Chasing the Plex Cloud Fantasy...

Since Plex has no direct line of communication for customer support, I have no choice but to openly express my displeasure, something I always try hard NOT to do!
I’m not an active forum member but I’m a long time Plex Pass user. Like many I immediately signed up for the Cloud beta immediately after receiving the information about it. I’m running Plex on an aging computer so the idea of a backup source to stream my media was very appealing, especially when I’m away from home. I purchased Amazon unlimited cloud in anticipation and spent weeks uploading all of my media. Sadly, no invite.
Many weeks perhaps months go by and I was still patiently waiting. Finally, a 12/1/16 email from Plex announcing they’ll be ramping up invites on 12/5/16! Renewed excitement but 12/5 comes and goes with still nothing for me except the hint that Amazon Cloud might not be the Plex friendly cloud provider they thought it would be :frowning: Thanks for the update but why get me all excited again if you’re not planning to invite me?!
2 Weeks pass and on 12/15 another update! As hinted, Amazon cloud is a no go. Google, DropBox and OneDrive are now the supported Plex Cloud options. Along with this dreaded news, still no invite but suggestions on how to migrate my data from one cloud to another.
Guess I’m just a waiting fool as I jumped right in and signed on with one of their suggested migration providers and began the ordeal. The process was not a smooth one to say the very least – painful in fact. Though the “Plex recommended” company tried to be helpful, they are clearly not ready for prime time. Since they get an A for Effort, I’ll leave it at that.
So now I’ve spent nearly as much money on cloud storage, migration providers and sync software as I would have if I’d just purchased a new computer or NAS to run my Plex server more efficiently, not to mention the hours and hours (days!) I spent straightening up from the migration disaster… I really feel compelled to ask Plex why some of us seem to be elusively chasing your “Cloud”? There are posts from brand new subscribers saying they are using this “Cloud” and I even read a post indicating “thousands” have already been invited into the program. Others (like me) just seem to endlessly prepare to be invited, only to be teased.
At this point I have far too much invested to just give up but, just how long are you going to make me chase this Plex Cloud Fantasy?

@mfp1020 said:
At this point I have far too much invested to just give up but, just how long are you going to make me chase this Plex Cloud Fantasy?

No offense but you made this choice yourself. You shouldn’t invest in a product prior to getting access to Plex Cloud beta. In my mind, that makes no sense. How would you know when you are getting access to said service? You’re essentially guessing and then paying for the priviledge! Not the way to make purchase decisions. While I appreciate it’s annoying that Amazon Cloud Drive is no longer an option, that’s kind of the point of the beta… to see what is viable, to determine bugs, fix them and then release a working product. It’s just an unfortunate turn of events.

You have a good point, there were certainly very good reasons to believe in the statements below. Having said that, anyone in show business knows the phrase “when you haven’t heard…you’ve heard!”

  1. Starting today, Plex Cloud, our new, premium offering, will be available to a limited number of interested Plex Pass users who want to participate in the invite-only beta program. If this sounds good, head over and sign up here. We’ll be expanding the program over the coming weeks, so if you don’t hear back right away, sit tight!

  2. Sign up for access to the Plex Cloud Beta. Please sign up as soon as possible to ensure your spot.

  3. Currently, Plex works with Amazon Drive. We’ll continue to evaluate adding support for other cloud storage providers over time

It’s currently in beta. You’ll need to be patient.

As an aside, I have everything of mine synced to two different cloud services as a backup, so I’d say putting all your files in the cloud isn’t a wasted endeavor. You’d want that for backup anyways. Plex Cloud isn’t meant to be the main holder of all your media, and to use it as such seems… backwards. Mine is being used for when I’m not at home, or my family (in Plex Home) when they’re not in my house.

No offense taken! I agree that I’m responsible for all of my choices. I don’t however agree that I made senseless choices based on the information I received. I’m not being hostile about this, it’s just my opinion. Besides, I barely complained about the cloud drive switch in and of itself, it was just part of my full experience. If I could have reached Plex directly to say what I wrote, I would have. At this point, just felt I was entitled to express some honest frustration.

Hang on there, over the weekend I got access to Plex Cloud. I’m sure sooner or later you’ll get access as well.

About the transfer of your data, rclone would have been a good and free solution. It is command line based, but with the docs on the rclone website it is not that difficult to get it working. So if others are in the same boat then have a look at this.

@misteriks said:
Hang on there, over the weekend I got access to Plex Cloud. I’m sure sooner or later you’ll get access as well.

About the transfer of your data, rclone would have been a good and free solution. It is command line based, but with the docs on the rclone website it is not that difficult to get it working. So if others are in the same boat then have a look at this.

Thanks for letting me know accounts are still being added! And for the rclone solution :slight_smile: Do rclone transfers use your home internet data? In the end it was GoodSync that sorted out my migration mess. It’s not free but works great as a set it and forget it solution for syncing and/or backup. Only problem with it is that even the transfers from cloud to cloud use your internet data. Since my Comcast account now has a data cap it’s something I have to watch out for.

@mfp1020 said:
Only problem with it is that even the transfers from cloud to cloud use your internet data. Since my Comcast account now has a data cap it’s something I have to watch out for.

You’ve seen this?
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/249491/moving-content-between-cloud-storage-providers#top

To @mfp1020 and everyone else waiting for access to the beta. We are still sending out invites, so please be patient.

@MovieFan.Plex said:
To @mfp1020 and everyone else waiting for access to the beta. We are still sending out invites, so please be patient.

Thanks… I’ll keep the dream alive :slight_smile:

@OttoKerner said:

@mfp1020 said:
Only problem with it is that even the transfers from cloud to cloud use your internet data. Since my Comcast account now has a data cap it’s something I have to watch out for.

You’ve seen this?
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/249491/moving-content-between-cloud-storage-providers#top

I did and it was one of the mentioned services that I mentioned as “not being ready for prime time”!