Is it possible to have inadvertently deleted items from my local discs from my Plex interface?
I signed up for Plex this morning, and uploaded files from my home PC and a 1TB hard drive for use around my home. As a first uploading attempt I was unhappy with the filing, so after consulting your help menus which recommended starting again, I suppose you can’t drag and drop files, I found the options to enable the deleting of items from your server and emptying of the Trash can, which I enabled.
After deleting them from the Plex screen I went to my PC files to re-install them in the correct place. To my horror they are no longer on my local PC or hard drive where they have resided for over 3 years. Have I accidentally deleted 300 films, 50 box sets of TV series and some home movies and photos? Surely it is not possible for your app to, as it appears apparently a user is able to delete files from a completely separate disc/hard drive?
I am unable to find my “recycle bin” to see if the files are there to re-install.
Have I accidentally deleted 300 films, 50 box sets of TV series and some home movies and photos?
Probably
Surely it is not possible for your app to, as it appears apparently a user is able to delete files from a
completely separate disc/hard drive.
It wasn’t possible until you actually enabled the ability to do it. Nothing I have ever seen has recommended enabling the delete media option. Hence its turned off by default.
It may be time for some recovery software if you cannot find the recycle bin and or the items in it.
I’m sorry to say, I think you have deleted them. It’s hard to do inadvertently. As you found, Plex’s feature to allow media deletion is not enabled by default.
If you enabled the ‘Allow media deletion’ feature, then used the ‘Delete’ command that was made available by it, then yes, you have deleted the files from your drive. If your operating system is set up to move deletions to the recycle bin, that’s where you should find them. Plex doesn’t override that. Plex’s “empty trash” is not emptying your OS’s recycle bin. Hopefully you have your media backed up somewhere.
For future reference, I would recommend looking through Plex’s Media Preparation Guide to help you get your files organized in a way that allows Plex to present them with good organization.
And leave ‘Allow media deletion’ turned off, unless you really need it.
Just to add if you go down the route of recovery software then stop using your PC.
Even installing the recovery software will possibly write over some of your lost media. As will every other write operation your PC performs.
If you don’t have anything backed up then please consider using One Drive or similar for your personal videos and photo’s etc… Box sets and mainstream movies can always be replaced… your home movies can’t.
