ROCK
Intel NUC 3i 8MB RAM, 128GB HD Linux Toshiba,
1 TB external USB drive (NFTS)
Networking Gear & Setup Details
Connected Audio Devices
Number of Tracks in Library
Description of Issue
After NUC reboot USB drive not seen by ROCK. Last time this happened I had a Windows PC so I could run chkdsk /f following which the disk was recognised again - I think this is something to with Roon being picky about NTFS drives not being properly unmounted?
This time I do not have a Windows PC only Mac. Is there a way of sorting this with a Mac?
I have spent days and days getting all my CDs ripped to the disk and do not want to have to do it again. This seems to be a Roon originated issue and I rather resent paying ££££ and not be able to use it properly…
I don’t think you can with the Mac’s built-in NTFS driver as this is read-only. In any case, NTFS is a poorly documented, proprietary, highly complicated beast, and it seems unwise to let any code make changes to fix broken structures in NTFS other than code written by the original authors, i.e., the NTFS people at Microsoft.
Paragon Software has spent a lot of effort on reverse-engineering NTFS in order to write reliable and fast drivers for other operating systems. The new NTFS driver code in Linux (as used by Roon OS now) was a generous donation by Paragon to Linux, and they offer a commercial driver for Mac (a free 30 day test version is available).
It seems that this might be able to do it (but I think I would still do it in Windows if I have the option):
The real solution for your problem is to switch your disk to a different format than a woefully inadequate one for removable disks that are used with other OSes than Windows.
It really isn’t. Roon recommends specifically to use something else with Roon OS.
Free OSes like Linux and, e.g., the people at Paragon made amazing progress at making this work reasonably in the absence of Microsoft providing proper documentation, but there are limitations. You can avoid the issue by properly shutting down ROCK/Nucleus before removing the disk. People don’t do this reliably (or use the proper removal procedure on Windows either), so Roon chose the safe route to avoid disk corruption.
Reformatting the disk will, of course, remove everything on it. However, you should have a backup somewhere else, anyway.
I do realise that you are only trying to help but….it doesn’t.
I use Roon because when it works it is a brilliant way to manage Music. However, disks suddenly not being recognised is a really unhelpful. I am very, very far from being interested in disk formatting and as Roon does not expressly say not to use a format I should be able to expect it to work.
Roon sells itself as a great way to manage music libraries- when it works it but it seems to need its users to be IT experts - I am not and don’t see why I should be.
I researched and posted a solution for you that should work on Mac, and recommended an approach (or two) that will prevent the issue in the future. I consider that helping.
Then use suitable file systems like the ones that Roon recommends to use.
Roon (and Linux and other non-Microsoft OSes) can’t do anything about Microsoft using a proprietary file system that is undocumented (solely in the interest of making it difficult for other operating systems to work with it). It is a miracle and the result of thousands and thousands of hours of volunteer work that it works as much as it does with non-Microsoft OSes. Microsoft didn’t lift a finger for it.
File systems are incredibly complex. The common assumption among file system developers is that it takes a decade to mature a new file system, and that’s when you designed it and have the code for it.
