Failing Hard Drive-Need To Migrate Files To New Hard Drive

General Discussions
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1

As stated, I ran the health of my primary video files hard disk 3TB (drive D). It has not failed yet, but, will in time.

I have a new Western Digital 10TB hard disk. I want to migrate all the video files from current 3 TB (Drive D) to the new 10TB (Drive E).

Can I then move the new 10TB hard disk and change the designation to Disk D)?

I can find reference in windows 11 help that says you can change the drive designation, but does not recommend it as any programs will fail to be recognized. I don’t feel this is a problem as all programs are on the “C” disk which is not effected. This “D” drive only has video files

This is probably kindergarten knowledge for savvy Windows users, but, the question stands. I’d rather look like a fool, now, and ask for help than screw it up.

2

Move Media Content to a New Location

You do not have to change the drive letter.

  1. Disable Settings → Library → Empty trash automatically after every scan.
  2. Copy (not move) the files from d: to e:
  3. Add the e:\ paths to the appropriate libraries, leaving the existing d:\ paths in place
  4. Scan to pick up new entries. Plex will show everything with duplicates.
  5. Remove d:\ paths from libraries
  6. Scan to pick up changes.
  7. Empty trash
  8. Clean Bundles (see pic below)

3

There is no need to manage this in Plex.

  1. Copy the files to the new hard drive, retaining all the folder and file names
  2. shut down Plex server
  3. swap the drive letters of old and new drive in Windows computer management https://www.howtogeek.com/96298/assign-a-static-drive-letter-to-a-usb-drive-in-windows-7/
  4. restart Plex server

Plex won’t even notice that something has changed.

4

Thank you all! Went off like clockwork.

5

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