Won't Update Music Library, Part 2

All along I've felt it's that @John B , the files just aren't shared correctly and Sonos is not related to this.

Which was why I asked if they were accessible from a Windows explorer menu.

The steps in that link are exactly what I’ve done. If you look at the screenshots of the router interface, it’s labeled “Network/Media Server Name”. (Additionally, it shows up in WIndows Explorer Network as a “Media Device”.)

I was feeling optimistic:

• I put a new higher-gauge extension cord on the router
• I put a new, shorter data cord on the drive
• I mapped to the entire drive (“\\rjbmusic\g\” not “\\rjbmusic\g\seatunes”
• It worked!
  So, like a complete idiot, I:
• Created a new subdirectory called “Music”
• Put one album (Nebraska, if you must know) in Music
• Added that as a library (\\rjbmusic\g\Music)
• It did not work - because it was a subset of the larger Library
  So, like someone who has been dropped on his head repeatedly, I:
• Deleted the working Library and added that single-album folder
• It worked!
  So I
• Added some new albums - about nine
• Tried “Update Music Library”
• It did not work
  But this is kinda what happens sometimes, for a while I could delete the Library and re-add it when it wouldn’t update (essentially from Novemberish 2021 through August 2022)
  So, like a mouth-breathing flat-earther, I:
• Deleted (\\rjbmusic\g\Music) and tried re-adding it
• Effin NOTHING. Cannot add.
• Cannot re-add the whole drive - which is what worked 12 hours ago

I thought, by definition, any storage device attached to and accessed via network devices (e.g., routers, switches) was a “Network Attached Storage” device, a/k/a NAS. Since the router actively supports and encourages attaching storage devices, what clever parsing of the semantics am I missing?

Back at Square One, again.

Going to try the SanDisk solid stick now.

Have you checked with TP-Link? It sure sounds like there is something odd in their side of things. If Sonos can read a single folder, then it’s working properly. If it can’t read sub folders, then the TP-Link is doing something odd with SMB permissions. 

Last thing before getting the USB stick out.

I added “Music” as an empty folder. Easy-peasy.

I added Nebraska (album) to it.

Now - both when I tried to update, and when I deleted and tried to re-add - I am getting this message:

 

Although, again, every other device on my network can access \\rjbmusic\g\

 

It is probably of no significance, but interesting that the error message says it cannot find the computer “rjbmusic”, rather than the folder or drive.

Also: I dropped one AVI file on the SEADRIVE stick. All network devices - including Samsung TV - can play the file. So the wireless network is moving data.

@Alonzo Mosley,
Within the Android S2 controller app, what path do you see when you goto "Settings/System/Music Library/Music Library Setup”?

I had not tried that with the stick, but I had tried mapping the library to the “Music” subdirectory on my PC and it worked. That’s a different “button” on screen, so I presume there’s a whole different protocol

I think it would be worth trying the stick in the PC.  I am not sure it’s a different protocol.

I must say, I am becoming increasingly suspicious of the router USB port.  I know other things can see it, but I wonder if the problem is a data processing one and the error messages are misleading?

Edit: although it does say it cannot add the folder, not that it cannot find it.

I’m glad you retain your sense of humour and I can only admire your perseverance.  I look forward to hearing how it goes with the Nighthawk.  Might a basic Ethernet NAS be an alternative that would stop the TP-Link turning into a brick?

I don’t understand.

I think @John B was suggesting to maybe get an Ethernet linked NAS box instead, rather than relying on the router/usb drive connection. At least with that setup you can configure the shares, SMB version, users etc. and access it direct over the LAN - it might be the case there is an issue with the hardware, perhaps🤔? It’s odd it works one minute and then the share suddenly cannot be found. 

If I take the “old” USB drive and Add it to the Library as a drive, it spins about 15 minutes and connects.

When I try to mount the USB stick plugged into the router as a networked drive, it spins about six minutes and returns that the path is “no longer available”.

I tried power-cycling the router and trying again. I tried unmounting and remounting. That six minutes really sucks, because it’s long enough to get my hopes up.

The only hypothesis I can make is that there’s something about the way routers read drives that fluctuates sporadically, and that causes the drive to appear “unavailable” momentarily, but long enough to break the connection. That assumes that at one point the older (2018-2020) router router/modem did not behave that way, the most recent router (2020-2022) only began behaving that way sometime in late autumn 2021, and that the newest router (installed last week) behaves that way, and/or there was something in a Sonos update around late autumn 2021 that became less tolerant of inherent fluctuations. And so when there was a smaller dataset - only a few albums - it was able to read it all before this sporadic fluctuation broke the connection, but once it got past a certain size, it couldn’t add the library before the fluctuation broke. This also assumes that Sonos has to read an entire directory before it can build a drive, and doesn’t just add subdirectories as it goes.

This doesn’t explain why, previously, adding the entire drive (i.e., way back to four days ago when it added /g/ but not /g/SeaMusic) worked for a few days. That feels like a hypothesis-killer, but absent anything else, “sporadic fluctuations internal to the router” - which sounds like “something just doesn’t work” - is the best I’ve got.

If this $350 of an eyesore NAS drive tomorrow doesn’t fix it, I am going to be hella pissed.

Have I mentioned how much I wish I never bought this system?