I switched from an IMac and iTunes (with about 2Tb of ripped from CD’s AIFF files) to Roon on the iMac. In Roon preferences, I pointed Roon to the iTunes Media folder.
This folder also includes Audiobooks, games, movies, and podcasts.
Now I want to set up a NUC (probably running Windows, as I also want to have a Plex server on it, and if I install ROCK, it means the machine is dedicated solely to ROon, correct?)
So - I have a 9 year old Synology Nas (a DS 411)
It has folders for Music, Photos and Video. I also installed the Minimserver package on it.
A few questions: Do I copy the Music folder from my iTunes Media folder into the Music Folder on the NAS? Or the whole iTunes Media folder, including the podcasts etc.)
Who should have ownership of that folder? So far I haven’t created any users for the Nas - just Admin?
If I rip future cds, or purchase hi-res tracks - do I just drag them into the new Music folder inside the NAS’s music folder - and Roon will take care of indexing/metadata etc.?
What other settings do I need to adjust in Roon related to the library?
Thanks!
ROCK is a Roon-dedicated appliance. If you’re going to load other things on a Windows-based NUC, you’ll want to use Roon Server and load that instead. Go to https://roonlabs.com/downloads and download the Windows 64-bit Server near the bottom of the page.
This Roon Server will take care of the indexing / metadata of any folder it has access to (local drive, NAS, USB drive, network shared folder, etc.). One option would be to turn on file sharing on the iMac for your iTunes folder (click here). From your Roon client you can go to Settings->Storage and add a link to your NAS as well as a link to the shared iMac folder that holds your iTunes Media.
As long as you drop the future rips into a folder that Roon has access to, it will scan it immediately, at a particular interval or when manually told to depending on which option you select when adding the shared folder to Roon.
A common setup for a NUC is to use an M2 storage card for the operating system and an internal hard drive for additional storage. If you do this, then storing music on the NUC in a folder that Roon has direct access to is also an easy option.