New account, new to Plex, just trying to learn the system. My first attempt at upload of content to a new library turned out messy (metadata jumbled). I ended up deleting some items from said library in the cleanup process. Probably went through a round or two of rescanning library files in attempt to cleanly upload more content. Ultimately, I ended up deleting the library so that I could start fresh. Imagine my surprise when the files were missing from my local hard drive! After scanning thru account settings, turns out both “Empty trash automatically after every scan” AND “Allow media deletion” were selected ON (by DEFAULT!!!) for my account. Nearly every support article on Plex re. deleted files deals with deleted items that aren’t removed from the account. I’ve got nearly the exact opposite problem, where my deleted items are seemingly gone everywhere, not just from Plex, but ALSO from my local system, with little chance of recovery! Is there any hope???
If you have a backup of said media… sure.
Otherwise, not so much.
While I’m not particularly keen that this option is enabled by default, you seem to have clicked over the message that specifically says that deleting an item will actually delete it from the file system.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/202606363-how-do-i-delete-something-from-my-library/
If you want to keep a file but remove it from a library, move it outside the folder linked to your Plex library and scan the library files.
When I delete content inside Plex it puts everything in my recycle bin until I go in and manually delete it
I think you might have to specifically configure this depending on what OS you’re using but it might be worth a look
Unfortunately, in response to both posts, the files were on an external drive that I use for file backup. I’ve long since removed them from my machine’s internal drive - too much space. I never considered to create a backup of my backup drive, and, though the external drive does have a recycle bin, the files are not present there. Thanks for the posts, I’m coming to terms with the loss…
