How To Restore Plex Using PlexMediaServer Folder

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.40.2.8395-7000
Player Version#: N/A
Synology Version#: DSM 7.1-42661

Volume 1 on my Synology went into read-only mode so Hyper Backup of Plex was not possible. I did however copy the entire PlexMediaServer folder to another volume.

Now that volume 1 is good again, what are the steps to restore my Plex (database, metadata, etc…)?

Note, before the issue, I was likely running an older version of PMS

Thank you

2

Restoring the PlexMediaServer shared folder –

  1. Ensure Plex is installed but stopped.

  2. RENAMEthe existing PlexMediaServer shared folder to ‘PlexMediaServer-OLD’
    (you don’t know what state it’s in

  3. Using HyperBackup, Restore the PlexMediaServer backup job.

  4. When it’s complete, You will have both PlexMediaServer and a PlexMediaServer-old shared folders

  5. Start PMS

  6. Give it time to update / settle the databases.

  7. Test

  8. If all is good, DELETE PlexMediaServer-old

3

Hi Chuck,

I did something similar as the volume was deleted/recreated to resolve the read-only issue and hyperbackup was not possible.

  1. fresh install of PMS, keep it stopped
  2. deleted all contents in the new PlexMediaServer folder
  3. copy/paste all files/folders to the new PlexMediaServer folder
  4. gave it time to work out the database on it’s own

I got everything back

Appreciate your help

Thank you

4

@kamikazee3

Did you change the ownership of /PlexMediaServer and all its files/folders to PlexMediaServer:PlexMediaServer ??

If you did not then you still need complete that step.

Ownership and Permissions are equally important in DSM 7.

There are also symbolic links in the metadata. Symlinks do not survive “COPY/PASTE” in 99% the cases because the link target is not updated

5

For owner, I don’t have PlexMediaServer as an option, only Plex

I think Plex was from the original DSM 6 days

6

On DSM 7,

  1. There is no ‘Plex’ user. It was forcibly obsoleted by DSM 7
  2. The new username is not a ‘Local user’ anymore. Synology completely changed the mechanism. PlexMediaServer is now a ‘System Internal User’ and not accessible from the GUI
  3. This is why HyperBackup is the documented and approved method.

If you’re going to hand-jam it, the How-To is here:

7

Ran the provided script and ownership of all files/folders are now PlexMediaServer

Thanks

8

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.