iMac Retina 5k, 27-inch, 2017, 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 64GB RAM
masOS Monterey 12.6.3
7 external drives connected via usb & thunderbolt, Synology NAS connected via ethernet.
Networking Gear & Setup Details
D-Link router, Ethernet connection
Connected Audio Devices
internal Mac speakers, library on USB connected external drives.
Number of Tracks in Library
250,000+ tracks
Description of Issue
After not using Roon for a few hours, and having the main window hidden or minimised, when wanting to use again, Roon is unresponsive, constant spinning beachball and requires a re-start. This is a constant issue. Energy Saver settings are Turn display off after 10 minutes, Prevent Mac from sleeping when display is off, Wake for network access, Enable power Nap.
Library on 2 external drives connected via usb.
“You have too many tracks, you need to divide the music files into multiple folders, and use the folders as storage in the storage.”
Thank you, can anyone from Roon verify this?
Does directory structure effect performance?
I’m currently storing Albums in 2 main folders, so each contains about 15k album subfolders.
After I upgraded to 2.0 two months ago, various problems occurred. Before, there were only two folders, with a total of about 4.5t of music files. Resetting the database by repeated has no effect either. The main problem is that the playback freezes and often fails to connect to the database. The previous problem disappeared by separating multiple folders as storage. Now it is very stable and responsive.
This is correct and has to do with how Roon treats file structure. In a simplified schematic of astandard music storage branching file structure, a directory will resemble Main Folder → Artist Folder → Album Folders. Thus, speaking generally, Roon will anticipate subdirectories to contain around 10-100 tracks. Core algorithms (analysis, importing, etc) are optimized for that range of tracks in a subdirectory.
Obviously, there’s tremendous flexibility built into this calculation. Subdirectories can have dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of tracks (think playlists, etc.) without breaking or slowing down Roon. But consider the average track count per subdirectory in your Watched Folders. When users have large libraries - particularly libraries that are stressing local storage or Core operating system capacities - then subdirectories with a huge average track count is the straw that breaks the camels back.
Thank you for the info Connor, I know it’s very system dependant, but is there a track count that you would recommend to stay below in a subdirectory? The file structure I have at the moment is Main Folder → Album, which I find provides the greatest flexibility for searching and navigating in the finder, but not great for Roon when you’ve got 30K+ albums.
I’m having the same issue as this user in terms of UI behaviour, both are on older iMacs. He has 4k tracks in his library, so it may not be library size dependant issue.
Another data point that might be of relevance – I have to hide/minimise the Roon window when using Photoshop, having the Roon window open behind Photoshop interferes with the cursor in Photoshop, it constantly flickers between the Photoshop tool state cursor, and the standard black arrow Finder cursor.
I have not experienced this behaviour with other apps running behind Photoshop.
