Slow SMB access to Nucleus One from macOS Finder (ref#97UWGT)

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1

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· The Nucleus boots up and I can connect to it in the Roon app without issue, but I have a question about configuration/storage/attached devices

Describe the issue

Hello Roon Support,

I recently transferred my music library to the internal storage of my Roon Nucleus One.

The music library is stored on the Nucleus One internal SSD, under Internal Storage. The total size is around 300 GB, so it is not an extremely large library.

The internal SSD is a Samsung EVO 1 TB.

My environment is Apple/macOS-based:

* MacBook Pro running macOS
* macOS Finder used to browse the Nucleus network share
* MacBook Pro connected over Wi-Fi 6
* Roon Nucleus One connected via Ethernet
* Router: TP-Link Deco BE85
* Nucleus One connected to the router’s 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet port
* Network cable: Cat 8
* Internet connection: 8 Gb/s fiber, both upload and download
* No Deco satellite involved

Roon itself appears to work correctly:

* Roon sees the library.
* Music playback starts quickly.
* Browsing and playing albums inside Roon is responsive.
* I do not see any ongoing import, audio analysis, or library activity in Roon Settings > Library.

However, I am experiencing very slow access when browsing the Nucleus One internal storage from macOS Finder over the network share.

Symptoms:

* Opening folders inside Internal Storage from Finder often takes around 5 to 10 seconds.
* Running a simple Finder search inside Internal Storage is extremely slow and often produce no response
* Even when searching inside a specific folder, Finder shows “Loading…” for several minutes with no results.
* Searching only for folders using the Finder “Kind = Folder” filter is also very slow.
* Cancelling the Finder search and restarting Finder does not seem to improve the situation.
* Rebooting the Nucleus One did not resolve the issue.
* When opening or processing audio files from the Nucleus share in a Mac audio/tagging application, each file can take around 2 to 3 seconds to process.
* Updating audio file tags directly over the Nucleus network share from macOS is therefore very slow and difficult to use in practice.

This is confusing because Roon playback itself is fast and stable, which suggests that the Nucleus and the internal SSD are working correctly for normal Roon usage. The issue seems specific to browsing, searching, and editing files over the Nucleus network share from macOS.

My questions:

1. Is this level of slowness expected when browsing the Nucleus One Internal Storage from macOS Finder over SMB?
2. Is there any known issue with SMB file browsing/searching on Nucleus One, especially from macOS?
3. Is there any background indexing, file-system process, or maintenance task after copying files to Internal Storage that could last for several hours and slow down SMB access?
4. Is it supported/recommended to update audio file tags directly on files stored on Nucleus One Internal Storage via SMB from a Mac?
5. Are there any recommended settings, logs, or diagnostics to check on the Nucleus One to understand why folder browsing, Finder search, and audio tag updates are so slow?
6. Would you recommend any specific best practice for managing/tagging audio files stored on the Nucleus One internal SSD from a Mac?

Thank you for your help.

2

The tips here may help:

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Hi Mike,

Thank you for the information and for the suggested tips.

I have just tried disabling delayed ACK on macOS, but unfortunately it does not seem to improve the situation in my case.

Copying or updating files from the Nucleus internal storage from my Mac is still very slow (ex: tags), as well as browsing the Nucleus internal storage from macOS Finder. File searching is so slow and often does not work.

Roon playback itself is responsive, so the issue seems to be specifically related to SMB file browsing/copying between macOS and the Nucleus internal storage, rather than playback or library performance inside Roon.

Thanks again for your help.

4

I only use SMB to add new music to my Nucleus One, which has an internal Samsung 870 2TB.

My Mac is running 26.4.1, but I’ve never had issues with accessing the Nucleus disk via SMB, since I got it in December 2024, always from a Mac client using Finder.

About the only difference in my setup is that both the Nucleus One, and the Mac, are on wired ethernet. But I wouldn’t have thought that wifi would make such a difference. Unless your wifi is bad, in which case you’d see it on all network access, not just to the Nucleus.

One other point is that I don’t ever edit files on the Nucleus, from the Mac. I have a local staging disk on my Mac, an external SSD. This serves as the master copy, where I make all my changes, tag edits, etc. I then use rsync to update the files on the Nucleus, from the USB disk on the Mac.

That also means I have a backup of what is on the Nucleus, even though the local “backup” is in fact the master copy, which is rsynced to the Nucleus.

So, again, I don’t edit, or search, over SMB. I only copy files over SMB, from my local staging disk, to the Nucleus.

Sorry I can’t help, other than to say: no, I don’t think your experience is expected behaviour [edit: at least over wired ethernet. and I don’t have a large music collection; see better answer on this, below]

Edit: one other point: I always stop Roon Server Software, on the Nucleus, before using rsync to copy files to it over SMB, then restart it afterwards. That was mostly to stop the Nucleus starting to try and index new/changed files, while the copy is ongoing. You may wish to try some of the above, and see if things improve?

