I"m sure smart people on here have figured this out a while ago but just thought I’d share…
I’ve been running Plex on a Mac Mini with the media stored on a Drobo 5N for just over a year. In that time I’ve burned through a 5TB drive, a 4TB drive, and a 3 TB drive. Initially I thought there must be something wrong with the Drobo. The 3 and 4 TB drives were standard desktop drives, not ones optimized for a NAS so that was probably my fault. The 5TB one was designed for NAS though. On to the big discovery…
While using plex on the desktop, I noticed that it seemed like it was always doing a library update. I had the “update when new media added” option checked but even when I hadn’t added new media, the library scan was always going. It finally dawned on me that most likely Plex was seeing the Drobo do it’s magic (I have dual disk redundancy selected) and therefore thought it should do a library update. I unchecked the update library option (including in advanced the option to do a partial scan). I’m hoping this will keep me from burning through hard drives like crazy from now on.
I have no proof that this is what happened but it seems like a logical conclusion. If anyone knows better and I"m just full of crap please feel free to chime in!
I think your hard drive issues have nothing to do with Plex.
You are saying Plex is working the Drobo too hard ??
I would guess a lot of other programs would work the 5N as much or more that Plex
You could blame the dual redundancy or just bad luck with the drives.
I have had a 5n for over 2 years and and I think one drive packed it in.
But mine is not on 24/7 and is not my main Plex server so my opinion might be crap also
I could be way off too but my Drobo is on 24/7 and Plex is really the only thing I use it for. Interesting point about the dual disk redundancy though, I never thought about that. I guess that could cause more read/writes whenever new content is added… I add several TV episodes on a daily basis… Thanks for the insight!
I have the Drobo 5C, (USB 3.1 TypeC connected) and I know what you mean, the Drobo does background movements of data to keep data optimised across the disks and this may trigger Plex to rescan the library.
Essentially, the Drobo background data movements, should not change the file/directory structures include date/time stamps, so the Plex Media server should not think any new writes have taken place.
I personally have an SSD to store Plex Cache and Meta Data downloads (locations are configurable on the Plex Server) to keep the Plex Media Server running smoothly, and only use the Drobo to store source media content. This seems to work well for me and I only hear the Drobo spin up if someone in the house is actually connected to the Plex server accessing files. So I would not recommend using the NAS for the cache/metadata.
If your concern is the consumption of space, just check with your Drobo Dashboard to see if you have a large amount of capacity reserved for capacity expansion. If you do, then that’s inaccessible storage that can not be used (due to not enough to provide redundancy) because of the odd drive configuration you’re using and you need to swap out a smaller drive with a larger drive to get access to that capacity.
I personally have an SSD to store Plex Cache and Meta Data downloads (locations are configurable on the Plex Server) to keep the Plex Media Server running smoothly, and only use the Drobo to store source media content. This seems to work well for me and I only hear the Drobo spin up if someone in the house is actually connected to the Plex server accessing files. So I would not recommend using the NAS for the cache/metadata.
I’m running Plex on a mac mini that I replaced the stock with an SSD as well. If I’m not mistaken, the Plex Cache and Meta Data is stored on the mac mini in the Library/application support folder so it sounds like we have a similar configuration…
Since I turned off the settings I mentioned above I have noticed that Plex is no longer continually updating it’s libraries. I have to do more manual library scans but that is a small price to pay…
I am running with a Mac mini and Drobo 4D. Outside of storing archived photos’s and other items, my Drobo is only serving Plex video’s. If no one is using the Plex, Drobo seems to go to sleep quite often. I have to guess it is not Plex that is hammering your Drobo. If so, I would expect my drobo would never sleep.
I am running Plex Media Server on a Mac mini, content is spanned between the secondary internal disk (primary is a SSD) and a couple of external drives, no money to spare on a NAS at the moment.
Plex update option is ON, but I am not getting unwanted or unwarranted updates.
Disks go to sleep like clockwork.
