Roon 2.0 (build 1353) on macOS 13.6.1 (soon to be Sonoma, macOS 14)
I am ready to invest in a Nucleus.
Can a Nucleus:
Thanks in advance!
You back up the Nucleus from the Roon Remote via Roon‘s backup feature, like all other Roon Server versions. The backup location can be a hard disk that’s plugged in by USB or a network location / NAS.
For the PS, the Nucleus is just an Intel NUC without a fan and most likely the PS works with US and UK power anyway, you just switch to the correct connection cable.
It can work without a streamer if you connect a DAC by USB
Thanks, Mario!
Now I see how the PSU can work with most systems, thanks to multiple adapters 
.
I currently have all my tagged FLAC files in my Roon Watch folder on my iMac’s hard drive.
Wouldn’t I be moving those files out of that folder onto a Nucleus?
It that case I’ll still want to back them up at the filesystem level. Is that possible?
I see. I meant backing up the Roon database of the Nucleus.
Music files can reside on an external USB hard disk or you can put an internal hard disk into the Nucleus. (Or you can use network storage like a NAS). In either case, the Nucleus exposes the disk over the network by SMB. That’s typically also how you put new music on it. And if CCC can back up over the network (probably yes) then you can use that to back up the drive. I do the same with QNAP‘s HBS.
Make sure you do the proper steps when moving to the Nucleus:
Mario,
Thanks again for your guidance!
Yes, I can see how I’d do that from within Roon itself and how therefore, Roon would take care of Finder-level operations. That’s just as important. But I also want to be sure that all my ‘raw’ FLSAC files (increasing in number regularly ) are safely backed up - as they are now from my Roon Watch Folder on my boot volume.
I shall definitely want to put maybe even 4 or 8 TB internal drives into the Nucleus.
I’v emailed Mike at Bombich to confirm.
Shall follow and do so.
Your help, Mario - again - much appreciated!
From how I read it, you simply mount the Nucleus internal storage in your macOS like here
(which is also how you move files TO the Nucleus), and then use CCC to back up the mounted drive:
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/backing-up-tofrom-network-volumes-and-other-non-hfs-volumes
Maybe not the most elegant solution but should work.
Thanks; that’s what I’m hoping, Mario!
Hi Mark,
I am using CCC on a MacBook Pro with Sonoma and an Nucleus Plus (A) - it works flawless! I perform backups onto an NAS and an external drive.
Regards
Tom
Thanks, Tom!
That’s really helpful.
I have an Airport. So I’d connect the Nucleus to that with a Cat 6 cable and thus see it as a device for CCC, would I?
If you see it in your network you can perform an
backup, WiFi or LAN both works, but LAN is faster. See attached foto: FLAC is the Nucleus directory and Mulitmedia is my QNAP NAS directory.
Thanks, Tom. That’s what I’d like to see!
I haven’t bought a Nucleus, yet. So I can’t test it. And whether or not I can backup using CCC (or even SuperDuper!) is determining whether I get a Nucleus .
Another option you could consider is to keep your music directory master on the Mac - where it can be backed up with whatever you use there (I use Time Machine).
And then sync this to the nucleus (I use Goodsync)
It, of course, means you need duplicate storage. But it also means you have an extra online copy of your music - and makes backup easier.
FWIW my Rock backs up the database to a directory on my Mac - where it is in turn backed up by Time Machine) - so my offsite backup strategy etc covers everything easily.
This is what I do , I have my music library files on a HDD In my main PC , I do any metadata cleanups on that PC then use SyncBack Pro to mirror to my NUC SSD
Thanks, Greg; that might work.
I’ve also thought of a NAS, which I know can be mounted by macOS and have a USB connection between the Nucleus and something like this.
A major aim of switching to Nucleus is freeing my computer up and putting all Roon files on a dedicated device (= the Nucleus) .
You can’t beat a Nucleus with a large internal SSD for your music IMHO. Attach a USB HDD for Roon backups. And yes, there are cheaper options.
Thanks, @Jim_F !
I’m pretty convinced.
Internal HD in preference to a NAS drive?
Speed? Simplicity? Reliability?
Have you personally set up a hard drive an backers it up to a Mac via USB? Once I know that’s infallible, I’m in
I put a 1TB SSD inside my Nucleus, but only have 47 local tracks. I use Tidal and Qobuz. If I had a lot of local music files, I would install a 4TB or 8TB SSD inside the Nucleus for music files.
My Nucleus backs up every night to a USB attached 1TB HDD and has never missed a beat in almost 4 years. Personally, I would not use a NAS for music, but that’s just my opinion, for what it’s worth.
If I had local music files, I would have them backed up outside of Roon to a drive somewhere with a copy stored offsite. My 47 files are backed up to my laptop, but not worth storing offsite.
EDIT: For Roon database backups only use the Roon internal backup system. For music files, use whatever you want.
Thanks, @Jim_F ; that sounds close to what I’m planning now - after all this advice from everyone here, for which I’m so grateful - provided…
Using CCC, SuperDuper! Chronosync via smb?
If you need to buy a NAS, maybe just get one beefy enough to run Roon on the NAS itself? It works pretty well, can backup itself, and with proper NAS setup you get better reliability anyway.
I mostly agree. I seldom recommend that folks buy a NAS just for music files, but if you already have a NAS, there’s no good reason to not use it to store a local music library.
There are few NAS products that meet Roon Server’s minimum hardware specs: Intel i3 or better processor, 4 GB of RAM, and SSD storage for the database.
But if one [is] buying a NAS anyway, why not spend a little more for one that meets Roon Server requirements?
