Roon database backups not found (ref#8K91BJ) [Ticket in]

[Saturn94]

What’s happening?

· Other

How can we help?

· None of the above

Other options

· Other

Describe the issue

Roon database backups not found

Describe your network setup

Salkstream III streamer, Asus router, all connected by ethernet cables, running the latest production build

EDIT Nov 8, 2025:

My experiments seem to confirm that “Scheduled Backups” and “Force Backup Now” no longer place backups in the RoonBackups folder unless specifically selected. I don’t believe this is normal behavior, and certainly isn’t what I previously experienced for over 9 years.

Experiment 1: In Scheduled Backups, just select the drive (splayer > drive, as I’ve always done since 2016). Run Scheduled Backups and Force Backup Now. Roon doesn’t place the backups in the RoonBackups folder, so they can’t be found by Find Backups.

Experiment 2: Changed the path in Scheduled Backups to specifically select the RoonBackups folder (splayer > drive > RoonBackups). Run Scheduled Backups and Force Backups Now. Roon correctly places the backups in the RoonBackups folder and now they are found by Find Backups.

In the past, I only had to select the drive in Scheduled Backups and Roon would automatically place backups in the existing RoonBackups folder or create a new RoonBackups folder if none existed and place all backups in that folder.

If I just run Backup Now, with just the drive selected as I normally have, Roon will place the backup in the RoonBackups folder as it should, and it can be seen by Find Backups (just selecting the drive in Find Backups). This is how Scheduled Backups/Force Backup Now should work (and did work for many years).

I’m pretty convinced this is a bug introduced in Roon, though I don’t know exactly when it reared its ugly head. Post #21 by @Wade_Oram has great information on when the bug may have been introduced (appears to have occurred about March 2025). Wade Oram also confirmed he is also experiencing the same incorrect Scheduled Backups behavior as me.

There are much more detail and screenshots in the below posts if you want to read through them.

[Jim_F (Minimalist)]

That’s been broken for a while. Try clicking on Scheduled backups/View/Clean/restore

[Saturn94]

More detailed information:

I have a USB drive directly connected to the Salkstream III for Roon database backups. Recently, Roon cannot find recent database backups under the following conditions, even though Roon reports the backups were successful:

1. Using “Scheduled Backups”
2. Using “Force Backup Now”

If I use “Backup Now”, Roon is able to find the backup.

Some screenshots…

Scheduled Backup shows successful backup Nov 6th as scheduled

However, it does not show in Find Backups

If I run Force Backup Now, it still cannot be found even though Roon reports backup successful

If I run Backup Now, the backup reports successful and can be found (see Nov 7 backup found).

I tried rebooting the Salkstream/Roon, but it didn’t make any difference. Also, I am running the latest Roon Server production build 1582 (remotes are also on their latest production builds).

I’m wondering if this problem is related to this closed Support Thread of mine
Database backups to USB HDD missing (ref#BEJE1B) - Support - Roon Labs Community

It seems any backups, even much older ones like in my other Support thread (I had weekly backups going back 6 months disappear!) created by the Scheduled Backups tool are no longer visible to Roon.

[Saturn94]

I remember you recommended that in your post on my other Support thread (thank you!). Unfortunately, that still does not work for me.

Any idea if Roon is aware and working on this problem? Does this mean I will have to perform manual backups until Roon acknowledges and fixes this issue? I guess I need to put a reminder on my calendar to perform weekly backups (that use to happen automatically ) using Backup Now.

I take it you still perform Scheduled Backups and are able to locate them using the method you suggested?

As important as this function is, I’m quite surprised I’ve not seen any other mention of it. It certainly wasn’t mentioned by Roon Support in my other Support thread.

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

@Saturn94

As important as this function is, I’m quite surprised I’ve not seen any other mention of it.

They are listed for me, both my last scheduled daily backup on a USB disk and my last scheduled one every three days to the NAS. And all other ones in the list of past backups as far as I see.

Both in Find Backups and in Scheduled backups/View/Clean/restore

(Using ROCK, looking at it in iPad remote, all on Early Access)

[Saturn94]

Thanks.

So, as usual, this affects some but not others.

It’s frustrating because since I started using Roon in 2016, finding backups created by Scheduled Backups was never a problem, and was a lifesaver when my Salkstream’s internal HDD died in 2020.

Thank goodness I also create manual backups to another drive, although just monthly or when there are changes to my local music library, using Backup Now which can be found by Roon.

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

It’s anyway a good idea to create completely separate (not incremental) manual backups after every large change

[Saturn94]

I’m not sure I understand. Are you saying after any large change I should create a backup in a different location that doesn’t have any Roon backups on it?

