Running Roon on Synology DS920+

First timer here and Roon noob. So I’m trialling Roon for the first time on my Synology DS920+, x2 HDD (RAID 1), 4GB ram, with about 2800 songs. Playing out of my Powernode 2i. Both NAS and Powernode 2i are connected via ethernet to a switch. Everything seems to run fine, but when researching I’ve read how the DB should be on an SSD or the 920+ is too slow, etc… I’m curious, am I missing something? I suppose for my purpose it’s fine but I’m trying to understand what am I losing out on with this setup over a recommended setup? Is there any long term negative effect by keeping this setup?

Thanks in advance for anyones thoughts on this!

HDD also in a NAS are too slow. Attach either one to the USB3 port at the rear or add one to the normal slots if there still is space. Roon db has to live on a SSD

i had my roon database on a older Synology 1813+ for some time, but with much more albums than you.
no SSD inside, and it worked fine.
only searching took some time cause much files.
now i have a Intel NUC as Rock server and files still on the Nas
i think your Synology needs no SSD if searching time is ok with the number of your files

It’s fine for the files (your music) but Roon strongly recommend a SSD to serve the Core and it‘s database for very good reasons. Also: SSD are cheap now, so why take a malfunction risk here? Just generates support cases that could be avoided.

a DS920+ has to places for SSD-Cache function. So it would make sense to use ssd for quicker transfering/operation of the whole NAS
a SSD just for roon database (of 2800 songs) takes one space for bigger HD and is not needed if everything works fine, even if roon sys that

Again. The Syno has a capable USB3 port that an inexpensive controller and a128GB SSD could use. No slots or internal cache options consumed. I would disagree to encourage newbies to prefer spinning disks to hold the Core and the data base.

So why exactly is it not preferred to store the DB on a spinning disk? Is the rate of a malfunction really high ? And what happens in a malfunction? Does the whole NAS go up in smoke ?

I’m trying to wrap my head around the why’s behind the recommendations and I haven’t read anywhere that really explains it

The spinning disks is orders of magnitude slower than the SSD. We are not talking constant read speed of large files but piecemeal database read/writes.

Edit: even this gadget from Amazon would do

Victor, believe in Bernd_Kurte or try it out yourself
i´m out

The requirements can vary by individual users. For trialing Roon and getting to know it, if it is working for you, great. Just enjoy the music and explore Roon. When you start thinking about where you want to go, then you can make some hardware purchase decisions.

An ssd is important for the database, but, as you have seen, it really depends on library track count. I would guess the avg Roon users has at least 10x more tracks than you in their library. Keep in mind that tracks added to your library from a streaming source like Tidal or Qobuz COUNT as though there were a local file in terms of database usage.

If you decided Roon is for you, then, you have a couple of choices. One would be to get an SSD and move Roon’s database to it on the Synology. Another, would be to setup Roon on a different computer, whether that is putting it on a PC you already own, or getting a NUC and loading ROCK to make a Roon appliance. Either way, that is not something you have to do immediately.

Obviously, if you start having some performance issues that will let you know it might be time to think about a hardware upgrade. But, if it is working now, then to repeat myself, just enjoy Roon.

As a side note: I have had Roon running on a NAS with a Core 2 Duo and only spinning disks for a library of 20k and while a bit slow in tasks, worked well enough. Now, I don’t really use that installation, it was more of a “try it and see” experiment to get a personal feel for how Roon performs on that level of hardware.

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You can try something like this 2.5” to 3.5” SATA HDD Adapter Enclosure - Drive Mounting Brackets & Accessories (startech.com) and put the SSDs directly in the Synology.

When I was much younger (and way much restless), I used two of them each with a 250GB SSD in a DS720+ (8GB RAM + 500GB cache, just because I had the M.2s around) fully dedicated to ROON (with the main storage linked to another NAS). I never used DSP (no need for it), I had only one end point working at one time and I had no problems at all. You should be even better if you’ll store your music on the same SSDs.

My father runs roon on a syno 918+ with a relatively small collection of local files. Myself, I used to run on a syno 716+ model with the db on an external ssd connected via usb. Though it’s underspecced it works just fine. Unless you experience dropouts, it will probably do just fine for now. You can always go with ROCK down the line if you need to. Enjoy your roon subscription!

I have set up Roon core on my Synology DS920+ - and it is working great - library of 15K tracks.
Some things I learned along the way in case it’s helpful to others;

  1. the Roon on NAS (www.roononnas.org) website is really helpful, as recommended on the Roon website, as is the link to john van sickle codec downloads - Kudos to both!
  2. I started with the Roon core running on the NAS - and it was OK, no major problems, a little slow choosing / changing tracks
  3. To speed things up, I then added a SSD via the USB 3 port on the NAS, as advised by others on this thread - this caused some issues with Roon not booting when the NAS booted which was frustrating. The solution is to ensure the SSD attached to USB is formatted in the Linux ext4 format - then it boots with the NAS. Other formats are too slow to load and Roon does not boot with the NAS. Simple fix - but I could find no advice for this anywhere on the web, so found out by trial and error.
  4. I bought some more memory for my NAS, and this helped speed of Roon core activity as well - very cheap upgade and the extra 8Gb Crucial memory worked fine (depsite warnings on Synology website)
    Hope that helps others
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I have been running a 920+ with about 2,000 albums plus Tidal and Quobuz. @Bernd_Kurte after reading your posts, I am a believer.

What is the best way to copy/move the Core and database to the SSD and then have Roon pointed to this new location.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

i’m not Bernd, but hopefuly he’d say make a backup of your databse in Roon (settings, backup), and then move your installation to the SSD and reload the backup you made.
That’s what I did.

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I successfully moved the Roon core and database to an SSD attached to my Synology 1019+ via USB 3.0.
Seeing about a 25% - 35% overall performance boost. This is subjective of course. Searching, page loading and speed of track playback all quicker.

Thanks @Bernd_Kurte

It’s also possible to convert the SSD cache to storage pool on devices that doesn’t support it. That’s the solution I used and it works flawlessly.
I believe this is the guide I followed, but it’s currently unavailable due to the Reddit blackout

Thanks. I’ll give that a look once the blackout gets lifted. I don’t have any SSD M2 blades installed, but that would be a great option.