Hi,
I’ve just had to reset my NVIDIA SHIELD. I have copied the PMS backup files from the Backup folder previously running on Shield. How to I restore the back up to a fresh install?
Dop i have to rebuild my server database all over again?
Well you can tell PMS to make a backup via
Settings -> Server -> Scheduled Tasks
but since we can’t access the data directory (unless you have root access), I don’t know how you’re suppose to be able to restore that.
I really hope PLEX will release an update that will move the data directory to normal/adopted storage and/or let you define a custom directory for the data directory soon.
It has been a long outstanding issue. Plex please move on and get this done. This is just ridiculous, as not being able to transfer database and settings from one system to another one.
Hear hear.
It’s ludicrous there isn’t a backup & restore function in this day & age. Especially as Plex often exhibits bugs requiring a reset.
At this point i don’t think we will ever see it. It has been long enought and nothing happened.
@gianluca1989 you may be right. It’s kind of disappointing to say the least. It is even more disappointing to have no reaction from Plex which seems to mean that they just don’t care of its users base. I’m not very inclined to root the shield just because plex is not delivering the right service. On the other hand I confirm that the shield is probably the most advanced platform for media streaming.
There might be one option without root: adb backup. I have not tried the restore yet, however the backup locks promising. It includes at least meta data and the Preferences.xml. I am not so sure about the sqlite database. If somebody wants to try the whole procedure, below are the cornerstones for Arch Linux. I do not want to mess with my current setup, so this post is merely a summary how this backup method might work.
Requirements:
(1) Android platform tools (you need adb, Arch Linux package: aur/android-sdk-platform-tools)
(2) enable network debugging on your Shield TV
(2a) enable developer mode like on any Android device
(2b) enable network debugging in the developer menu (first enable USB debugging)
(optional) Android backup extractor (abe, Arch Linux package: aur/android-backup-extractor-git)
Backup:
(1) adb connect <shield-ip>
(2) adb backup -shared com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb
Restore:
(1) adb connect <shield-ip>
(2) adb restore backup.ab
Optionally examine the backup.ab file with abe:
(1) abe unpack backup.ab backup.tar
(2) open the backup.tar with your favorite archive manager
Sorry to resurface this old thread, but this question is still relevant.
Is there any change in plex, is this doable from Plex itself?
Or is @drmagoo solution working?
Since we can move the server data to a user accessible location, is it enough to backup “\internal\Android\data\com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb” and restore it if needed?
Did you ever find a solution or got a response ?
My database is corrupt on Nvidia Shield PMS and I can not just accept the fact that there is no restore possible ?
To be honest, i lost hope for PMS for Shield and didnt look further for a response.
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Yeah I decided to buy an intel NUC and run a linux PMS. How great SHIELD is, it’s android system and restricted access prevents me from having a full PMS experience 
I’m done with PMS on Nvidia Shield.
Thanks for your feedback @DeepBlue23
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@svns same with me I use Plex player only on shield
I was able to restore a PMS database on my shield.