I’m guessing when I do a manual backup to a drive/folder that has previous backups, Roon just performs an “incremental” backup?

Can the “completely separate manual backup” you suggest simply be to a new/different folder on the same drive as my other backups (as long as there in no other backup in the new/different folder?

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

I create a manual backup into a new separate folder.

Scheduled backups, that go always into the same folder, are incremental, i.e., they record the changes to the previous one. Not necessarily bad, it saves space for frequent backups, but adds an additional thing to go wrong.

So after I make big changes, like extended edit sessions, I create a separate one.

Of course, spreading them to different media never hurts.

[Saturn94]

Do you mind sharing the Scheduled Backup path you use?

Before this issue, I just selected the drive, then Roon created a folder called RoonBackups and placed all backups (both scheduled and manual) in that folder from that point on. If I wanted to do a manual backup, I simply used Backup Now, selected the drive, and Roon would perform a backup in the existing RoonBackups folder.

Looking at the folders now, something has definitely change or gone wrong.

You’ll notice in this screenshot, there is the usual RoonBackups folder and a new folder just under the Recycle folder that I’ve never seen before. That looks like a Roon backup (bunch of random looking characters for the folder name).

Based on the date and time, this new folder looks like the backup Roon created when I used Force Backup Now in the Scheduled Backups tool.

However, looking in the above new folder, I see dates that match the date/time of the automatically scheduled backup, as well as the other backups I tried using Force Backup Now.

When I look into the RoonBackups folder, this is what I see

The first folder matches the date and time of when I tried a backup using Backup Now. I also see a file below it that matches the date and time of the last automatic backup scheduled to be performed by Roon using the schedule I had previously set up in Scheduled Backups.

Ok, I’m trying to wrap my head around this… Does it look like that Scheduled Backups is now placing the performed backups outside the RoonBackups folder, and Find Backups only looks in the RoonBackups folder for available backups?

Using Backup Now, by just selecting the desired drive as I normally do, seems to be placing the performed backup in the RoonBackups folder as it aways has, and Scheduled Backups use to do before this issue popped up.

If the above is correct, this could explain why Roon reports successful backups using Scheduled Backups/Force Backup Now, but they cannot be found by Find Backups.

Am I on the right track?

PS - what is throwing me off is after I fixed my slow USB transfer speed issue (another thread), I used Scheduled Backups, with just the drive selected, to schedule a backup for the next day to test if it was working properly. That backup occurred on schedule and was visible in Find Backups. It may be important to note that since then, I updated Roon to the latest build a few days ago (1582 Production), which may have introduced a new bug?

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

@Saturn94

Do you mind sharing the Scheduled Backup path you use?

Nothing special

@Saturn94

Before this issue, I just selected the drive, then Roon created a folder called RoonBackups and placed all backups (both scheduled and manual) in that folder from that point on.

Yeah same

@Saturn94

If I wanted to do a manual backup, I simply used Backup Now, selected the drive, and Roon would perform a backup in the existing RoonBackups folder.

You can do that but you can also click the Select Location button and choose a different, separate folder. I have lots of those, after every large edit session, back to my first Roon days. Each folder name mentions which changes I made before backing up into this
folder.

About your other questions and screenshots: it’s 1:30 in the morning over here, I’ll postpone looking at this

[Saturn94]

After a bit of testing, this is what I’m seeing, which is definitely a recent change in behavior.

I changed Scheduled Backups to this path.

I then performed Force Backup Now within Scheduled Backups. Now, Find Backups can see the backup (last one on the list dated Nov 7 19:14:15). I can also see the changes made in the existing RoonBackups folder. This time, Roon did not create a new folder/backup outside the existing RoonBackups folder.

To test automatic scheduled backups, I set Scheduled Backups to daily and will check tomorrow to see if the backup occurred and if Find Backups can see it.

To check my sanity, I then performed a backup using Backup Now and just selected the drive as I always have in the past. Roon placed the backup in the RoonBackup folder as it aways did before and Find Backups sees this backup when I just select the drive.

So this is the behavior I’m seeing:

Scheduled Backups/Force Backup Now no longer places backups in the RoonBackups folder unless specifically selected when scheduling backups. This is new behavior.

Backup Now automatically places backups in the RoonBackups folder when just selecting the drive. This is the way it’s behaved since I’ve been using Roon (since 2016)

Find Backups only looks in the RoonBackups folder for backups. I’m guessing this is normal behavior.

[Saturn94]

Thank you so much. I look forward to whenever you get a chance to look at my above post describing what I discovered.

Goodnight!

