Archive old content

General Discussions
1

Hi,
How can I move old media files to a different location (in my setup a NAS), without the moved files are being marked as “Recently added”
Regards,
Jesper

2

If you are about to add the archived content to a different Plex library, then there is no avoiding the ‘Recently added’.

If your ‘archive NAS’ is just another file storage for the same Plex library, you can use a deviation of this procedure: https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201154537-Move-Media-Content-to-a-New-Location
(scroll down to ‘Moving Content to a New Location’)

Just modify the last step (‘Remove old content location’):
Instead, erase the media files from the “current movies” disk and update library, then empty library trash.

3

Hi OttoKerner,
I have tried the procedure you link too
Currently i have a 4TB SHDD on my Plex server (primary library). Film share is E:\Plexmedia\Film
Older content I move to my 3TB Apple Time Capsule. Share is M:\Film.
Both libraries are monitored by PMS.
But when I move files, They are recognised as newly added.
Regards,
Jesper

4

As I said above, when you move them to an different library (as you wrote above) then you can’t avoid the ‘recently added’.
The procedure is only valid when you add both storage locations to the same library.

xhxfgbldux7s.png729×527 24.4 KB

The idea of an ‘archive library’ is not very suitable to Plex, as it supports viewed / unviewed markers itself and you can view your main movie library in different ‘sorting views’ like:

  • view all unviewed movies
  • view recently added movies
  • view recently viewed movies

All of the above make an ‘archive library’ obsolete IMHO.

5

My Film Library contains E:\Plexmedia\Film and M:\Film.
But when i move an old mkv from E:\Plexmedia\Film to M:\Film.
its marked as new. please see image

6

The procedure works for me.
The crucial step is to copy the media files first, then update the library, so the copied items are now marked as duplicates (with a little ‘2’ on top of their posters).
Once that is done and you have verified that on all posters there are the little '2’s, you erase the files from the primary storage and update the library again.
Then empty library trash.

Keep in mind that you cannot move tv shows ‘partly’. Either you move all seasons and all episodes at once or none at all.