I recently (accidentally) deleted the Plex server installation on my QNAS device and realised I have no way of restoring Plex after this mistake. The rebuild is taking forever to get all of my categories, poster images and matches re-instated.
My media files are all backed up on another machine so I am not looking for a “complete” backup procedure, simply how to reinstate the server with all of my customisations.
I have searched the forum and (not being Linux savvy) have found it a little bit intimidating to try and put together a simple back up and restore operation in case this happens again.
Is there a “relatively” simple method (or script) out there that I can adopt to give me a secure backup and restore that will keep all of my customisations?
Apologies in advance if someone points me at a post I didn’t manage to find …
Thanks Chuck - I “think” I understand it but can I check I have this in “idiot proof” thinking!
There is a shared folder called “PlexData” which I can see if I link to the QNAP from my Windows PC.
In my Windows environment I would simply back up that folder (Presumably after stopping the service on the QNAP box)?
If I then removed the Plex App (by mistake for example) - would I just reinstall it, stop the service and then overwrite this shared folder from my saved copy?
On my QNAP I have that PlexData Share setup and then I use HBS3 (Hybrid Backup Sync 3) on my QNAP to run a scheduled backup of that folder to my backup location (in my case my old Synology via rsync). That might work for ya’ as well.
Edit: I’m backing up the Plex Media Server folder in the PlexData share.
When I need a backup from the QNAP (I’s a tertiary server), I get into PlexData, Right-Click Plex Media Server and compress it to a tar.gz (preserve Linux filesystem info which ZIP does not)
PlexData is a mountpoint / placeholder.
What you want to backup is the Plex Media Server within it.
Not all operating systems / tools will automatically traverse from PlexData → Plex Media Server. Test Test Test
Thanks Chuck for replying. If I go into the PlexData folder from within File Station, select Plex Media Server, then right click I see an option that says “Compress (Zip)”. This offers zip or 7z options. Trying both of those results in a background task failure. (Appears as a flasing exclamation point at the top of File Station). So my question is how to get it as a tar file and also how to compress it??? I did try compressing the file from a Windows environment but (as you stated), that does not work.
Yes, I was signed in as Admin. There is no option to compress to a TAR file either. When you execute the Compress option, all you get is a flashing ! at the top of the screen and drilling into it says Background Task Failure with no other explanation.
I will try the HBS3 suggestion - my first question on this thread was if there was a “simple” way to do this - guess the answer (sadly) is no for us non linux users …
I have been trying the method you outlined here and I have a few issues. Firstly, I tried to use the Compress function in File Station from the Plex Media Server folder. Just as a test I tried to compress a single small file (Setup Plex.html). The operation gets handed over to the Background Task manager and fails. I then tried to compress the Logs folder and that worked and produced a zip file as expected. So my first concern is whether a compress operation will include all files?
Next I highlighted all of the files in the PMS folder and tried a compress operation. The progress bar took about 10 minutes to traverse and then hung at 99%. The file counter is showing 0/13 files and it says the file size estimate is approx. 56kb.
If I the look at the shared folder from my windows desktop, it is showing a backup file has been created but the size of this is approx. 13Gb. From this I assume the backup is trying to include my media files but in reading your other posts you say that the backup of the PMS server is separate from that of the media files (which is what I would want).
Could you please confirm for me that the zip backup you specify is actually only the PMS server and if so, why is it trying to create a 13Gb file???
Thanks Chuck - that works. However, if I try and open the zip folder on the NAS, it starts a download of the file onto my Windows PC. If I try and open that file on the Windows PC (to check contents), it says the file is invalid and won’t open. Is that expected?
Thanks for the reply. I did actually directly copy the file across to my Windows PC using the network as well but get the same result “invalid File”. So, I then created a test folder on my QNAP server, moved the zip file to there and then tried to extract the contents to prove it is a valid file. In this case, the extract process is passed over to the Task Manager and it fails with no explanation.
Is it the case that this zip file will “only” extract from within the folder from where it was created? This is not my experience of zip files but not sure quite what is going on and whether I can trust this file as a secure backup. I appreciate the only real way to test is to ditch the current PMS and then try a backup but if that fails I’ve got hours of work re-setting up my Plex installation.
Are you logging into the QNAP using the ‘admin’ username or something else ?
What happens when you Right-Click the ZIP file and select “Download” ?
( You should be able to take this ZIP file and extract it into any test folder on your PC. It will treat it as datafiles )
