# Extremely Slow Scanning performance **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Media Server\ **Tags:** server-windows\ **Created:** [April 15, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457 "2022-04-15T20:55:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![klammore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d2c977/32.png) [@klammore](https://forums.plex.tv/u/klammore)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/1 "2022-04-15T20:55:41Z")
Server Version#: 1.26.0.5715 Player Version#: 4.79.4 Been having this issue recently where media scanning is incredibly slow. During this time it will typically process 1-2 folders a minute and sometimes get stuck for 5-10mins. I see no warnings or timeouts in verbose or debug logs. But this makes scans take 2-3 days since there are over 24k folders and 70k individual episodes in my library. In an effort to speed up scanning these library options are all disabled/set to never: Generate video preview thumbnails Generate intro video markers Generate chapter thumbnails Analyze audio tracks for loudness Analyze audio tracks for sonic features Perform extensive media analysis during maintenance is also disabled. Server is an i9-10900, 32GB RAM, NVME SSD for cache/temp dir. What can I do to speed up scanning? ---
**Author:** ![dbirch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@dbirch](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dbirch)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/2 "2022-04-15T23:00:55Z")
Are the files stored on the server, or are they connected via a NAS? What kind of drive(s) are the files stored on? Can you post the logs? ---
**Author:** ![klammore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d2c977/32.png) [@klammore](https://forums.plex.tv/u/klammore)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 11:48pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/3 "2022-04-15T23:48:13Z")
Mixture of media locations, some is local direct disk access (7200RPM Mechanical HDD), SMB target (Synology), SMB Target (Windows Server 2019). Don’t have access to get logs atm. New media is quickly found with partial scan, but due to the size of the library I’m frequently moving large amounts of data between different locations within the library (Hot, Warm, Cold storage locations). So typically on full scans 95% of media is skipped and the other 5% or so merely gets it’s location updated. Empty trash automatically after every scan - is disabled The main problem is that the 95% that is skipped due to “no changes” takes for ever to actually process. Typically 1-2 folders a minute, average 10-15 episodes/files per folder. Library make up is probably 70% seasons (1 season per folder) and 30% bulk episodes (airing episodes dumped in a communal folder). ---
**Author:** ![dbirch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@dbirch](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dbirch)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 11:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/4 "2022-04-15T23:56:14Z")
Might be worth checking the scan agent too. The newer agent is faster. But Ill wait for the logs ---
**Author:** ![klammore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d2c977/32.png) [@klammore](https://forums.plex.tv/u/klammore)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/5 "2022-04-16T14:50:31Z")
I’m using “Plex TV Series” for both the scanner and agent. ~removed~ I’m about 12 hours deep into a scan, 15% complete. Let me know if you can find anything, nothing is standing out to me in the logs. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/6 "2022-04-16T15:27:05Z")
`N:\Plex\Television\NEW\Shark.Tank.S13E14.720p.HULU.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb.mkv]` Things like this can slow down the scan. 1. To conform to the naming rules, the library would have to be directed at the `/NEW` folder only. 2. Folder level for the show title is missing 3. folder level for the season is missing > **[Naming and Organizing Your TV Show Files | Plex Support](https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/)** > > The scanners and metadata agents used by Plex will work best when your major types of content are separated from... ---
**Author:** ![klammore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d2c977/32.png) [@klammore](https://forums.plex.tv/u/klammore)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/7 "2022-04-16T17:06:47Z")
Thanks for the reply. I’ve tried larger dumping/temp folders before but historically Plex would just flat out stop scanning for new content once there was 5,000 items or more in the folder. So I’ve ended up trying to separate out full seasons from individual episodes. There is currently 16 source folders for the TV Show library. Renaming/Re-Organizing 150TB +/- of content as you’ve outlined isn’t feasible, and would be detrimental to the other applications that access this data without issue. I wonder if I would be better off leveraging a 3rd party scanner that doesn’t require such stringent folder hierarchy to be performant? The files are already matched correctly, which is typically the difficult part. I just need to scan and update the paths for the already scanned files. Plex has came a long way over the last 10 years with their matching, I used to have to spend days manually matching, merging, splitting when recreating large libraries. I tried having multiple smaller libraries but ran into issues when searching for content in plex web/apps etc. It’s just simpler from a consumption/end player perspective to have all TV Content in the same library. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/8 "2022-04-16T17:08:34Z")
> [@klammore](#): > > Renaming/Re-Organizing 150TB +/- of content as you’ve outlined isn’t feasible Yes, it very much is. Take a look at [Filebot](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-naming-schemes-for-filebot/121538/1 "Filebot") or TinyMediaManager. Either that, or you’ll have to live with those absurd scanning durations. ---
**Author:** ![dbirch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@dbirch](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dbirch)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/9 "2022-04-16T18:35:07Z")
I dont follow the exact structure plex wants, but I have ` {tvdb-}\ - x - ` split across 10 folders. and a library scan only takes 20-30 minutes, with ~100,000 files. Biggest issue you need to follow is to have per show directories and avoid intermediate directories. IE point your plex library to `N:\Plex\Television\NEW` and have `N:\Plex\Television\NEW\Shark Tank {tvdb-100981}\Shark Tank S13E14.mkv` --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/10 "2022-04-16T19:34:32Z") </div> Don’t expect external assets and subtitles to work with such a folder structure. It’s simply un-supported. It may work. It may not. It may work for a while – until it doesn’t. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![klammore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d2c977/32.png) [@klammore](https://forums.plex.tv/u/klammore)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/11 "2022-04-16T19:50:35Z") </div> Thanks @OttoKerner and @dbirch for taking the time to respond. I’ll just live with it for now, I’m not in a position to rename and reorganize these files as there are other applications accessing this data under it’s existing structure. Keeping those applications working is more critical to me than plex scanning. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/extremely-slow-scanning-performance/788457/12 "2022-07-15T19:51:08Z") </div> This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.