I think the biggest issue here is that when using internal storage or usb SSD for music files (makes clicking play ‘instant’ basically), Rock etc. do not have a ‘backup music files’ option in Roon settings. This would be so much better.
having to use ■■■■■■ software externally to access music files over SMB and pull them for backup is unreliable comparitively and have an option to backup your music files inside roon’s interface seems like a no brainer for me. Roon is good at leaving out some core functionality one would expect.
Currently, Internal 2.5inch ssd for me for music and then active backup for business on synology grabs this over SMB nightly and backups up, then a USB disk in synology runs a nightly backup as well and then I ship to synology c2 cloud as well. But this is so cumbersome to have a proper backup structure.
I’d MUCH rather have backups for music files in the same spot as backing up roons database, simply select NAS location or USB disk plugged into the core, and boom done. Much easier and less complicated.
Danny once asked about interest in this and I am not sure how this went - there was some interest by maybe not overwhelming? Quite some posts saying “I already use another solution”
I started off with a 5 bay NAS for music storage. Then, to connect directly to the Rock, I used an 8TB WD external hard drive. Now use 3 x 4TB SSD’s in a 4 bay Orico dock. Quicker and more flexible. It’s nice that you can switch the Orico off when not in use. It also clones discs when needed which is useful.
The 8TB HD and the NAS are now in back up duty for the music library.
My approach is simpler and works quite well. I create an account on Synology that is dedicated to Roon. I have “Backup” and “Music” shares. I grant the Roon account write access to the backup share and read-only access to the Music share.
Both Backups and Music are included in my nightly offsite backups (I use HyperBackup) as is other content on the Synology.
I’ve done this for years with no playback issues. The only library management issue I have is that I sometimes have to do a “Force Rescan” in Roon after making changes to my library on Synology. These days, changes to my library are infrequent and Force Rescan is simple and very quick.
I find this so much simpler than trying to get my music library either onto the core or onto a usb-drive plugged into the core. Just what works for me.