How do you backup the metadata from a Western Digital EX2 NAS including the custom grouping lists of films? How do you restore this data once backed up?
I am trying to backup my meta data for my plex server. I am using a western digital EX2. I have tried both of these below and they do not work. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Western Digital
/mnt/HD/HD_a2/plex_conf/Plex Media Server/
Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro:
/shares/Storage/.wdcache/.plexmediaserver/Application Support/Plex Media Server/
The metadata and the collection info are stored in 2 different ways. The metadata text is saved along with the collection info in the Plex database. I’m not sure the exact location, but the file is com.plexapp.plugins.library.db. Search for that. To restore, you just overwrite that file with your backup.
The rest of the metadata (posters, themes, subtitles, thumbnails, etc.) should be in the “Plex Media Server” folder that is up the tree from where you find the database. Copy the entire thing. This will also copy the database so you can do it all in one shot by copying this folder.
So is that file on my Mac computer or is it on the nas drive? “com.plexapp.plugins.library.db”
Where is the plex media folder? Is that on the nas or on the Mac computer?
Sorry for the delay, I didn’t notice you had responded. That file (and all the files related to PMS) are on the EX2. To be clear, you are running Plex Media Server on the EX2, right? You are just accessing the files from your Mac?
I unhid the files and can’t seem to find any of the system files. Where are they? Yes, I am running the plex media server on the ex2 and accessing the files from the mac.
I don’t have this unit so I’m trying to confirm with someone that does, but it should be at /mnt/HD/HD_a2/plex_conf/Plex Media Server/ as you mentioned above. Where on that path does it stop for you?
I can’t even find mnt. All I see is
Public- contains my movies but no hidden files
Smartware- nothing shows up in this folder
Timemachinebackup
I put the path in and nothing comes up.
Hi Jkaplan55, let’s take it one step at a time.
can you quickly walk me through your setup?
- is the Plex Media Server app installed on your Mac or do you have that running on your NAS?
- do you use the NAS to store your movies or are you just looking to move the backup of your Plex Media Server metadata there? (or are you trying to back the metadata up from the NAS) – apologies… I’m soooo confused
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Plex media server is installed on my Nas.
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Media is stored on the Nas
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I want to backup the metadata posters etc and also the movie collections. I will be eventually moving my content to a my cloud pro so I want to do this before I do that.
Make sense?
yes, it does.
You can follow these support articles which describe what to back up and how to find the data folder in your NAS.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201539237-backing-up-plex-media-server-data/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/202915258-where-is-the-plex-media-server-data-directory-located/
For your WD NAS, this is actually the 2 options pointed out by @anon18523487.
I’ve checked some WD forum. It appears this folder is hidden by default. You can access it if you connect to the NAS through SSH (you’ll first need to activate this on your NAS).
You could check out this thread which explains step-by-step how to access that folder:
Step 2 would then be to include it in your backup routine.
Let’s check if you can get to the folder and let me know if you need further support.
So I couldn’t download the ____ software since it is not available in the US anymore. I downloaded Cyberduck instead. Any other recommendations? I have a MAC.
I entered the
SFTP SSH FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL
192.168.1.29
USERNAME
sshd this was from the article also tried it with admin which is what I left the username as before
Password
The SSH password I setup on my WD EX2 ULTRA
Hit Connect and nothing happens. I get no files. What am I doing wrong here?
VSSH is the software I was referring to that is not longer available in the US. Do you recommend something else? I have a Mac.
I tried it in terminal shell and I get this
The authenticity of host ‘192.168.1.29 (192.168.1.29)’ can’t be established.
RSA key fingerprint is _______________________________________________________________do you want this info??
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added ‘192.168.1.29’ (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
admin@192.168.1.29’s password:
Permission denied, please try again.
admin@192.168.1.29’s password:
admin@192.168.1.29’s password:
Permission denied, please try again.
admin@192.168.1.29’s password:
Authentication failed.
[Process completed]
Accessing the WD is straight forward when you have a SSH client.
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You’re correct in that you accept the RSA fingerprint. This is how SSH, on subsequent connection attempts, knows it’s still the same host at that IP. If it ever fails to match, something major has changed with the host.
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Did you verify SSH access is enabled?
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If uncertain about the password, and you are indeed signed into the gui as the Admin user, then set it again to what it is. It never hurts to make sure.
Linux / Mac have SSH natively.
Windows has Putty available
I don’t understand why this isn’t working.
What should the username be? admin?
The host is the mycloud host correct?
Yes, the ssh access is enabled
Yes, the password is correct
So I was able to login and get to this point. What do I do now?
sshd@192.168.1.29’s password:
BusyBox v1.20.2 (2014-10-30 15:28:59 CST) built-in shell (ash)
Enter ‘help’ for a list of built-in commands.
root@MyCloudEX2Ultra root #
Hi @Jkaplan55,
sorry for the late response…
I consider in your case, Cyberduck might be the more straight forward approach. The app provides a graphical user interface and saves you from copying individual files around via the command line.
If you got to access the MyCloud EX2 through sshd, you should be able to access it using the exact same credentials in Cyberduck:
- click “new connection”
- select “SFTP (SSH connection)”
- enter 192.168.1.29 as the server
- leave the port as 22 (unless you have changed on the NAS when enabling SSH)
- enter the user name and password (
admin, your admin password used when you successfully logged in via sshd 5 days ago) - click “connect”
1st connection might take a moment. Once connected, you should see Cyberduck’s file browser.
I have mine linked to a small Ubuntu server… so the file browser connects to /home/<my account name.
In your case you should see the NAS’ shares and be able to navigate to the folders mentioned at the beginning of this thread. From there, you should be able to select the applicable files and download them (right-click > download or just drag-and-drop them to your own Mac).
If your Cyberduck connection fails – can you post a screenshot of the configuration screen (without your password) and what view you get instead of the intended file browser?
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