macOS and Linux file services interact with Roon in quite different ways. One good example is the long lag between when a NAS reports a new file (minutes to hours) vs when macOS does (virtually immediately).
The link @BlackJack provided (and diagnosed) describes a very similar problem.
It is easy to test. Look among the files with the longest file paths. Are they there or not? If they are not there, does shortening the path make them appear?
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I have made tests trying to accomodate to the suggestions. The results are confusing although good for me because Roon is seeing the new files one way or another.
I have charged the file musics in different ways (from NAS to NAS using DSM and Finder and from Mac to NAS using Finder)
I have used files with very long names (I think) by ading letters to the original name.
I hope tests description to be clear. These are the results:
Test 1a (DSM)
From NAS to NAS Level 1
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Bernstein - West Side Story - Bernstein, Te Kanawa, Carreras, Troyanos, Ollmann (1985-2017) [24-96]
“Spontaneous”……yes
Forced………………//
Test 1b (Finder)
From NAS to NAS Level 1
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Brahms - Violin Concerto & String Sextet No.2 - Isabelle Faust - Harding - (24-44, HM, 2011)
“Spontaneous”……yes
Forced………………//
Test 2a (DSM)
From NAS to NAS Level 2
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzHans Zimmer - The World of Hans Zimmer - A Symphonic Celebration (Live) (2019) [24-44.1]
“Spontaneous”……no
Forced………………yes
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Bernstein - West Side Story - Bernstein, Te Kanawa, Carreras, Troyanos, Ollmann (1985-2017) [24-96]
“Spontaneous”……no
Forced………………yes
Test 2b (Finder)
From NAS to NAS Level 2
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Brahms - Violin Concerto & String Sextet No.2 - Isabelle Faust - Harding - (24-44, HM, 2011)
“Spontaneous”……no
Forced………………yes
Test 3a (Finder)
From Mac to NAS Level 2
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sibelius - Suite Lemminkäinen - La ninfa del bosque - Vänskä, Sinfónica de Lahti (2014) [24-44]
“Spontaneous”……no
Forced………………no
Test 3b (Finder)
From Mac to NAS Level 1
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sibelius - Suite Lemminkäinen - La ninfa del bosque - Vänskä, Sinfónica de Lahti (2014) [24-44]
“Spontaneous”……yes
Forced………………//
Regarding this last test I have to add that when the disc appeared in Roon (in Level 1), the disc was incompletre missing 3 tracks. I edited the “non standard letters” of Folder name, and the tracks appeared (I have had these problems with any player: I think is more a matter of Mac / DSM that cannot read or offer appropriately the name of the files)
It’s important to keep in mind that it isn’t just the length of the filename, but the total length of the whole folder/filename path.
For example:
“//Servidor/music/audivarna/Eigar/filename” is something like 41 characters long. The path is 33 characters (through the last slash) and the filename is 8 characters.
that same file under “/Rimsky - Korsakov…6) [Qobuz 24-96]” is going to be many more characters because that path length is so much longer.
Whenever the total length of the entire file path/filename is greater than 255 characters, you won’t see the file in Roon if it’s on the NAS. Unless that file path/filename is more than ~1000, you will see it in Roon when it’s on the Mac
It’s impossible for us to interpret your results because you do not include the full path name. That is probably why the results are confusing.
If you are not seeing a track that is in a folder where the entire path/filename is greater than 255 characters, this is the problem.
If you are not seeing a track where the entire path/filename is significantly less than 255 characters, it could be another problem.
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I come back to the beginning: when I found the problems, the files that did not appear had much shorter names / paths. Considering the longest music track, 220 characters in Level 2 and 212 characters in Level 1 (counted with Pages)
This is the path:
\Servidor1\Music\Audirvana\Puccini\Puccini - La Boheme - Freni, Pavarotti, Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker (1972 - 2014) [Qobuz 24-96]\24_Puccini La Boheme Act 3 - Dunque e proprio finita!..Addio, dolce svegliare
And with today files, I have 301 characters in Level 2 where Roon could not see it any way and 292 characters in Level 1 where it did appear “spontaneously” (always counting the track with the longest name):
//Servidor/Music/Audirvana/Sibelius/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sibelius - Suite Lemminkäinen - La ninfa del bosque - Vänskä, Sinfónica de Lahti (2014) [24-44]/01 - Lemminkainen Suite, Op.22 - I. Lemminkainen and the Maidens of the Island
Apparently, the number of characters is not the explanation.
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Thank you for this real example of a problematic path.
Just in case you didn’t know:
Not using characters documented as to avoid in file and folder names might help too.
https://kb.roonlabs.com/Skipped_Files#Special_Characters
https://kb.roonlabs.com/FAQ:_Some_of_my_files_aren’t_showing_up_in_Roon#Special_Characters
You can still use them in the metadata of your files.
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Ok, I did not know about those characters. I guessed so because Synology DSM does not accept some characters.
But this file has none of these “forbidden characters”. Furthermore, it has less than 255 characters and Roon discovered it with a forced rescanning when I moved the music disc file from a non watched file within NAS.
Before that Roon was not able to see it: when the file was written in NAS from Finder / Mac
The exclamation mark (!) is not in the list but can (doesn’t have too) be problematic. Also points that not separate the file type from the file name might lead to confusion. I would try without these for troubleshooting.
Which “this file”? The example I cited above doesn’t end with a file type indicator (like .flac, .wav, .alac, …) and so it’s unclear how much more characters are contained in the the total path.
Notes:
There are differences between what a filesystem allows and what a network transfer protocol like SMB/CIFS allows and for the same network protocol different implementations exist which may have differing limits (Apple: SMBX, Linux: SAMBA, …).
Your NAS might introduce it’s own limitations too:
https://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/software_spec/storage_technology
https://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/software_spec/file_services#file_services_top
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Understood. When finding this problems I will look for “non-standard” characters.
I did deliberately not write it: it is .flac what should be added. For the time being all the files that I am testing are FLAC
And regarding your Notes: I start realizing there is no simple answer to my problem.
I’ve got a lot of homework 
Roon is a lot to learn. But the more one puts into in, the more one benefits.
The community is here to help when you need it.
Good luck.
All the use that I have made tint now and the “problems” that I have encountered are solved following your advices. So far so good.
Thank you.
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That’s great news Juan! Thanks for letting us know. It is helpful for users that run into similar issues in the future.
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