What is a Backup in Roon?

What is a Backup in Roon?

A Roon backup is a snapshot of your database at a given time. It saves all the ways you’ve customized Roon:

  • Playlists (including those from streaming services and local files)

  • Album and track edits (metadata corrections, artwork changes, merges)

  • Listening history (play counts, favorites)

  • Tags (to organize your library)

  • Settings (audio device setup, DSP, interface preferences)

AlertImportant:
A Roon backup does not include your actual music files. It only stores information about your Roon library, not the music itself. 

How Roon Backups Work

Roon doesn’t create a full copy of your database each time it runs a backup. Instead, the first backup at a new location is a full snapshot, but all backups after that are incremental. This means Roon only saves what’s changed since the last backup.

  • First backup: Complete snapshot of your Roon database.

  • Subsequent backups: Only save the changes since the previous backup, which saves storage space and makes backups faster.

  • Restoring: When you restore from a backup, Roon automatically combines the full snapshot and any needed increments to rebuild your database exactly as it was.

This incremental approach helps you keep more backup versions without using as much space, and makes regular automatic backups quick and efficient.

Why Are Backups Important?

Backups help you:

  • Move your Roon server to a new device

  • Reinstall or upgrade Roon without losing personalizations

  • Recover from accidental database corruption or loss

  • Prepare for major system changes

Without a recent backup, you risk losing all playlists, edits, and Roon preferences. Regular backups save you from the “death by a thousand cuts” of rebuilding your setup from scratch.

Where Can You Store Backups?

Roon gives you flexibility on where to save your backups:

  • Local folders: On your Mac or Windows computer
    (Don’t use internal storage on RoonOS/Nucleus/ROCK—use external storage instead)

  • External drives: USB drive or SSD attached to your Roon server

  • Network shares:

    • SMB shares from Synology, QNAP, Windows, or macOS

    • Example: \\NAS\Backups\Roon or smb://192.168.1.100/RoonBackups

  • Dropbox: Native support for backup (but do not restore directly from Dropbox; download to a local drive first for faster recovery)

How Often Should I Back Up?

  • Regularly: Daily, weekly, or monthly, choose a frequency that matches how often you change playlists, tags, or settings.

  • Multiple locations: Keep backups in at least two places if possible.

  • Before major changes: Always back up before updating Roon or moving your server.