'cannot create symbolic link' error when backing up the Plex Media Server folder

Plex Media Server
1

when I am backing up the Plex Media Server folder under /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server, I am getting the errors similar to the following one (with different paths) on some files under ./Plex Media Server/Metadata folder.

cp: cannot create symbolic link ‘./Plex Media Server/Metadata/TV Shows/a/d3d4266c0f4dbb7801056a11f73a093e4cef98c.bundle/Contents/_combined/seasons/4/posters/com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb_5c63a7f8fe5950c250f9a0c73b5ea020ee364add’: Function not implemented

Is this a big problem for the backup?

2

Why are you using cp ??? You don’t cp symlinks.

what are you trying to do ?

3

I am not necessarily after copying symlinks. I am trying to backup the server data (as per the message on my question) based on the instructions here: https://support.plex.tv/articles/201539237-backing-up-plex-media-server-data/

4

Tip!: In many cases, you may find it beneficial to “zip” or “tar” (or similar) the contents of the data directory. The larger your library, the more useful this may be for you as it could otherwise take a very long time to process thousands of individual small metadata files.

This is Linux, so .tar is kinda the default.

See Back up/ Restore /clone your PMS metadata

1 Like
5

If I may suggest ?

  1. Stop PMS (obviously)
  2. As root –

This tip shows you how to create then use the tar ball later for restore or cloning to new hardware

1 Like
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