Full scan (3 hours) when I add just a simple movie

Hello,

When I add 1, 2, 3… movies, the films Library make a complete scan.
It’s scanning about 3 hours (I have 4000 movies).
My entire library is apparently updated (with metadata and media info).
This is what I can see in the log:

Directory had 4155 files, database had 4153 files, can't skip.
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:53.625 [11988] DEBUG -       * Scanning 007 Panorama Para Matar (1985)
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:53.625 [11988] DEBUG - Looking for path match for [J:\Películas\007 Panorama para matar (1985).mkv]
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:53.626 [11988] DEBUG - Path matched, we're reusing media item 9971
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:55.953 [11988] DEBUG -       * Scanning 007 Alta Tensión (1987)
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:55.953 [11988] DEBUG - Looking for path match for [J:\Películas\007.Alta.tensión.1987.1080p.Remux.AVC.DTS.mkv]
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:55.954 [11988] DEBUG - Path matched, we're reusing media item 9972
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:57.993 [11988] DEBUG -       * Scanning 007 Al Servicio Secreto De Su Majestad (1969)
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:57.993 [11988] DEBUG - Looking for path match for [J:\Películas\007.al.servicio.secreto.de.su.Majestad.1969.1080p.Remux.AVC.DTS.mkv]
Mar 26, 2019 20:20:57.997 [11988] DEBUG - Path matched, we're reusing media item 9973

As you can see, it tooks about 2-3 seconds for each movie. For 4000 movies we are talking about 3 hours scanning.

What can I do to ONLY scan the new content added?

I have checked “Update my library periodically”, each 15 mins.

I have tried checking too “Run a partial scan when changes are detected” option.

Didn’t work :persevere:

You have all your movies in one folder. This is what is slowing down the scan.
When you update this library, Plex has to scan every file in this folder.

You should re-organise your movie files.
Make several top-level “Movies” folders.

J:\Películas 01\
J:\Películas 02\
J:\Películas 03\
...

or perhaps

J:\Películas A-E\
J:\Películas F-J\
J:\Películas K-N\
...

Within these top-level folders, create a separate subfolder for every movie, named with the official title of the movie and the release year in parentheses:
J:\Películas 01\007 Alta tensión (1987)\ 007.Alta.tensión.1987.1080p.Remux.AVC.DTS.mkv

Restrict the number of items (i.e. sub-folders) in any of the top-level folders to a few hundred.
So for your 4.000 movies I recommend that you use about 6 – 12 top-level folders.

^^^ this and the strategy to use separate subfolders for every movie are key to reduce the scan times for your library!


If you want to reduce the scan time for a “TV show”-type of library, there is an important extra step to the above:

  • Edit your TV show library
  • go to the ‘Add Folders’ tab
  • remove the existing path to your TV shows folder
  • add paths to each of the individual top-level “TV Shows” folders instead

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