Hello All and hoping someone can help. I am needing to move the metadata off my local boot drive to create space to migrate onto an SSD. Is there an easy method via a tool/GUI that can be used in moving the Plex Application Support metadata from one drive to another? What I have found thus far involved running several commands and I was hoping there was a nice easy tool/method to make this happen.
Thanks in advance!
Sorry - just to clarify and add to the above, I am on a Mac computer and its the Library\Applications Support\Plex Media Server folder that I am looking to move to another internal hard drive.
Thanks again and hoping someone can help soon!
Anyone have any info on how to do this simply on a Mac…?
Cheers,
Vin.
Really…No one…?! 
Refer to this from the link below:
Relocate your Plex Media Server Data Directory
If the underlying issue is that you’re running out of space on a small boot drive, for instance, then the easiest solution is often simply to relocate the Plex Media Server data directory.
Tip!: When relocating the data directory, you should make sure you do so to an internal drive on your computer (hard drive or SSD). Moving to a network location can result in poor or unexpected behavior.
For Windows installations, you can make use of the The Path where Local Application Data is Stored general Server setting. Refer to information about that setting for details.
Related Page: Plex Media Server > Server Settings > General
It’s also possible to use a standard symbolic link (symlink) to place the directory in another location and then point to it from the original location. This works well for OS X and Linux installs and can also work on Windows. It’s important to note that it needs to be an actual symlink and not an alias or shortcut.
support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/202529153-Why-is-my-Plex-Media-Server-directory-so-large-
Thanks - I had seen this guide and was hoping for more of a step by step guide on how to perform this on a Mac as this article lightly touches on the subject and not a great deal more.
I guess the key here is to play around with creating a symbolic link to point to the new location. Will do some more digging and research but it would be REALLY HELPFUL if this was an application setting one could simply define within the Plex configuration settings section, as I am sure this is becoming a much bigger need as people migrate over to SSD drives which is overkill for this type of data storage and not to mention, costly…
Cheers,
Vin.
Not sure why the Plex help docs are so cryptic here, it isn’t overly complicated. Pointing to a technical Wikipedia page about Symbolic Links - good one guys, that’s just super useful.
If anyone needs the short version of what to do on a Mac to move your preferences, this worked for me:
Close down Plex.
Create an empty folder called “Plex Media Server” on the drive where you want your meta data to exist going forward.
Navigate to the current Plex location: “Library > Application Support > Plex Media Server”. If you don’t know how to do this…from any finder window, using the top menu bar on your Mac look for the “Go” option. Click the “Go” and press and hold the “shift” key and you’ll see the Library folder appear as an option.
Have two finder windows open, the old Plex Media Server in one, the new in the other.
Copy all of the files and folders from that old folder location to your new folder and then delete the old one.
Open your Terminal application and create your symbolic link (basically just a special type of shortcut file). Type in the following (without quotes): "ln -s " followed by the path to where the new “Plex Media Server” folder is, followed by the path to the parent folder that contained the old “Plex Media Server” folder and then hit return.
That’s it. Your done. Restart Plex and you should be good to go (at least I was anyway).
For those not familiar with folder paths and how to access them on a Mac, a common tip is to just drag a folder directly into the Terminal app window and it will write out the path for you wherever the cursor is - so in the above case you end up dragging and dropping the new folder first, the parent folder of the old one second. Here’s a little video to show you if you aren’t sure what I’m talking about:
Hope that helps.
The path variable is not available in general settings as you suggest. At some point, this must have been removed or changed.
This post is a God Send…worked a treat on my Mac and now I’ve moved 75gb of Plex Media stuff off my start drive! Thanks so much for the step by step guide!
Fantastic instructions for using a symlink - I should have known it could be something that simple for relocating the database and metadata.
On a Mac it is not possible to change the Path! Probably the MenĂĽstruktur and Funktionality has changed complete!
The menu item for setting a different location for the Plex data folder is only available on Windows.
A few posts above, there are very detailed instructions for using a symbolic link on Mac, for the same purpose: Help moving 55GB metadata folder
@ jdingwell
I follewed the instruction but I had to configure the plex complete new. The Symbolic Link doesn’t work on 10.9.5
I don’t want to buy a lager SSD only for the Bootvolume!
