Since we don’t know if you have an S1 or S2 system, or both it is a bit iffy to recommend something.

Personally I use a home-built NAS based on a Raspberry Pi as it is the most flexible and for me the cheapest.

Give us some more info please.

If it is to be used for just serving music, and your router has a USB input, a USB stick of the larger sizes may be the best solution.

Since the normal Sonos database has a 65k limit and you do not mention using Plex for example, you’e music collection will not be a very large one. I’d keep it as simple as possible.

My collection is somewhat larger and I use Plex on a QNAP NAS.

Thanks for the responses. I have further information about my set up.

I’ve recently upgraded to S2. I have a Sonos Port connected to my analog hi-fi and have a Move 2 on order.

I currently stream my CD collection from my desktop PC after my Seagate disk drive failed. The Seagate was performing well up to this point and convenient in that I didn’t need to have the PC switched on to play music.

Stats from the Music folder on my desk top:

• Size 128 GB
• Files 15,115
• Folders 1,541

The size is growing but slowly as I mix up my music formats.

is this info useful? Thanks again for your help. GK

That lot would easily fit on a 256GB flash stick. What make/model is your router? 

Hi - My router is a Virgin Media Hub 3.0

Thanks 

Apparently that router doesn’t offer file sharing from an attached drive.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Setting-up-NAS-with-an-external-hard-drive-via-the-Virgin-Hub-3/td-p/5265543

I would just look at the Black Friday sales and go for a NAS that supports SMB v2 or higher and go with whatever suits your budget - I personally use Netgear NAS boxes, but those capable of sharing files over SMB v2 should work fine - pick ones with the faster processor and more ram memory, or ones where you can upgrade the ram yourself, later on.

I’ve been using Synology. In my experience the My Cloud family is extremely difficult to deal with.

To avoid the longstanding -- and still unfixed -- issues with Sonos and larger libraries, get a NAS solution which is able to temporarily switch to SMBv1. After indexing, the NAS can be reverted to SMBv2 for regular audio playback.

I used to be a WD fan but their support folks convinced me to buy elsewhere.

The short support lifetimes of some devices was also a rude surprise.

Hi - grateful if I could get a little more advice before I commit. I’ve checked Amazon and some of the popular review websites and this synology devices seems popular synology 2-bay diskstation ds223j. amazon offer a  4Tb (WD) or 6Tb (Seagate) option (more than enough capacity for me). I tried to find out if these options support SMB v2 but unable to confirm this from Amazon spec. To be honest this sort detail is beyond my technical ability. Any comments on this would really useful. Thanks again. G

@GJK 
Yes, the Synology DS223J spec. supports everything you would need.

https://nascompares.com/news/the-synology-ds223j-a-new-budget-friendly-nas-solution-for-home-users/

Can you provide the link to the Seagate NAS as I’m not quite sure which one you’re interested in on Amazon (thanks).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-DS223J-Bay-Desktop-White/dp/B0CDQ7ZV78/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=27TQ1301T8HSM&keywords=synology%2B2-bay%2Bdiskstation%2Bds223j%2Bdiskless&qid=1700507722&sprefix=synology%2B2-bay%2Bdiskstation%2Bds223j%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.23648568-4ba5-49f2-9aa6-31ae75f1e9cd&th=1&psc=1

 
Hi - thanks again for the advice. The attached link to the synology device includes two options for the drive units including a 2 x 2TB Western Digital Red Plus Drives and 2 x 4TB Seagate Ironwolf Drives. The WD option is more than enough memory for me but I mentioned the larger Seagate option in case it’s a better brand and worth the extra £60. Any thoughts on this? Thanks

Both are fine and each have good names as far HDD’s are concerned and so just go with what storage capacity you think you’ll need. These things can usually be upgraded quite easily further down the line anyway.  

I definitely recommend this method too. I got rid of a noisy Seagate NAS and plugged a 1.5TB HDD into my router and it runs silently, goes into sleep mode after 15 minutes and wakes up within a couple of seconds when called up on. Given the size of your collection, something like a 256GB Sandisk flash drive would fit the bill. You will probably have to enable SMBv1 on your PC to map it.