"There was an issue loading your library" error

Early Access
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Hi folks,

Running Roon 2.0 Beta 1321 on MacOS Sonoma 14.0. I use RoonServer and Roon Core on the same Mac mini.

So…I’ve got the dreaded “There was an issue…” error. Read that this can be an indication that my database is likely corrupted. OK, nothing in my setup or configuration changed from when I was listening last night, but, let’s see what we can do.

Restarted system - same
Read the help article - renamed the Roon folder in my hidden library folder to Roon_old, reinstalled Roon, as instructed, and…shoot! I’m still getting the same error.

Now, I’ve unfortunately only got a backup from February (I know…hand up, lesson learned), but, at this point, I can’t even start Roon properly to navigate to a back-up before this error message pops up.

I work from home in front of a computer twelve hours a day, with Roon on all day, and music, to me, aside from my wife, is the most crucial part of my daily life…Please help.

Grateful for any assistance you might provide. Thank you!

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Can you get to the roon login page?

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Unless I’m mistaken the main database is stored in ~/Library/RoonServer rather than ~Library/Roon, so try renaming the RoonServer folder to RoonServer_old.

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Hello @ged_hickman1 and @DaveN . Thank you very much for your prompt replies.

I actually could not even get to the login page to initiate a backup, until I had the eureka moment that Dave mentions and I realized that I’m on beta software which isn’t yet public, combing the server & remote, which gave me the idea to change the server folder, as well. I’m sure the help articles will be updated when that gets introduced into the main builds.

In any case, while this did allow me to restore my admittedly ancient backup from February, the subsequent database update than ran zeroed out all of my stats and alterations!

It’s been a fairly agonizing few days of work, relatively, of course, and the loss of years of tweaks and changes, combined with the loss of my playback stats, has me pretty deflated about listening for the time being.

Shot in the dark…Is there ANY possibility of getting my old state back, even if the playback counts date from the backup in February? I tried, in vain, to switch in the old roonserver folder for the new one, but, when I launched, everything was zeroed out again anyway.

Again, lesson learned about backup frequency, but, would the database update which occurred after my backup restore have wiped out my stats, regardless of the age of the backup?

Using Roon for years, still so much to learn. Thanks for any additional help.

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When you run a backup it records all the current details about your library and listening history (stats etc), so as soon as you run a restore you restore everything to the state it was in at the time of the backup.

As for the database update: no, this doesn’t reset any of the content (stats, tags, etc), it just updates the internal structure of the database in accordance with any changes that Roon may have made to the way in which the database is structured/processed - it doesn’t affect the content.

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Apologies, I may have misread your comment: Are you saying that your restore from February included various bits of data that were then subsequently overwritten by the database update? If so, I don’t think this should happen.

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Hello, thank you for your help, @DaveN . That is approximately what seems to have occurred.

Yes, I restored the backup, and, as soon as it was apparently done loading, Roon gave me a “your database needs an update” message.

Subsequent to that, literal years of tweaks, changes, and pruning were gone…all play stats and play counts zeroed out. It has essentially been like starting from scratch. I’ve been working on it now for the past few days, on a granular level, to try to re-compile my changes as I can best recall them, and it has been an agonizing process.

Again, admittedly, my backup from February is a bit dated, but, surely, my version number from when the backup was made wasn’t so out of date that nothing of my prior state was retained?

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Now that your Roon version is updated to the latest Early Access version, I would try restoring your February backup again. Before you do that, however, make another backup of your current Roon situation just in case the same problem happens again.

EDIT: Plug an external 1TB HDD into your Roon server and have Roon do an automatic backup every night and save 30. I do that as well as every week and save 4, and every month and save 12.

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Hi @Jim_F that’s a great idea! No promises of success guaranteed, but, hope springs eternal!

I will make a current backup and then try to restore the February one from inside of the settings menu.

The only concern I have is if I try to restore the February backup, and it happens again, I would be terrified of trying to then restore my current state that I just made. I’m just a bit gunshy & fearful of it happening again after all the work I’ve done over the past few days LOL

Ah, well, I suppose nothing will happen unless I try!

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I would have thought not, but your experience might suggest otherwise. Try @Jim_F’s suggestion and let us know how you get on. If it doesn’t work out we might need to flag support to take a look.

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Hi folks…good morning from NY. Just wanted to post a quick update.

Restored Build 1216 earlyaccess from February 22nd, 2023, and, as soon as I connected to the co…ah er…server :+1:t3:, I got the Roon database update message, just as I had last time. Unfortunately, much like the last time, everything was completely wiped out again. :pensive:

Now, I’m wondering…Was the build of Roon from which the February backup was made too old? Possibly, though I’ve never had that issue prior. Was the gulf between version numbers too wide? Is it because I am on early access software?

I’m just not sure…it could be all of these things, none of these things, or some combination of factors that I’m not aware of.

In any case, the positive here, and the silver lining is that, thanks to the advice of @Jim_F, I was at least able to restore from the backup I’d just made last night, so, at least the four or five days of work I’ve just done trying to re-construct everything was not in vain. Admittedly still disappointed to lose years of listening stats, tweaks, and obsessive pruning, but, at least I’ve got my library, and, I’ve got a good head start.

I’ve just read the edit on your post, @Jim_F and I admittedly have much to learn about Roon backup hygiene. I will try to read some knowledge base articles later on.

Either way, I’m grateful to you both for your patience and insight. I’ve been using Roon for years, but, I guess I didn’t realize just how much I obviously still have to learn.

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I would have left it on build 1321 and tried restoring your February backup to it.

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Oh, apologies for the confusion, @Jim_F . It was quite early, pre-coffee, and reading it back, I see it…no, let me clarify:

I WAS on build 1321 when I restored from back-up via the settings menu. The backup from February that I restored was on 1216 when it was made.

Unfortunately, as I said earlier, as soon as Roon restarted, and I clicked on my co…server, I was immediately prompted, with no input on my part, that Roon required a database update. When it finished, I saw that all my stats and tweaks were gone

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Stats are occasionally not visible immediately after restoring a backup, at least IIRC this happened one time or other to me. Rebooting Core and restarting apps fixed it. I don’t know which tweaks you mean though

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Hello. Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, rebooting did not affect the outcome, but, I still appreciate your suggestion.

Tweaks = edits that Roon missed.

I have (had) literally thousands of small edits over the years ie. merging Stevie Ray Vaughan with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble because I hate needless duplicate artist entries.

Here’s a good one…for the drummer Brain, who played with Primus & Guns N’ Roses…He has played on DOZENS of recordings in my collection. For some reason, Roon elects to list him as “Brain & Buckethead” - Buckethead being a frequent collaborator - for every single album on which he appears.

Now…Did “Brain & Buckethead” play percussion and hand claps on Tom Waits’ Real Gone? No…Brain did.

I’ve literally had to go in and manually edit dozens of albums and their individual credits to insure that Brain is listed properly in my collection. And that was for a SINGLE artist. I’ve got a collection approaching 3600 albums! Granted, some are demos, bootlegs, singles, one-offs, whatever, but, still!

Try four or five days of that…could easily drive a man to the bottle! :face_with_spiral_eyes:

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Yeah, I get what you mean. Same for me with all these little edits. Seems like somehow something is incomplete about this backup :frowning: Just wanted to make sure that the heart attack inducing missing edits aren’t just a cosmetic thing that a reboot would fix. Apparently not :frowning:

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That’s OK. Thank you for your time…Appreciate it!

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