NAS recommendations

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  • Contributor I
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I’m researching which NAS to buy and am finding the amount of options quite hard to navigate. What I’d like is:

  • A NAS that works seamlessly with Sonos
  • Cost to – ideally be below £250/$320
  • Good speed performance (obv.)
  • A NAS that allows for me to use as my actual iTunes music folder for my MacBook and potential to back up things like photos also (I don’t need it for movie files)
  • Nothing that requires ‘hardcore’ technical knowledge (I’m quite technically competent – with a bit of hand-holding – but I’d like the UX to be simple rather than be too involving)
  • For it to include 1/2TB storage min (as in fine for it to be 2x1TB with dual back up)
Thanks,
David
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30 replies

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
That sounds like a nice alternative for folks that don't want to dink with a Raspberry Pi or spend a lot more for another solution.

Sonos support should add a page to their FAQ for known working NAS drives and any tweaks needed to get SMB v1 working on them.
L
My old NAS drive died so I just got done updating my system to serve up my sonos music library from a NAS drive. I don't like to leave my computer on so I wanted a setup that runs when the PC is shut down. I found an inexpensive (~$30) piece of hardware that serves up flash drives/sticks as SMB NAS drives. I purchased a RAVPower Filehub (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PBG99P1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). This is a cheap travel router that can be set up in wired or wireless mode. I'm running it as a wired Samba server hanging off of my main router with a 128 GB flashdrive attached ($12 at Micro Center.). I had the RavPower up and running in minutes with their web-based admin interface. Then just pointed the music library settings in the Sonos controller to the Samba music share folder and re-indexed the music library.

This not a commercial for RavPower, Micro-Center or Amazon, just specifics on what I got working with a total cost less than $50!
Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Every device I have enabled SMB v1 on has worked.

G

Aha - ok I will see if the RAV folks can help me change that and see if it works.  That would explain perhaps why the older post said it works fine - it may have been v1 at that time.  Thank you.

K
I am sure that the Raspberry has enough grunt to do this; my question was in the context for someone that can be daunted by the Raspberry, if the FileHub can also do this multi serve with no trouble. I know my 2011 vintage Time Capsule from Apple struggled to do this with a USB port connected HDD; there was some latency which is why I went for a WD My Cloud that has worked flawlessly, but is now too expensive for someone that just needs a server for Sonos music play.
K
My first NAS for Sonos was as simple as it could be - a USB HDD wired into the USB port of my router.
I now have a WD My Cloud 2TB, that has worked flawlessly for many years now. It does not have any back up capability, but since all my music is on another HDD as well, I don't need that.
Y

you mean ravpower hub device, right? sorry to ask but as their official reply was that they dont work with sonos i am a little cautious. Still, it is more possible that they just didn’t try a lot for this to happen as this kind of application is not their main market target. 

G

Yes - I have both Samba and DLNA turned on.  Interestingly last night the error changed to an error code 900 which indicates some storage space problem.  However I could type in nonexistent directory names and still get the 900 error so I doubt the accuracy of that.  I need somebody who has the filehub working to tell me exactly what they typed into the Sonos app for the directory.  With that I should be able to see if my system is just broken...

Airgetlam

Note that Stanley said SMB v1, and not just Samba. Most devices use Samba v3, and need to be changed to allow the older version to work. This is a fairly common issue for communication between the Sonos app running on the speakers and an NAS. 

Bruce
C
Userlevel 6
Badge +14

For what it’s worth here’s the mount command I need to see the Rav  using linux

http://192.168.0.103/files/Music /mnt/sandisk    davfs   defaults,uid=root,gid=root,_netdev,auto  0       0

 

I don’t think I ever got it working with cifs

M

My old NAS drive died so I just got done updating my system to serve up my sonos music library from a NAS drive. I don't like to leave my computer on so I wanted a setup that runs when the PC is shut down. I found an inexpensive (~$30) piece of hardware that serves up flash drives/sticks as SMB NAS drives. I purchased a RAVPower Filehub (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PBG99P1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). This is a cheap travel router that can be set up in wired or wireless mode. I'm running it as a wired Samba server hanging off of my main router with a 128 GB flashdrive attached ($12 at Micro Center.). I had the RavPower up and running in minutes with their web-based admin interface. Then just pointed the music library settings in the Sonos controller to the Samba music share folder and re-indexed the music library.

This not a commercial for RavPower, Micro-Center or Amazon, just specifics on what I got working with a total cost less than $50!

This idea of using a travel router as a file server is great. I have a GL.iNET router. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K6MHRJI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Do you think that it might work? I appears that you can set it to run Samba 1

Thanks for any advice 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

If it runs v1 and has space for your music it will work. Sonos is not very picky about NAS devices outside the v1 requirement.

