DSM 7 and Plex updates

[jayemelle]

Hi
I hope someone will be able to help me.
I’ve been happily operating Plex on my Synology DS220+ for a couple of years.
However, not been very technically minded I’ve yet to upgrade to DSM7 as I didn’t feel confident enough to navigate my way through all the detailed steps, despite having watched numerous vids and read ChuckPa’s notes. So, I’m still on DSM 6.2.4-25556
I also haven’t upgraded Plex since 1.40.0.7998 was released, mainly because I’d read about some of the problems it caused and how long it took to install. So, I’m still on 1.32.8.7639.
My system continues to run OK, but I need to know -
1 - Is it OK to leave things as they are?
2 - If I did decide to upgrade, should I do DSM first or Plex?
Thanks

[ChuckPa]

If you want to stay at DSM 6 for now, you’re OK to do so.

We will continue to support DSM 6 until DSM 8 is released -OR- Synology discontinues their support for DSM 6.

As for upgrading to DSM 7.

1. The steps are well defined & documented.
2. While it is a detail-rich process, the documentation shows you every step
3. If you’re patient with it as it does what it needs to update from 6 → 7 then all will be ok.
   (it can’t ‘hang’ but can take a long time if you have a lot of media indexed)

The choice is entirely yours.
All the newer systems are on 7 by default.
Most folks I know of on 6 have migrated to 7 unless Synology discontinued support / doesn’t offer DSM 7 for those machines.

[jayemelle]

Hi
Thanks for the info.
I’ll have another look at moving to DSM 7.
Is there a link to your latest how-to document?
Is it possible for you to give me an idea of how long the update process might take - I have 764 films and 4,800 TV episodes a total of 2.4TB of data.
Thanks again.

[ChuckPa]

We’ve created “FAQ” threads for platform-specific info which supplement the https://support.plex.tv topics.

For Syno: “Syno FAQ” (search for it)
and you’ll find:

Synology FAQ - Questions, Answers, and How-To's

Synology Frequently Asked Questions Table of Contents Intro: Posting in the Plex Synology Forum DSM 6 & 7 FAQ Some of these FAQ apply equally to DSM 7 and 6. Others do not. Please read carefully before proceeding. Getting access to the Logs Have I installed the latest version…? Which version do I need, Intel or ARM? 3a. Using Plex’s package signing public key - DSM 6 LAN addressing requirements - RFC1918 specification for local LAN? First run & Setup Recommended Media Organization and A…

Scrolling down the list of tidbits, you’ll find

Synology FAQ - Questions, Answers, and How-To's

FAQ 27 - Migrating an existing PMS from DSM 6 to DSM 7 Upgrading PMS from DSM 6 → DSM 7 DSM 7 no longer allows us to go find the metadata directory and use it across volumes before starting PMS (This is the lack of “root” privilege blocking). As such we require the following two conditions are met we will attempt to automatically migrate you; You have an existing DSM 6-created PMS installation and PMS is installed on the SAME STORAGE VOLUME as the “Plex” shared folder (this is critical) …

Take your time reading it.

There are a lot of steps but there are also screenshots to help.

ASK if you have questions.

To give you an estimate of the time required:

• On single disk volume (JBOD) systems: 3 minutes per 1000 items
• On multiple disk volume (SHR/RAID) systems: about 2 minutes per 1000 items.

You will hear it rattling the drive(s) when this is happening… It’s normal.