Will a HDD work instead of a NAS?

Yes, but for some routers, performance is sometimes sketchy when the router experiences a lot of traffic.

Thanks. So i went and got a HDD but im getting this error message during setup. Any ideas? I did try googling.

Have you tried doing what the message suggests you do? Or had you already done that?

Because it sounds like you selected "on this computer or an external drive connected to this computer" when you should have selected to add from a networked drive

Sorry I should have included in my OP I 100% selected to add from a networked drive. I even pressed back and selected it again with no luck I then restarted Pc and no luck. I then chanced my arm and selected external drive connected to this computer but got the same message. Last step I took was to turn off firewall in new router but nothing.

So can you see and use the HDD more generally? Can you create folders on it and copy files from your computer to those folders etc?

So can you see and use the HDD more generally? Can you create folders on it and copy files from your computer to those folders etc?

Yes no problems bar this one

Does the drive connect with USB? It might be informative to temporarily connect it to your computer and see what Sonos makes of it there. But first, are you using a Mac or PC and do you know what format the disk is formatted in? I have to admit i am clutching at straws now but there are circumstamces in which Sonos needs to have an external disk formatted in HFS+. I didnt think that was needed when attached to network rather than computer though.

I understand and really appreciate your help. I'm using a PC the drive is connected through USB and its formatted in ntfs for large transfers as its not just dedicated to music. I know it's a weird one I might chance contacting sonos customer care. I'm out at moment for night so can't plug it directly into pc but I will tomorrow. Thanks again

Interesting. I've been using an external HD with a ASUS router as the library for my Sonos setup for a little while now without problems. John asked about if you can access the HD otherwise, and you said yes. Does that mean that from a PC on the network, that the drive shows up as a network "server" that you can access? Does your router have settings for how the drive is shared? (On my ASUS router, I have it set up as a Samba share.) Is there an account/password for accessing the folder, and if so, did you enter that when setting up the library on the Sonos?

Ok guys I'm putting this up out of shame. I have spent hours trying to get it right I have tried Googling the error message. I have turned off my firewall and after that I allowed sonos in and made it private and I'm beyond frustrated. I'm trying to access my 1tb HDD as shown in above posts I figured out that my 1st issue was I was using the browse tab to find the HDD and sonos was adding it as "z" I since figured out I can't do it that way as only the pc would recognise it. So I have worked it this way //netstorage/music and also //netstorage/shared/music and I keep getting this error.
To be clear I have the HDD named as netstorage and the PC recognises it as that in that I have both a "music" folder and a "shared" folder and in the "shared" folder another "music" folder which is probably irrelevant but I just want to give as much info as possible.
I have also gone in to properties then security in these folders and highlighted everyone and also selected full control under permissions for everyone.
I think that's all the detail I can give I really appreciate all the help this community has given me since I purchased my sonos speakers. I am a complete noob when it comes to networking and as soon as I have this step done I'll feel like I have the ultimate setup. I suppose I'm so near yet so far.

Thanks again

Have you tried the experiment I suggested of checking whether Sonos could add it when attached to your PC rather than the network? I thought that might narrow down whether it's something about the disk or something about its location that was the hitch.

I must admit I worry slightly now about undoing all that you have done so far, so I'll have to leave that judgement to you.

Oh yes sorry I should of said it recognises it in seconds

That is helpful to know. This really is frustrating! I am not sure whether this would tell us anything useful or not..... but how about trying a USB flash drive with a couple of albums on it in the router slot?

Could it have anything to do with the router even though my shield tv and pc can access hdd with no issue?

That is helpful to know. This really is frustrating! I am not sure whether this would tell us anything useful or not..... but how about trying a USB flash drive with a couple of albums on it in the router slot?

So so frustrating. Ok so I just did as suggest and I get the exact same error message

Well that suggests it is nothing to do with the drive per se, but for some reason it seems Sonos cannot recognise that USB port. One last thing to try - can you find the IP address of the drive and use that instead of the name?

If the IP address doesn't work I think you need to phone Sonos Support and have them remote access your system.

Sorry, one other point, not quite as desperate as it sounds, try it with back slashes as well as forward slashes

No good thanks for your help looks like I'll have to give them a call

I really don't think you could have done much more. I wonder if there is a network port that Sonos needs open, but that other devices don't, but that is going beyond my knowledge. In the meantime it may be worth posting the makes and models of router and HDD. You never know....

Well that suggests it is nothing to do with the drive per se, but for some reason it seems Sonos cannot recognise that USB port. One last thing to try - can you find the IP address of the drive and use that instead of the name?
I think it does recognise the USB port because it finds "netstorage" its the music folder it struggles with by saying there is no shared folder "music" on the computer "netstorage"

What does no shared folder mean?

My router is the TP-Link Archer C9 as for the HDD it's just a Toshiba 1tb external USB 3.0 model no: DTB310

Has the sharing of folders you have done involved SMB sharing like this:

http://www.computertechblog.com/how-to-securely-set-up-file-sharing-in-windows-7/

No ill check that in the morning I'm using Windows 10 but I'll goggle for similar

I'll let you know thanks again