# Episodes showing duplicates **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062 "2017-02-07T17:01:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/1 "2017-02-07T17:01:30Z")
Hey guys, So I’ve been having this issue ever since i set up plex on my Synology server, most of the tv shows i put into plex are showing as a duplicate, but I only have one file. When I click view info it shows two file paths but both are the same, there are no hidden files that i can see at least, i only say that because after days of researching I’m out of options. Please see the below screenshot of what i mean about the file paths. [http://imgur.com/aPsXfNW](http://imgur.com/aPsXfNW) The only way I’ve found to fix this is to rename the file to something that makes it not a video e.g. episode.mkvs and wait for it to be gone from plex and the rename the file to what it should be, obviously this isn’t ideal by any means and there must be some other way of sorting this issue, as I never had this while plex was set up on my windows PC. Any help would really be appreciated as I’m at a complete loss here, also i have compared my settings in all applications with my brothers who has his server working fine. ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/2 "2017-02-07T17:19:20Z")
To fix this, you need do the Plex Dance. 1. Move the offending media to some location not monitored by PMS. 2. Update the Library 3. Empty the trash 4. Clean the bundles 5. Verify it’s gone 6. Move the media back in 7. Update the Library again I’ve not seen this error occur in isolation with only one file before. If you had a block of files (an entire subdirectory), it would be an indication of a directory being listed twice in the library definition list or symbolic links somewhere ---
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/3 "2017-02-07T17:28:17Z")
Hi Chuck, do you mean that i have to remove my entire directory and the relist it? also in relation to the steps you gave on the above would i have to do that every time i see a duplicate? or is it just once per show? ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/4 "2017-02-07T17:35:03Z")
First, you should not be showing duplicates of any kind without just cause. This indicates a problem. Where the problem lies hasn’t been determined yet. The most common cause is as I’ve indicated. Adding a directory and then adding its parent in the list of directories for PMS to scan is the most common case here resulting in `:facepalm:`🙂 What I am specifically suggesting as first step is : 1. Move that file somewhere else. Your home directory / desktop perhaps? 2. Perform the [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064) 3. When you see the episode is now completely gone, move the file back into position where it belongs. If you find, after updating the library, it still exists, we will have to dig deeper ---
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/5 "2017-02-07T18:34:13Z")
really appreciate all the help thus far. once i do the Plex dance as you say everything is perfect, but as i add more content every day i see the issue happen with the tv shows that get added. so when i add an episode of gotham for example it shows its duplicated, but when i do the “Plex Dance” its fine. Then that night when more tv shows are added, those tv shows appear duplicated. ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/6 "2017-02-07T18:42:59Z")
Do you have PMS set to “Empty trash after every scan” ? What you’re describing sounds like there is a race condition occurring. If this is true, and we can recreate it reliably, the devs will want to see it. ---
**Author:** ![leelynds](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/leelynds/32/82049_2.png) [@leelynds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/leelynds)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/7 "2017-02-07T19:46:20Z")
@ChuckPa – curious what you mean by “race condition” I have had duplicates show up occasionally, but I found that by copying (or moving) the file to a directory Plex can’t see on the same drive, and then moving that file to it’s proper location the duplicates don’t happen. Only happened when moving from one physical drive to another, so I assumed Plex started to scan the incomplete file, and then re-scanned when the move was actually completed. Is that what you are saying? ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/8 "2017-02-07T20:09:36Z")
Race condition is where two things try to write or read the same spot (The DB) at the same time. If both read, thinking the data is valid, perform an update to the data and then write back… “Last Writer” wins since it’s a whole-record update. ---
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/9 "2017-02-07T20:49:41Z")
Yes i have it set to empty the trash after every scan. Do you think it would fix the issue if I took the write privileges away from plex on my server? ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/10 "2017-02-07T20:58:47Z")
PMS only needs to read your media. It **does** need to have R/W to the Plex share. ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/11 "2017-02-07T21:02:28Z")
I would look in your Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases directory IF you have a backup of the database (it will be date-time stamped), you have an easy recovery option if this error started since that date. ---
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/12 "2017-02-07T21:15:26Z")
so the issue only started since I have set up my Synology Server, I had previously ran plex from my PC and had no issues. It would make alot more sense if it was every episode showing duplicated, but it only seems to be around two thirds of them and that is what is throwing me. Ideally i dont want to have to remove the library as i have around 10000 episodes so that would be a pain to put back in but if it is the only solution then ill have to suck it up haha ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/13 "2017-02-07T21:35:05Z")
Is your PC Linux based? If so, we can do something that will ‘slide up-hill’ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/14 "2017-02-07T21:40:55Z")
my PC is windows, but my server is a Synology Disk Station DS416Play NAS Server, which apparently runs off its own version of linux. ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/15 "2017-02-07T21:45:12Z")
My thought was this: If you had Linux or MacOS, since both of them have symbolic links, don’t use drive letters, and the same directory separator, it’s possible to emulate the MAC or PC on the Syno as you transfer over. You literally can Drag & Drop the installation once the Syno has the temp hooks to emulate MacOS or Linux directory structure for the source media. It keeps everything. ---
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/16 "2017-02-10T14:38:09Z")
Ive tried moving folders and creating new directories. still happening any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![leelynds](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/leelynds/32/82049_2.png) [@leelynds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/leelynds)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/17 "2017-02-10T14:53:42Z")
> @rapidfuzion said: > so when i add an episode of gotham for example it shows its duplicated, but when i do the “[Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064)” its fine. Then that night when more tv shows are added, those tv shows appear duplicated. Is it possible Plex is reading a folder for downloads? Active downloads should go someplace that Plex can’t see, and moved only after completed. I have seen several reports of an active download causing problems. ---
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/18 "2017-02-10T16:04:02Z")
> @leelynds said: > > > @rapidfuzion said: > > so when i add an episode of gotham for example it shows its duplicated, but when i do the “[Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064)” its fine. Then that night when more tv shows are added, those tv shows appear duplicated. > > Is it possible Plex is reading a folder for downloads? Active downloads should go someplace that Plex can’t see, and moved only after completed. I have seen several reports of an active download causing problems. That’s what i was thinking, but i created a full new directory well away from the downloads folder and still the issue persists ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/19 "2017-02-10T16:23:16Z")
> @rapidfuzion said: > That’s what i was thinking, but i created a full new directory well away from the downloads folder and still the issue persists Did you create a new library to test the new directory with? ---
**Author:** ![rapidfuzion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@rapidfuzion](https://forums.plex.tv/u/rapidfuzion)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062/20 "2017-02-24T23:47:33Z")
Sorry for reviving this thread, but I had fixed the issue. I moved all my data from the folder called “TV Shows” to “TV Shows 2” and deleted the library in plex itself, then readded a new library called “TV Shows 2” and it worked for all of about a week. Now it is duplicating absolutely everything that is put into my tv folder. Im going to lose my ■■■■ if I cant fix this soon haha Please help!! [Next page](https://forums.plex.tv/t/episodes-showing-duplicates/179062.md?page=2)