Server Version#: android_9.13.1.37459-853091633_minAP123(arm64-v8a)
Player Version#: 1.25.7.5604_(smb)-1120482442_minAP123(arm64-v*a) (nodpi)
Just the fax: I have a 2019 Nividia Shield Pro. I have a large database, about 30gb. It was running well using a 500GB USB attached (eventually realized why it wouldn’t fit on a 256). I keep my media files on a QNAP NAS that has never missed a beat. It would take a long time to rebuild. In 2021 I made a number of backups using Acronis of the PMS folder on the drive. I made one back up as a direct copy to my PC hard drive. When the 9.0 Shield disaster struck, my PMS would not work. So, I reinstalled 8.2.3 on the Shield, installed the Server & Client as current before the 9.0 release, and with some trial and error, managed to reboot the PMS (not once, but twice - there is my note on Reddit still, trying to explain my success to fellow sufferers). And since then it has run perfectly.
Until last week. We had a number of power cuts, and the PMS just died somehow. I installed the current 9.1 Nvidia OS, installed the latest Plex player & server. Tried all permutations to get the old PMS to fire up. I have tried to absorb all the wisdom on here and Reddit, but cant quite find a scenario to match.
I have tried using a clean USB as both Internal Adopted User Accessible storage; and also as External Attached storage. I make a clean Server install, transfer to the USB, and then power off. Then I copy the old server files to the USB: at this stage I have tried everything I can think of, including using the old Preferences file, the new Preferences file, many edited versions of the Preferences file. But I cant replicate what I managed to do last year. Plex taunts me with non-working Server references. I cant run the local app without a server running, and when one does run, I cant get my old data PMS to be claimed.
So, as you can see from the versions named above, I have reinstalled 8.2.3 on the Shield & have installed period correct Player & Server. Have repeated every twist & turn of possible routes to success, and I STILL cant stumble on what I did last year. I have a working Shield, about 5 backed up copies of my USB Server folders.
If you are using your very old backup, it’s likely your server access token has expired. Use the info in Why am I locked out of Server Settings and how do I get in? | Plex Support to find your account info in the preference file and remove them. You’ll need to reclaim your server, but it should start working.
Well, I just got it reinstalled. From a backup made a year ago by dragging the com.plexapp.database.smb across to an external hard drive attached to my PC. Used Nvidia Shield running 8.2.3 as it was at time of backup, with period correct Player and Server installed. First, made a new PMS, then using web app, renamed it, before doing anything else. That allows you to distinguish servers. Then built a few libraries so it made Media & Metadata folders. Then used server to switch to external USB storage. Then powered off. Took out flash USB and connected to PC. By using a USB with large capacity, you have room enough to make a new folder, and drag the Plex Media Server folder you just made, into it. Then copy, from your backup, the old Plex Media Server folder to where the moved one was. I let the Preferences XML files stay with their own folders, half expecting them not to work…
Inserted USB back onto Shield Pro. Powered on. F>*# me, the server ran. Using localhost web app, it then offered me to claim my old backed up server, which I knew was the one because it didn’t have the name I had made up for the temporary version. Selected it, and there was the old database - artwork, photos, jpegs - all of it.
I used a 1TB SanDisk flash drive.
PC had been really cranky about completing USB transfers prior to that. Plex makes a lot of tiny files, and the system seems to choke on that diet.
Last year I learned to format USB drives as EFT. The many tiny files will take up a whole block, filling an NTFS faster than seems possible.
That sounds a lot like what you did before but with a few extra steps. The only thing i can think is maybe permissions. By going through a few steps it creates all the necessary folders with the correct permissions and copying the files back kept the permissions, while the earlier attempts created new folders with old permissions that may have been wrong.
