriate levels and produced sound. It’s quite difficualt to get audio levels correct when there are multiple versions of audio output device in competition and apparently interacting.

I also believe there is a problem with the library structure and files as follows:

  1. Multipe versions of my attached devices keep apearing unexpectedly. I do nothing and multiple devices appear. The second image (from the top) is copied from my iPad. The HDA Intel PCH device is the same as that shown on the Roon Server installed on my QNAP drive.
  2. My music library now contains recordings in triplicate-see image No.1. I recall that I copied the file

    shown in the File station images attached (3 and 4). I am quite sure I did this only once but it did make things happen.
  3. There is no sign of Roon Radio working.

Thanks for your help which has brought an immeidate improvement,

Best wishes,

Geoff

Thanks Geoff,

I have corected this successfully. There is a fuller reply plus other detail in my response to Kirsten.

Best wishes,

Geoff

Hi @Geoff!

From the way you describe the multiples suddenly appearing, we need to look at how your watched folders are set up. Have you noticed that the interval between the triplicates appearing is roughly the same as your backup schedule?

Let’s take a look at Settings > Storage, where your watched folders sit. We want to see whether you have any watched folders that contain other copies of your database, like an older backup. Some people store their backup files within their watched folder (I mean, it’s called Music, right?), which leads Roon to scan the contents of the primary folder and then the contents of the folder within, and so on. I suspect we may find 2 such stacked folders within your watched folders. Fortunately, if that’s the case, the solution is simple - remove those backups from the file structure. Store them on a separate device, if you can, just for maximum safety.

If this isn’t what you find, please share a screenshot of the Storage page and another from within your computer, showing the whole file structure and we’ll take another look.

A post was split to a new topic: Setting Volume Levels

Oh, one more question. You’re saying that Roon Radio is still not working for you? Can we start from the relative beginning on that one? I thought you were seeing a signal playing and it was just the speaker settings that were the issue.

So, to jump into this topic, can you clarify for me: are you seeing the option to select Roon Radio from the tracks you’re playing? Are you still seeing the signal but getting no sound?

Hello Kirsten,
Thanks for your emails. I am working on a response and will reply shorlty.

All the best,

Geoff

Hi Kirsten
Thanks again for your assistance. I have added a shot showing the location of my storage page.


I cannot see any backup within this folder and do not think there is one because i had not set one up. To correct this I have set up a new regular backup to another NAS. This has worked OK and I have veriifed that the backup is present.

I have uploaded a shot of my storage page and a second shot which I believe to be the music folder. I changed the names only of some folders when I removed any references to Sooloos. Please note that I did not create the directory structure that you see or carry out any edits within it. All I have changed is the name of the music folder to Library.

I shall now move on to your second email.

All the best,

Geoff

Thanks for the screenshots, @Geoff. It appears that you do have multiple, nested watched folders, so let’s take care of that and your multiples should go away:

  • On your Storage screen, remove the top path and leave the 2nd one (that drills down to Library).
  • For backups, using a different NAS is an excellent idea, just make sure that it’s completely outside any Library heirarchy in case you use files on that NAS within Roon!

I await your reply on the other issue!

Hi Kirsten,
The situation is that Roon radio will not play and there is no sound. Yes I can see the signal trace but no souond emerges.

Regards,

Geoff


Hi Kirsten,
Here is a shot of what I think is my music data base. I believe it will work wonders and I do not want to get things wrong.

The folder name is a long string highlighted in orange It seems to be a sub-folder of the next level up called library. Do you want me to move it to the next level up called Datavol1 and do I just leave the other folders on the same level where they are?

Best wishes,

Geoff

Good morning, @Geoff !

If you’re seeing the signal trace, I would assume for the moment that it’s actually playing and the problem is elsewhere. Trouble is, that doesn’t suggest any other avenues straight off. So to be sure, let’s have you send me screenshots with Roon Radio playing (silently):

  1. The screen where you start Roon Radio (Albums or tracks, for example). I’d like to see the track that’s playing and the time bar at the bottom, as well as the zone it’s playing to.
  2. In Settings > Audio, please open up the device settings for the zone you’re playing to. I’d like to double-check everything.

I’m also going to do a huddle with my teammates and see if we can brainstorm other likely issues if the screenshots don’t suggest anything right off-hand.