That said, a friend (not particularly computer savvy) was having similar problems (i.e. Plex updating all the time). The solution that worked for him was being more selective with what to include in the library.
If, for example, you are sharing the whole NAS and use it for backups, torrents, iTunes or basically everything else, Plex interprets ANY change in the directory structure as a modification to the library, thus the need to update.
@okamiokami said:
I am running Plex Media Server on a Mac mini, content is spanned between the secondary internal disk (primary is a SSD) and a couple of external drives, no money to spare on a NAS at the moment.
Plex update option is ON, but I am not getting unwanted or unwarranted updates.
Disks go to sleep like clockwork.
That said, a friend (not particularly computer savvy) was having similar problems (i.e. Plex updating all the time). The solution that worked for him was being more selective with what to include in the library.
If, for example, you are sharing the whole NAS and use it for backups, torrents, iTunes or basically everything else,
Plex interprets ANY change in the directory structure as a modification to the library, thus the need to update.
Several opinions whether Plex monitors folders on the network.
But under settings /library this option can be turned off,
Several opinions whether Plex monitors folders on the network.
But under settings /library this option can be turned off,
Please note that I was referring to frequent uploads on a LOCAL disk. It is highly probable that Drobo’s (or any NAS) constant tinkering with files to optimise performance does not change directory structure or content a bit.
Again, the problem may be that for the sake of convenience a user could decide to share folders containing torrents.
The best practice is to create folders for FINISHED movies and FINISHED TV Shows, etc.
Automatic library updates are VERY convenient, also, in a year, the user will be fussing about the LACK of automatic updates. So it would be better to try ad figure what the problem really is, not shell out a solution (turning off automatic updates) that is not a solution at all.
At the very least, when disabling automatic updates, you should enable scheduled updates. Otherwise you will create a new problem: files added to library folders not showing up in the library.
In customer assistance you have to 1. understand that people think in very different (and usually weird) ways and then 2. think a couple of steps (and a couple of months ahead). Today’s workaround is tomorrow’s problem (which might be good planning if you are getting paid to manage a Plex installation).
@spikemixture: sorry for not explaining myself clearly enough
Plex behaves the same no matter where content is stored.
My friend, the guy who SOLVED the frequent updates issue with a better selection of shared folders, only uses LOCAL disks (i.e. disks directly connected to his Mac).
So it’s not a question of WHERE your folders are, but HOW NESTED they are (or more precisely how many subfolders they have, and how many OTHER apps or users have access to those same subfolders).
By exclusion:
if you can exclude other users, applications or devices within the LAN are modifying the content of any shared folder (torrent, Apple Photos, etc)
if you can exclude hardware issues (apparently more than one drive is affected, and it would be a weird coincidence)
the only possible reason for unwarranted updates is that updates are caused by improper selection of shared folder.
I hate to repeat myself (especially with people who are supposed to be receptive and “on the ball”) but when a folder which is part of a Plex library contains files that are modified frequently by the OS, any application or user, frequent library updates are NOT unexpected, quite the opposite. Plex is smart, but not smart enough to understand that the PDF that was just downloaded is just the manual for your fridge, and not the latest episode of a TV Show
At this point, rather than throwing in your two cents without having experienced the issue and without having tried the solution, you should concede that this is well thought. Only thing that we can do is wait and hope that @machsurfer understands the proposed solution and is able and willing to try it…
So, to make a quick and dirty list of folders that should NEVER be included in a Plex library:
a. ANY system folder
b. ANY download folder (especially torrent folders)
c. ANY self-updating library (On a Mac: Pictures/Photos Library, Music/iTunes Library). If you want to share those, you must use Plex channels
d. ANY shared folder
I also use Drobo5N to store my Plex media without issue. I will say that I do NOT use “Disk Drive Spindown”, so my drives run 24/7. Most hard drive failure occur when changing states (spin up, spin down) and after many years running like this I’ve had no issues.
