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.

Yes, I think the seamusic folder is perhaps more to do with its DLNA server service, which is visible in the windows network area in the screenshot posted earlier, rather than an smb share. That was why my thoughts were to maybe try dropping a few music files in a different folder called ‘Music’ to see if that was then shareable and viewable as a Sonos library, once the path is switched to it and has been indexed.

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.

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\

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. 

I await with great interest (genuinely) news of what happens with the stick.  Given what has happened so far, I can only be described as hopeful rather than optimistic.

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.

Yes - it looks like it was an attempt to link using the http protocol from a desktop Sonos app, rather than an attempt to link via SMB… http will not work unless the NAS has an http/https server.

So I guess I can’t multi-quote in this board. I thought that was weird, too, John. But since it was mapping it as an entire drive, I thought, welll…. Ken, I have no idea what you’re saying/suggesting.

I almost exclusively use the desktop app, I only use the Android when I’m forced to, or for something simple like volume (i.e., doesn’t require typing).

UPDATE

• Added the stick - SEADRIVE
• Created a folder - SEATUNES
• Added one album
• Success

Well, “Success” = it accepted Libary. Could not play file (1002 error I think). Restarted Sonos app. Played file.

Got cautious.

• Added one more album (copied over WiFi)
• “Update Music Library Now”
• Success

Got curious.

• Added one more album (copied over WiFi)
• Let the nightly scheduled update run
• Success

Got cocky.

• Added a handful of artists (copied over ethernet, little faster than WiFi) - just the “A”s (by first name, so “ABBA” and “Amanda Shires” go, but “Herb Alpert” doesn’t g\sidenote])
  • Can confirm via Windows Network and Android FTP the files are there
• “Update Music Library Now”
• //seadrive/g/seatunes is no longer available. The device where the files are stored may no longer be available….
  • I get that same message if I try to update via Android app

George Carlin did not have the vocabulary I am using right now. The amount of time (and money) I have thrown at this is staggering.

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.

I can imagine the air is pretty blue at the moment.  The problem seems to defy all logic.  Do you have a USB slot on your PC in which you could put the stick and to which you could point the library?  This is just a test, not a suggested permanent solution.

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

The fact that it works for a small number of tracks seems to rule out all the ‘obvious’ possibilities, like firewall.  Maybe it suggests some latency in the system, causing Sonos to struggle to process the files within an allowed time??

Is a faulty USB port on the router impossible?  Trying the stick in the PC would help assess that possibility.

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

It’s unlikely. It’s been out of the box for less than ten days. Additionally, I can stream video across the apartment. I know there are different buffer rates, but seems unlikely.

I just ordered the Netgear Nighthawk RAW120 - I swore off Netgear products a few years ago - but we will try that. See if my TP-Link is a $300 brick before I even get its credit card statement.

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.

Nothing now, because I can’t get it re-added. But there was:

Also, just to show there is some joy in my life, we get two or three more baseball games this year than we expected:

Go Mariners!

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?

@Alonzo Mosley,

In the samba access method screenshot posted earlier, where you have put the server path as //RJBMUSIC, there is an option to also enter a TCP port - will it let you do that? If so then see if adding TCP port 445 makes any difference. You might also want to see if it makes any difference adding a username and password to provide access to the share and add those user-credentials to the Sonos App too and try reindexing.

I don’t understand.

If there is, I can’t figure out how to enter/edit:

I wanted to avoid setting a username and password because other devices that access that storage (specifically the teevee) don’t allow for that.

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. 

Something like this:

https://smile.amazon.com/Cloud-Ultra-Network-Attached-Storage/dp/B01AWH05GE/

They’re all huge! I have limited space….

ETA:

Or this…

https://smile.amazon.com/Cloud-Home-Personal-Storage-WDBVXC0040HWT-NESN/dp/B076CTK55W/

You’re just suggesting any hard drive that connects via Ethernet rather than USB, yes?

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?