Backup & Restore PMS NVIDIA Shield TV Pro

Plex Media Server
1

Hello All,

I have spent days setting up the PMS (Plex Media Server) on my Shield, added missing program/episode names, posters etc. I fear that if and when I need to do a fresh install of Plex or occasionally factory reset my Shields I will have to set up the Plex settings again from scratch, and given there are lots of movies, series, documentaries etc it would be so much better to be able to save my configuration and restore it so it is perfect and ready to go easily without having to do this enormous task from scratch each time.

I found this article which explains how to achieve this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/p7qke6/restoring_database_backup_of_nvidia_shield_plex/

But some replies indicate the user had problems and so I want to ask you if you for the latest and correct procedure to backup and restore my Plex Media Server with all my configured settings, media info posters etc. (The PMS was on a Windows PC it is well documented and easy, but for those of us with PMS on the Nvidia Shield Pro TV there is not much guidance to be found on Google.)

I would be so happy if anyone could please provide me with a clear guide how to backup and restore PMS on the Shield.

Thank you and kind regards!

Andrew Henshaw.

2

Well I must say I am surprised and quite disappointed not a single reply with any help/advice on this. I emailed Plex and was told they don’t offer support via email but if I use the forum Plex staff and helpful individuals will respond and answer.

Fair enough if other users haven’t replied but I thought someone from Plex would have done so. :o(

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There is this Download DB option, so I’d expect a an easy way to restore a backup. Am I misunderstanding the purpose of this function?

Any other system has an easy and simple way to backup and restore, yet it seems with PMS it’s quite a convoluted process, why can’t there be a one click backup and restore function included, maybe something to consider for future builds?

Otherwise it means setting it up from scratch each time, which is laborious and quite a PITA!

3

It’s the exact same way as restoring any server install on any thing a the server can run on. The difference with shield is by default the PMS folder which contains the DB is not in user accessible storage. You need to move it first which is outlined how to do in link below and the step three of that users directions. https://support.plex.tv/articles/moving-server-data-storage-location-on-nvidia-shield/