 

K
I found an inexpensive (~$30) piece of hardware that serves up flash drives/sticks as SMB NAS drives. I purchased a RAVPower Filehub
Very neat and looks like a good solution for those that want a NAS for just Sonos music play, with the requisite flash sticks getting cheaper all the time.
Does this also work just as well as a full blown NAS for playing different music at the same time from the attached stick to different Sonos zones?
lewisc
Userlevel 4
Badge +9
I would have a look at QNAP TS series. (I had a TS-451+ with the upgraded 8gb Ram and 4 HDD slots) TS series can do everything you want and more, only thing is the price, all NAS' are fairly expensive +/ overpriced..

Most NAS are sold diskless meaning you will need to buy drives sepratley.

The two main NAS providers are QNAP and Synology. Both will have options to be accessed via Sonos, and can also be accessed by a file explorer over IP/windows sharing/Mac sharing aswell as through a web browser. (I can't recommend Synology as I have no experience).
Authorised Sonos Installer
S

Hello all,

so in the end, did someone manage to make work this ravpower hub device as a NAS to SONOS ?

 

thanks

 

best

K
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

I use a WD MyCloud and it's been fine for serving music.

Anything that won't support SMBV1 is dead in the water as far as Sonos is concerned.

U

My old NAS drive died so I just got done updating my system to serve up my sonos music library from a NAS drive. I don't like to leave my computer on so I wanted a setup that runs when the PC is shut down. I found an inexpensive (~$30) piece of hardware that serves up flash drives/sticks as SMB NAS drives. I purchased a RAVPower Filehub (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PBG99P1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). This is a cheap travel router that can be set up in wired or wireless mode. I'm running it as a wired Samba server hanging off of my main router with a 128 GB flashdrive attached ($12 at Micro Center.). I had the RavPower up and running in minutes with their web-based admin interface. Then just pointed the music library settings in the Sonos controller to the Samba music share folder and re-indexed the music library.

This not a commercial for RavPower, Micro-Center or Amazon, just specifics on what I got working with a total cost less than $50!

This was super helpful!  I ordered a Ravpower and will connect a 400Gb sdxc card I already have and hope to use it as a wire Sonos library source with my Sonos connect- fingers crossed!

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I don't know how well it works on the FileHub but I can tell you that using my Raspberry Pi B v3 playing four different streams to different zones (FLAC audio) the CPU load was under 10% while viewing the GUI over VNC which use about 2%.
U

Looking into other options incase the RAV Power doesnt work out -  I stumbled across this:
https://thepi.io/how-to-use-your-raspberry-pi-as-a-nas-box/
If I read this correctly, I should be able download an image onto an SDXC card, stick it in my Raspberry Pi 3B, and then with a couple of config settings in the UI, enable a it as a wired nas that will connect directly into my Sonos connect! 

Good science project over the Holiday break!

2
Thank you 🙂
Y

Hello everybody, 

so does this set up with the ravpower really works? If yes, which model (RAVPower Filehub  Wireless Travel Router N300 or RAVPower RP-WD009) have you used and what is the way to find the path to your music folder that needs to be shared with Sonos? 

In my case, i would just need this ravpower device connected directly to my router and have my music folder (around 700 GB) into an external 2.5drive connected to Ravpower USB port.

Is it as simple as i describe it or do i also need to connect to Ravpower with a browser from my PC, access its settings with a browser and check if samba or smb1 is enabled? 
As i have never done this before i might be already in the wrong direction in my description above! 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

This may save you some digging for the PI settings: https://stan-miller.livejournal.com

I’m using a Pi 3B with a piggy-back M.2 card as it created a smaller setup and less clutter than an external drive. The 3B has plenty of power for this and a few other light duty tasks at the same time.

The Raspberrian Buster Desktop or Lite will work well, no need for the full Pi system and that makes for a lot more updates. I used Desktop release as I like to use VNC to manage the PI from other computers so I don’t have to use SSH or keep a keyboard, mouse and monitor attached.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

G

I have a RAVPower Filehub and for the life of me I can’t get the Sonos to see the share.  What directory did you point the Sonos to on the Filehub?  Sonos sees the Filehub as a computer but tells me there is no share “directory name” on the computer Filehub - no matter what directory I give it.  My Android TV can see the Filehub just fine.

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Did you enable SMB v1 on the file hub? Sonos requires that be active.

Y

I just got a reply from RAVpower that their Hub is unable to work with Sonos system. Its strange how 

lwanger has managed to make it work… It would be great if we could have a bit of details on this matter

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