[Saturn94]

@Saturn94

So this is the behavior I’m seeing:

Scheduled Backups/Force Backup Now no longer places backups in the RoonBackups folder unless specifically selected when scheduling backups. This is new behavior.

If I’m remembering correctly, in the past if I selected the RoonBackups folder on the drive as a backup location (ie, splayer - drive - RoonBackups), Roon created a new RoonBackups folder within the existing RoonBackups folder. This caused an issue which is why I just selected the drive as the destination (ie, splayer - drive).

In other words, in the past, Scheduled Backups/Force Update Now would look for an existing RoonBackups folder in the selected destination. If none was found, it created one and placed the backup there.

Now, it seems Scheduled Backups/Force Backup Now just plops the backup in whatever destination you select (or updates an existing backup in that location) and does not look for an existing RoonBackups folder (nor creates a new RoonBackups folder if none exists) when performing a backup.

Is this the expected behavior now, or is it a bug and Scheduled Backups/Force Update Now should be looking for an existing RoonBackups folder like it did before? I suspect a bug since Scheduled Backups’ placement of backups behaves very different than Backup Now.

[Wade_Oram]

I am using Dietpi rather than ARCHLINUX.

I have a USB drive used for Roon backups mounted at /mnt/USB_NVME_256

This drive already has a RoonBackups folder in it because it is one of my scheduled backup locations.

If I perform a manual backup with the destination set to /mnt/USB_NVME_256, then the backup works fine and actually performs the backup to /mnt/USB_NVME_256/RoonBackups.

However, if I specify /mnt/USB_NVME_256 as the destination of a scheduled backup, things start to go wrong. It says it performs the backup successfully but the backup is not visible within Roon. On the disk I see that, instead of putting the backup in the RoonBackups folder, it has simply created a folder with a GUID style name (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx where x is a hex digit - 0 to 9, a to f) and internally that folder looks like a Roon Database backup.

Conversely, if I explicitly set the scheduled backup location to /mnt/USB_NVME_256/RoonBackups, then the backup works. It is put in the specified folder and it can be found within Roon both using the find backups method and the scheduled backup view - clean/restore method.

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

@Saturn94

Ok, I’m trying to wrap my head around this… Does it look like that Scheduled Backups is now placing the performed backups outside the RoonBackups folder, and Find Backups only looks in the RoonBackups folder for available backups?

Using Backup Now, by just selecting the desired drive as I normally do, seems to be placing the performed backup in the RoonBackups folder as it aways has, and Scheduled Backups use to do before this issue popped up.

If the above is correct, this could explain why Roon reports successful backups using Scheduled Backups/Force Backup Now, but they cannot be found by Find Backups.

Am I on the right track?

Hmm, maybe. But it’s always difficult to guess at such oddities after they happened. If any such things happen to me (usually at work when testing software that changes all the time) I clean them up and try to reproduce them in a controlled environment with controlled steps.

I guess you and Wade did establish some oddities in the subsequent posts.

[Saturn94]

That’s exactly what I am experiencing.

Thanks for confirming it’s not just me and I’m not going crazy!

[Saturn94]

My experiments seem to confirm that Scheduled Backups/Force Backup Now no longer places backups in the RoonBackups folder unless specifically selected. I don’t believe this is normal behavior, and certainly isn’t what I previously experienced for over 9 years.

Experiment 1: Just select the drive (splayer > drive, as I’ve always done since 2016). Run Scheduled Backups and Force Backup Now. Roon doesn’t place the backups in the RoonBackups folder, so they can’t be found by Find Backups.

Experiment 2: Changed the path to specifically select the RoonBackups folder (splayer > drive > RoonBackups). Run Scheduled Backups and Force Backups Now. Roon places the backups in the RoonBackups folder and they are found by Find Backups.

I’m pretty convinced this is a bug introduced in Roon, though I don’t know exactly when it reared its ugly head.

Hopefully, Roon will read this entire thread. I’m concerned whichever Roon tech gets this ticket will just read the first post (or just the first few) because it looks long, then send me on a wild goose chase that goes nowhere.

For now, I’m tempted to stop using Scheduled Backups, even though I found a workaround, and just use Backup Now on a schedule and whenever I make changes. If I continue using Scheduled Backups with my workaround, I’ll have to closely monitor it in case Roon does fix it, at which point my workaround would create new issues (creating a new RoonBackups folder within the existing RoonBackups folder).

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

@Saturn94

Hopefully, Roon will read this entire thread. I’m concerned whichever Roon tech gets this ticket will just read the first post (or just the first few) because it looks long, then send me on a wild goose chase that goes nowhere.

It’s possible to edit the first post and add a straightforward test case with reproduction steps

[Saturn94]

Great suggestion, thanks!