5

Thank you, this is very helpful.

The fact that you do not experience the same issue with a similar setup is useful information. The main difference indeed seems to be that your Mac is also connected via wired Ethernet, whereas my Nucleus One is wired to the router but my MacBook Pro is connected via Wi-Fi 6.

I agree that this is now the key test I need to run. I will try connecting the MacBook Pro via Ethernet as well, with Wi-Fi disabled, and then test the same operations again: browsing the Nucleus internal storage, copying an album from the Nucleus to the Mac, and possibly copying files from the Mac to the Nucleus.

Your workflow also makes sense: keeping a local staging/master copy on an external SSD attached to the Mac, doing all tag edits locally, and then using rsync to update the Nucleus. I understand now that editing or searching directly over SMB on the Nucleus may not be the best approach, even if simple copying should normally work.

I also take your point about stopping Roon Server Software on the Nucleus before a large rsync/copy operation, then restarting it afterwards, to avoid Roon trying to index files while they are still being copied.

Thanks again. I will test with the Mac on wired Ethernet and report back.

6

Hello @Nicolas_Glairon-Mond,

Welcome to the Roon community, and thank you for the incredibly detailed breakdown of your setup! It makes diagnosing things much easier.

To get straight to the point: the behavior you are seeing is unfortunately completely normal and expected given the combination of macOS Finder, the SMB protocol, and Wi-Fi.

To answer your specific questions:

1 & 2. Is this level of slowness expected with macOS/SMB? Yes. While your Wi-Fi 6 network has massive bandwidth (speed for large file transfers), the SMB protocol is highly sensitive to latency (the time it takes for tiny requests to go back and forth). macOS Finder is notoriously “chatty” over SMB. When you open a folder, Finder doesn’t just read the file names; it tries to read metadata, generate icon previews, and check for hidden .DS_Store files. Doing this for thousands of audio files over a Wi-Fi connection causes extreme slowdowns and hanging search results.

3. Is there a background maintenance task causing this? No. Since your Roon app is lightning fast and music starts immediately, this confirms the Nucleus hardware, SSD, and Roon’s internal database are functioning perfectly. The bottleneck is strictly the network file-sharing protocol.

4 & 6. Best practices for tagging and managing files? While it is technically supported to edit tags directly on the Nucleus via SMB, we strongly recommend against it, especially over Wi-Fi. When you edit a tag over the network, your Mac’s tagging software often has to read the entire file over Wi-Fi, rewrite the header, and send the whole file back. This is why it takes 2-3 seconds per file. Furthermore, if your Wi-Fi has a micro-drop during this rewrite, the audio file can become permanently corrupted.

  • Best Practice: Keep a local “staging” folder on your Mac. Do all your downloading, ripping, and metadata tagging locally on your MacBook’s fast internal drive. Once the albums are perfectly tagged, drag and drop them over the SMB share to the Nucleus.

5. Are there settings or diagnostics to fix this? There are no settings on the Nucleus that will change this, as the Samba server is pre-configured for broad compatibility. However, you can improve the macOS side slightly:

  • Open Finder, press Cmd + J (Show View Options).
  • Uncheck “Show icon preview”.
  • If you absolutely must do bulk file management or tagging on the Nucleus drive, temporarily connect your MacBook directly to the Deco router using an Ethernet cable. Removing the Wi-Fi latency will significantly speed up Finder’s responsiveness.

Please let us know if you have any other questions

7

Hello @Nicolas_Glairon-Mond,

Just checking in on this. Were you able to try the Finder changes we mentioned, like turning off icon previews, and if possible connecting the MacBook by Ethernet to see whether SMB responsiveness improves over a wired link? We also suggested keeping the tagging work on a local staging folder and only copying finished albums to the Nucleus share, so let us know if that workflow changes the slowdown. Thanks, and reply with any updates or questions when you have a chance.

8

Hello Everyone,

Thank you very much for your help and for the detailed explanations.

I followed your recommendations. I bought an Ethernet adapter for my MacBook Pro and tested the Nucleus access over a wired connection. I did notice a small improvement, although SMB browsing from macOS Finder remains relatively slow for file management and tagging purposes.

Following Calum’s advice, I have now changed my workflow: I keep an external SSD as my master copy of the music library, do the file management and tagging there, and then replicate the changes to the Nucleus internal storage using ChronoSync.

This workflow seems to be working well so far for keeping my Roon music library updated, while avoiding direct tag editing over the Nucleus SMB share.

Thanks again for your help, advice, and guidance. Topic can now be closed.