Hi, I’m using my Roon Server on a NUC, Linux Ubuntu desktop. On the same NUC I’ve a Plex Server.
I’d like to move the “Music” Folder from my Synology Nas to an external HDD, attached to the above mentioned NUC. How can I mount, forever, the hdd, in order to let the Linux System know that the disk is on?
I’d like to buy a 4TB disk, any raccomandation (SDD or not?). How can I do to backup the hdd, then?
Thanks.
With an external storage device, you have no end of choice with regards to what devices will work.
You just need to look for USB3.2 gen1 (aka USB 3.0) or better connectivity. You do not need to worry about the performance of the drive within the unit because all modern storage devices will be more than adequate for use as a music streaming source (unless you intend to stream different extreme high res [e.g. 768kHz/32 bit] audio files to multiple zones).
You can buy off the shelf USB HDDs that you just attach to the NUC quite cheap - e.g. ~£100 for a seagate 4TB USB HDD.
Many of the 2.5 inch form factor based USB drives will work fine powered just from the USB port. you can get such devices with HDD’s up to 5TB from the likes of WD and Seagate. If you got the SSD router, you can get capacities up to 8TB but these are much more expensive.
However, if you go to the larger 3.5in based USB HDD’s, you can get much larger capacities but such drives usually come with a separate power supply because they draw too much power for standard USB ports. I have such a device with a capacity of 18TB that I use as a first stage backup for my NAS.
Alternatively, you can build your own by buying an internal SATA HDD or SSD and then buying a USB enclosure to fit.
With regard to HDD vs SDD, both have the performance required for music storage. HDD’s are much cheaper at the larger capacities that you are talking about. SSD’s have the advantage of being totally silent. This may be important to you if the NUC is in the listening room.
With regard to getting the external drive to be automounted, there is a guide for Ubuntu 22.04 here:
Some of the utilities used were not installed in my (non-ubuntu) linux distrubution by default so you may need to do, for example, “sudo apt install util-linux” to get, lsblk.
Thanks, I’m not so skilled, so the command line could be very dangerous. There’s no way to mount the disk using a visual interface?
On the Ubuntu Desktop version, USB disks should be auto-mounted when you plug them in. The mount point in the file system is under /media/<username>
You should get an icon on the desktop for every mounted disk partition, and an entry in the side bar of the graphical file manager as well.
You can unmount and remount them from the graphical file manager. There is also the Disks app for additional manipulation (formatting etc), and there is an unmount/mount option there as well.
On the Ubuntu Server version (which you don’t seem to have), USB devices are not automounted and there is no graphical GUI by default in the first place.
I use these drives with Ubuntu. They’re plug ‘n’ play and will automount to a folder in /media/your-username/. It plugs directly into the NUC’s USB C port.
If you use the drive alongside Windows, the drive is already prepared.
Thank you, I’ll definitely try.
Ok, I tried with a random usb stick and it worked. Another option could be to insert the disc inside the NUC? What do you suggest? Would it work the same way or are there any particular commands? Is it a good thing to have the music inside the NUC?
Congrats. There’s no inherent benefit in internal disks, an external USB disk is just as fine and has the advantage of portability if needed.
If you use an internal disk, you will probably want to create an static mount point. The instructions are here (there’s a lot of good documentation for Ubuntu):
Before you decide, think about the way you will get music on the drive, and how you will update your library. If you’re more likely to copy files directly from another PC, USB may be a better option.
Likewise, if the drive is internal, you’ll have to copy and update media files over the network using Samba or SSH / Rsync, for example.
Either way, you can mount both in the same way. The only choice is how you format the USB drive; use Ext4 for the internal drive (since you run a GUI, use GParted to achieve this.
For mounting, take this approach on the command line after the drive is formatted.
# Identify the drive, and note the device name
lsblk
# List devices by UUID
ls -Flai /dev/disk/by-uuid
# Copy the UUID
# Auto mount at startup to desired location
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
# Add this line at the end of the file, and save
# Substitute UUID with that copied, and change path to suit
UUID=5ebcaaf0-e098-43b9-beef-1f8d8251135e /srv/samba/music defaults ext4 0 1
sudo mkdir -p /srv/samba/music
# Substitute user with your username
sudo chown user /srv/samba/music
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo mount -a
If you opt for a USB formatted using exFAT, substitute ext4 with exfat.