Best,
Kirsten

Hi @Geoff ,

This is Noris from the Roon Labs Support team here, @kirsten forwarded your case my way for review.

I’m seeing a few issues with your setup here that we should correct so that you have a stable experience in Roon.

First and foremost, it looks like you are scanning your entire QNAP drive, which is not ideal behavior as it can cause issues if you have Roon scanning aRoon backup or the QNAP recycle bin.

I suggest that we proceed in the following way:

Underneath the DataVol1 drive, please create a new folder called Roon and underneath the Multimedia folder please create a folder called Music

  1. Please try to run a search on your QNAP and locate any music files on the QNAP, you can do this by searching for .FLAC/.MP3/Other format files via the File Station. Once you have located where your music files are stored, please move them in their entirety to the newly-created Multimedia/Music folder.

  2. Access your RoonServer configuration page on the QNAP, and press the “Change database location button” and specify the location of the newly-created DataVol1/Roon folder, this will set up a fresh Roon database. This menu should look something like this:

  1. Set up the fresh database and then on the “Add your Music” tab, make sure that only Multimedia or Multimedia/Music is specified or add it as a folder if it is not:

  2. Continue with the setup and enable your audio devices. If you decide to have backups run on this QNAP, please do not store them under the Multimedia folder, as Roon would automatically be scanning this folder and having Roon scan the backup folder can cause issues.

Hope this helps, but if you get stuck along the way, just let us know and we can clarify, thanks!

Hello Norris,

Thanks for the email. Please see uploaded images as follows:

  1. Images from Library sub-folders within “library” as highlighted.



  2. I attempted to find music folders as you propose using various search strings within the file station search such as *.flac, mp3 and *.FLAC and “music” from the drop down box… Nothing appeared from the search. The only result I got was searching for “any” when I got > 10,000 results of an undefined category.
    I next tried using the advanced search within file station using the drop down box for “music” as well as the above search commands. Finally I looked at multi-media properties. I can find loads of files that I suspect are FLAC files because that is mostly all I use but nothing positively indicating that a file was a music file. You can see this in top image.

  3. I am wondering if the QNAP search is unable to recognise Roon encoded files that do not have a normal suffix such as .flac etc

  4. I have also found that a folder entitled ffmpeg is empty.

  5. I do NOT think loads of material has been deleted becase music was playing up to two weeks ago since when nothing has happened. i also have found a folder full of music covers.

Where do we go from here?

Best wishes,

Geoff

Hello Norris and Kirsten,


I have been working on your latest suggestions as follows:

  1. I have created backups on a different NAs to that housing the Roon music library including learning how to use and creating a m yQNAP cloud data base. This has all worked fine.
  2. Deleting backups on the QNAP drive used for my QNAP music data base.
  3. Finding to my great alarm that there are further backups within the actual library. This is highlighted in the attached screen shot. How can this have happened!! I most certainly have never copied anything into this folder. Should I delete all of these additional backups and then proceed. I do nto wish to delete duplicate backups from within the music library until I am certain it is the right way forward.

Regards,

Geoff

Hi Geoff, Noris and Kirsten have filled me in on this issue and I wanted to reach out.

It looks like your QNAP is set up in a way that is definitely not ideal for Roon. A couple things I notice:

  • Your backups don’t seem to be contained in a RoonBackups folder. This should be happening by default, wherever you’re backup up Roon
  • It looks like your RoonServer folder, which contains your library, is within your Library folder, which you are using as a watched folder

I think we should take a step back here and discuss how Roon was set up to begin with. Can you walk through how you installed Roon? Did you follow the instructions outlined here?

Hello Dylan,
Many thanks for your help. You should know that before Roon was installed Sooloos was working for a while. I have looked at the setup procedure from your link and can recall setting up a shared folder but I do not recall creating a file called ‘ROON_DEBUG_EXTERNAL_LOG.txt’. I also do not recall manually getting Roon servers log files.

I am expecting to have to rebuild the entire structure and this is why I have created multiple backups. These will not be structurally correct but may be useful for importing music files. My preference would be to start over and be confident that I achieve a correct structure.

