I have been trying to figure out the last couple days why 5 seasons of South Park has deleted from my NAS twice this last week. It seems the option to delete episodes after watching when setting recording rules has deleted all shows marked as watched in a different library.
Context:
I have two TV Shows library, one for Animated shows and one for DVR (I have many other libraries so I am keeping it simple for this problem). I have backup copy of South Park in Animated shows for LTS.
I decided to setup recording rules to check out the new feature using comskip to remove commercials and I saved the show to DVR library with the option to delete the recording 24 hours after watching. After watching the new episode on Thursday, I deleted the episode and deleted the rule. I realized yesterday the last 5 seasons that were marked as watched were gone.
At first I thought it was user error, but I have not accidentally deleted a show before. Thankfully I had the episodes on another drive and so I moved them back. However, I just went back to the folder 24 hours later and it’s gone.
I assume this is not expected behavior, it’s why I set up recordings in separate library. I also checked Plex Media Server logs and it’s showing multiple DVR: Subscription: We want a premiere, and …, ignoring. This is peculiar since the rule was deleted last Thursday and the log timestamp is Dec 04, 2017 14:18:17.
DVR settings tie to the show, regardless of recording or your old archived stuff, unfortunately. I have encountered this many times. Setting your “Keep” settings at all will run like a razor through your existing materials overnight.
To fix: Not only do you have to set your DVR to keep all recordings, but you should go to the show in your archive (once you load it all back in) and hit the edit icon in the lower left corner. Go to the Advanced tab and double check the Keep settings there as well.
These settings tie together in recording and in your library for reasons unknown. I’ve been ranting about it for quite some time to no avail:
I guess I failed to mention… “Keep - All Episodes” and “Delete Episodes After Watching - Never” are the only settings that will keep your past materials safe.
@AmazingRando24 thank you! I wouldn’t have considered looking at the options for the show in the LTS library. I changed the option to never. Can’t believe the two are linked!! I kept separate libraries to avoid problems like this.
I have not tried to dig around in the Plex DB to determine if this is in fact the case. The settings for a show appear to span multiple libraries and are therefore held not in a particular library in Plex. The reason for this belief is I have seen several posts on the forum of other users that have setup DVR to record a show that they already have in a different library setup for DVD/BD ripped content. The settings chosen for DVR where recording to a separate library from the ripped content but they discovered the ripped content was deleted as well as @nakedninja42 has mentioned. The DVR appears to initially set the Keep/Delete settings for a Show when the recording is initially setup. Deleting and recreating a show does not seem to alter the settings for Keep/Delete for the show.
As @AmazingRando24 mentioned you need to change the Keep/Delete settings for the show in a library.
I will file an internal issue ticket over the next few days once I can gather some screenshots and logs of the deleting. I am really busy at work right now so can’t spend much time until possibly Friday or over the weekend.
Thank you @johnm_ColaSC. Any attention you can give to this would be appreciated. Whether or not I disagree with the rules is irrelevant without first understanding what they are.
@nakedninja42, I have discovered that once you set the Keep settings in the DVR, they stick to the show in an odd manner. I had used All In The Family to illustrate recording deletions and left the Keep settings in place when I deleted the recording. About a week later, I ironically decided to add the full show of All In The Family to my library. I neglected to check the settings I’d set the week before… and BOOM! Gone from the library the next day.
I set it to record again, and reset the settings there, thinking that would correct the issue. Removed the recording and re-added the show (much like you’d done) and again… BOOM! The next day they were missing again.
I then remembered the fun I’d previously had with The Big Bang Theory in this regard and thought to double check the settings in the advanced area, and sure enough… there were the Keep settings that were causing the odd phenomena.
So, apparently your Keep settings are tied to a show once you set them… even if you delete the show fully, possibly forever.
