I have a 2022 NUC, and a brand new M4 desktop Mac. I have Plex on both, using the same movie destination via a Synology NAS (DS-1821+)
Through many sleepless nights, and devotion I have my metadata perfect on the NUC and I am attempting to replicate the process on my new Mac.
Is there an easier solution/method to getting them to match, rather than painstakingly trying to go through them, one by one, to find the few movies that are wrong/missing or given the completely wrong title/poster/information.
You can copy the Plex Data Folder from the NUC to the Mac. It will sync them at that point in time. However, after that point, any changes on one will not be reflected on the other.
See Move an Install to Another System.
Skip the Copy Additional Server Settings From the Source System section. It does not apply to your situation.
Plex Documentation → Your Media
→ Naming & Organizing Your Movie Files
→ Local Media Assets - Movies
If Plex is matching to the wrong movie:
a) Make sure to follow Plex naming guidelines.
b) For troublesome movies, you can add the IMDB/TMDB ID to the movie folder and file name. That tells Plex exactly which movie to match.
If you have specific posters selected for each movie, consider adding the poster to the folder containing the movie (if you are not already doing so). The poster will be the same for both servers. No manual selection required.
Thank you so much for the quick reply and advice.
I have finally got my two libraries to match.
Now, since I am still relatively new to this, is there any step-by-step instructions to create any kind of backup just in case something goes wrong.
I also have noticed, to my unfortunate surprise that out of a 128GB NUC, my PLEX media server folder is 40GB, I am worried about moving it, in the event it will ruin everything I have worked so hard on. Can I move it to an external hard drive? And if so how without potentially losing all my hard work?
Backup:
Plex must be stopped when you make the backup. If it is not, then you risk database corruption. At a minimum, backup the database files, since those define your libraries, etc. Since you’ve custom artwork, you’ll also want to backup the full Plex Data Folder.
What backup application to use is up to you. One my servers runs on a Synology NAS, and I use their backup application (HyperBackup) to backup the Plex Data Folder. My other server runs on Linux. On that one I manually make backups once every couple of weeks. There are backup apps for Linux, I’ve just never bothered to use one.
Moving the Plex Data Folder
Yes, it can be moved to another drive. If moving to an external drive, you must take care that the drive is not disconnected when Plex is running. If that happens it will corrupt the database.
Exactly how to move the data folder depends on the operating system.
If you want to use an external drive for the plex data folder on Windows, ensure that this drive has a fixed drive letter.
