ROCK: Storage Basics
ROCK gives you a few different ways to store your music: internal storage, a USB drive, or a network share on a NAS. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Whichever you choose, please read this article about importing your music into Roon. If you're using internal or USB storage, please also see ROCK: Importing Music for how to copy music to ROCK.
Internal Storage
If your NUC has space for a 2.5" drive, internal storage is a tidy, high-performance option.
Advantages include:
- High performance.
- No extra devices or USB drives connected to your ROCK.
Disadvantages include:
- It starts empty. ROCK formats the drive in the Web Administration Interface before you can use it, so you can't load music onto it first. You'll copy your music over afterward. For steps, please see Formatting ROCK Internal Storage.
- Size is limited by your NUC. The drive must fit your NUC's 2.5" bay, and many NUCs only accept drives up to 9.5mm thick. Please check your NUC's specifications before you buy a drive.
- It's harder to replace. If the drive fails, you'll need to open your NUC to swap it.
Once the drive is formatted, it appears in Roon under Settings > Storage as a watched folder automatically. On RoonOS 3.0, you can also see its status, capacity, and free space under Internal Music Storage on the Storage tab of the RoonOS Web Administration Interface.
External Storage (USB)
If you don't mind a USB drive connected to your ROCK, this is a very flexible option.
Advantages include:
- High performance.
- You choose how and when to format the drive.
- You can use a drive that already has your music on it, so there's nothing to copy.
- It's easy to replace if it fails.
- It's easy to upgrade later.
The main disadvantage is that the USB drive has to stay connected to your ROCK.
To add a USB drive in Roon, go to Settings > Storage and click Add Folder. Then browse to the USB drive and select it.
On RoonOS 3.0, you can check, repair, and eject USB drives from the Web Administration Interface. For details, please see Managing Storage in the Web Administration Interface below.
Network Storage (NAS)
Like any Roon Server, ROCK supports SMB network shares and works with most NAS devices. If you already own a NAS, this is a good option. It uses a device you already have, and you don't need to copy your music or format any drives.
Disadvantages include:
- Network issues: your library depends on your network and your NAS staying available.
- Slower change detection: many NAS devices don't report changes to Roon well, so you may need to rescan more often to pick up new music.
- Performance: some NAS models are slower than USB or internal drives, particularly WD MyCloud and Drobo products.
On RoonOS 3.0, ROCK tries SMB3 first, so shares that require encryption connect as expected. If a guest share that used to work stops connecting, please edit it and enter guest as the username. A share with a blank username and password now connects anonymously.
USB Storage - Best Practice
If you're connecting a USB drive directly to your ROCK, you can choose how to format it.
Advantages of exFAT include:
- It works with macOS, Windows, and Linux.
- There are no practical limits on drive or file size.
- On RoonOS 3.0, ROCK repairs exFAT drives automatically if they weren't safely removed.
To avoid problems, please eject a USB drive before you unplug it. On RoonOS 3.0, use Eject in the USB Drives section of the Web Administration Interface.
Managing Storage in the Web Administration Interface
You can check and manage your ROCK's storage from the RoonOS Web Administration Interface. To open it, go to Settings > Setup in Roon, click Find next to Find Roon OS, then click your ROCK's IP address. You can also enter http://rock.local in a web browser.
The Storage tab on RoonOS 3.0
Click the Storage tab to see every drive your ROCK uses:
- Roon Database & Settings: the SSD that ROCK is installed on. It shows Ready, how much space is available, and a usage bar.
- Internal Music Storage: appears if your NUC has a second internal drive. A new drive shows Unavailable until you click Format. After that, it shows Ready, along with the drive's capacity, model, and usage.
- USB Drives: lists each connected USB drive with its name, model, and size. A healthy drive shows OK and "Ready ยท Read / write".
Each USB drive has Check & repair and Eject buttons. Depending on the drive's state, you may also see Open read-only, Repair anyway, or Stop check and Stop repair.
If a drive shows Read only with the message "The drive wasn't safely removed", it was probably unplugged without being ejected. Please click Check & repair to fix it. To avoid this, click Eject before you unplug a drive.
The Overview tab also shows a summary of your storage and USB drives. Click Storage next to either row to jump to the Storage tab.
Sharing your storage over the network
ROCK shares its storage over your network as the Data share, so you can copy music to it from a computer. Your internal drive is at \\ROCK\Data\Storage\InternalStorage on Windows, or smb://ROCK/Data/Storage/InternalStorage on a Mac.
On RoonOS 3.0, you can choose who can connect under Network & Access > File Sharing:
- Guest: on by default. Anyone on your network can open the share, without entering anything.
- Username and password: devices sign in as roon. The password is roon unless you've set your own.
- Allow older devices (SMB 1): off by default. Only turn this on if a device can't connect any other way.
For details, please see File Sharing.
On ROCK in legacy BIOS mode
A ROCK in legacy BIOS mode, or one that isn't on RoonOS 3.0 yet, uses the original single-page Web Administration Interface. You'll find the Internal Music Storage section and its Format button on that page. For details, please see Using the Original Web UI on ROCK in Legacy BIOS Mode.
Still having trouble with your music storage on ROCK? Please get in touch with our Technical Support team here.