'Auto Update Library' Doesn't Work With Network Drives?

General Discussions
1

I have my Plex server settings set to:

“Update my library automatically
Your library will be updated automatically when changes to library folders are detected.”

This works fine with local folders. If I add a movie or music file to a folder that is already part of a library, Plex server will notice it and add it to my library pretty quick.

I recently moved all my music to a folder on a remote drive (P:\Music). Windows treats it just like another drive on my computer.

Plex scanned it and found everything just fine. It works perfectly and plays the media great. Plex doesn’t know it’s a remote drive; it treats it like normal storage.

The only thing I’ve noticed is that when I add media to the remote drive, Plex does not “notice,” even if I give it a day. I have to manually tell Plex to scan library files for it to find the new media.

Any ideas as to what is causing this or how to fix it?

Thanks!

2

I’ve found that this heavily depends on the server software which serves up the share. If it is genuine Windows over a local network, it’ll likely work. If it is SAMBA, it won’t work most of the time.

3

I wonder if there is any way to trick Plex into noticing.

4

As far as I have gathered, Plex noticing depends on a SMB feature, which may not be (properly or incompletely) implemented in SAMBA.
You may have to resort to periodic library updates or manual. Or use the API to trigger the update by means of a script or similar.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201638786-Plex-Media-Server-URL-Commands