Best wishes,

Geoff

Hi @Geoff

I think rebuilding is definitely the right way to go, so let’s start from the beginning. The key here is that the Roon, backup, and library are all need to be in separate locations. By doing this, we should be on the right track. Plan on calling all your folders NEW_ * so we can distinguish between them and the old ones and make sure we don’t miss any.

Let’s start by reinstalling Roon.
Create a brand new folder at the Root level and call it New_Roon.

There have been some recent minor updates to the QNAP app, so let’s make sure you’ve got the most recent version. Go to the QNAP App Center and navigate to the Multimedia section. Click on the “Install”-button below the Roon Server icon, and you’re done.

You’ll need to create a new folder for this database, so go to “Shared Folders” and choose the QNAP “control panel.” Make sure you name the folder starting with “New” For example, New_Server_database will work nicely.

Next, you’ll set a location for the new database folder. Click on Configure and you’ll be able to specify a folder. Put it in New_Roon at the root level

Now you want to set your watched folder with your music files. Locate and import all your music files to a new folder called New_Music directly under the New_Roon folder. Be especially careful that nothing aside from music files are in this folder.

Create another folder within New_Roon and call it New_Backups. Make sure it is a root folder and not within another folder.

Next, go into Settings > Backups and set Roon up to do scheduled backups. You’ll need to point to the folder you’ve just created when it asks for the backup location.

This is what your file structure should look like now:
image

Let me know if anything is unclear. Once you’re done, can you send a screenshot so we can make sure we don’t see anything odd? (include the contents of the New_Music folder, please)

Thank you Kirsten,
I have created new folders as instructed. I want to produce a folder architecture view as requested and so I can first check things myself.

  1. In order to set folder location you say “Click on Configure”. It is possible to edit folder properties within Control Panel/shared folders and set a path which would achieve the same thing. Is this what you mean? If not, how do I configure the folder location as there is otherwise no “configure” option. There is only an option to set properties.
  2. How do you create a folder structure view to represent the file structure.
  3. FYI I have my QNAP set to auto-update so this should result in the latest firmware being installed.

Regards,

Geoff

Sure thing, @Geoff! Please give me another day or two - I don’t personally have a QNAP to double-check the steps within that particular UI and make sure I’m not leading you in the wrong direction, so I’m verifying my response before I send it!

Hi Geoff,
in addition to @kirsten‘s great reply, I’d like to add some more QNAP specific info.
In general Roon’s database, your media files and the database backups should have their own folder.

On NAS devices, I’d recommend to create a dedicated shared folder for each of them.
This can be done in the QNAP control panel. You’ll find an icon for managing shared folder there:

Click on Create and select Shared Folder

Enter the name of the new shared folder. Start with the database folder. You can pick the name “new_roon” as kirsten suggested, but the important thing is, it that you know what it is used for.
On my QNAP devices, I have picked the folder names “RoonServer-Database”, “RoonServer-Backups” and “Music” for my media files. But this is up to you.

If you have multiple volumes on your qnap device, select the volume that should host the shared folder in the “Disk Volume” section. Leave all other options untouched and click Create

Repeat the steps for the other 2 shared folders for Roon Server Backups and your Music files.

To prevent Roon Server from scanning the QNAP recycle bin of your music shared folder, I’d recommend creating a subfolder there. This can easily be done in QNAP FileStation. Open it and select your newly created shared folder for your music files. Click on the “+folder” icon on the top bar and select Folder:

I usually have my music files stored in a folder with my first name (as I don’t like mixing my music files with the ones from my girlfriend…)

All required folders are available now.

So next you’ll need to let Roon Server know about your new Roon Server database folder. Open the Roon Server administration in your QNAP webpanel.
Click the Change database location button and select your new Roon Server database folder. Click on Save afterwards.

You will be asked to restart Roon Server to use your new database location. Confirm this by clicking Restart Roon Server now.

You should be able to login with your remote Roon client to Roon Server on your QNAP with a new clean database.

You will be asked to enter your Roon credentials. Just enter them and click Login
In the next step, you can specify your music folder. Click on Add folders… and select your Music folder (and subfolder). In my case, this is /Music/Christopher.

Follow the guide for the next steps (Qobuz / TIDAL, Setup Audio devices).

Everything is set up now. You can start moving your music files to your specified and new Music folder.

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