Roon Backup Locations and How to Add Them

Roon Backup Locations and How to Add Them

Supported Backup Locations


You can back up Roon to any of the following:

  • External Storage

  • Network Storage

  • Dropbox

External Storage


External storage refers to a physical drive or folder that’s directly attached to the machine running your Roon Server. It’s usually fast and convenient, especially if you're using a dedicated music server like a Nucleus or ROCK.

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Note: Storing Roon backups on the same drive as the Roon database (like a local folder on Macintosh HD or C: on Windows) is strongly discouraged for several important reasons:

  1. If your internal system drive fails, gets corrupted, or needs to be reformatted, you lose both the live Roon database, and any backups of that database.

  2. macOS & Windows OS updates can purge user data, causing data loss and the change of corrupting saved backups.

You’re effectively backing up to the same risk zone. The best practice is to keep your backup location and database location completely separate.


How to add External storage as a backup location:


  • Go to Settings → Backups → Scheduled Backups → View.

  • Click Add → Browse to choose a backup location. You should see your external drive available, and potentially already selected for you if you’re setting up the drive from a PC or Mac:




(Notice the Folder Listing - this indicates which drive is selected and what available folders you can choose to store your backups. You can always create a new folder here as well.)

  • Click ‘Select this folder’ and Roon will automatically create a Roon Backups folder

  • Finalize your Backup schedule and click ‘Save’

Having trouble getting your external drive recognized in Roon? Get in touch with our Technical Support team.

Network storage



Network storage refers to any storage device that's accessible over your local network. These devices can be connected to Roon using the SMB (Samba) protocol and are great for automated, centralized, and redundant backups.

  • Examples:

    • A NAS device (e.g., Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS)

    • A shared folder or external drive on another computer separate from Roon Server (Windows or macOS)

    • A server or file share accessible via SMB protocol

How to add Network storage as a backup location:


  • Go to Settings → Backups → Scheduled Backups → View.

  • Click Add → Browse to choose a backup location.

  • Click + Add network share - you’ll be prompted to enter a network path that points to the shared folder on your network storage device. This path must use the SMB protocol, and there are two common formats you can use:

    • Using the Device Name (Hostname): \\DEVICE_NAME\SharedFolder

    • Using the IP Address of the network device: \\192.168.1.100\SharedFolder

  • After filling in the network share location, enter the username and password associated with the network device or the user account on the shared computer.



  • Click ‘Select this folder’ and Roon will automatically create a Roon Backups folder

  • Finalize your Backup schedule and click ‘Save’

Having trouble getting your network share recognized in Roon? Get in touch with our Technical Support team.

Dropbox


Roon allows you to back up your database directly to Dropbox, providing a cloud-based option for secure backups. This allows for cross-device access, where you can access or download your backup from anywhere via Dropbox.com.


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Never try to restore a backup straight from your Dropbox account. Always download the backup to a local device first, and restore from that device.

How to add Dropbox as a backup location:


  • Go to Settings → Backups → Scheduled Backups → View.

  • Click Add → Browse to choose a backup location.

  • Click Dropbox - this will open a web browser with a login prompt to your dropbox account.

  • After logging in, you’ll see an option “Roon would like access to the files and folders in your Dropbox” - click Allow.

  • You’ll then be given a unique code to enter in Roon to finish the process. Copy and paste the authentication code into the box to complete the process:



  • Once authenticated, Roon will confirm that your Dropbox is connected.

  • Select the Dropbox location for your backups (you can also create subfolders, e.g., /Apps/RoonBackups/Weekly)

  • Set the frequency and time for automated backups.

 

A few things to keep in mind when using Dropbox as a backup location:

  • Storage Limits: Ensure your Dropbox account has enough free space to store your backups. Roon backups are incremental, but can grow over time.

  • Bandwidth Consideration: Uploading backups to Dropbox uses your internet connection, and large uploads may impact network performance during the backup process.

 

Tips & Best Practices

  • Don't back up to the same drive that stores your music files

  • Periodically verify that backups are completing successfully and restore from a backup occasionally to test.

  • Backup locations must be write-accessible to Roon. Ensure correct permissions are set, especially for NAS or network folders.

  • We recommend storing backups in at least two different physical locations.

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