Is there a way to manually delete “Unavailable” media?
I have several TV shows that I removed from my Plex Media Server that refused to be taken out of the library. Instead they sit there and say “unavailable”. This has been happening to me for months, over several different version updates.
I have seen this problem archived all over the internet, spanning several years, and it seems Plex still hasn’t addressed it…
I have tried updating the library, emptying trash, reuploading the files and trying again, placing a text file into the empty folder so that Plex doesn’t think it’s just an accidentally unmounted drive, and everything else I can think of.
Is there no option to simply just say “delete this”?
Does anyone else have this problem, and/or know of a way to fix it?
What is the most frustrating part is not that I had shows I got rid of still pretending to exist, but that I had a specific show that I replaced the episodes with (my chromecast was struggling with HEVC, so replaced the files with H264s). Now it says there are two copies for each episode, and when I try to add them to a playlist and then play the playlist, it’s accessing the unavailable (deleted) file first, and saying the media is missing (but the 264s are there and can play fine if I manually play them).
I deleted the shows I didn’t want anymore, because I didn’t want them, but Plex keeps holding on to them, even to the extent of making it’s services unusable!
EDIT: I was wrong about the playlist (though it does still stop me from using my Plex in the same way). Playing around with it more I realized, when I run my playlist locally, on my computer, it will play the working file, just as if I loaded the episode manually.
It is when I try to play the episode through my Chromecast onto my TV that it gives me the error, “Please check that the file exists and the necessary drive is mounted.” It does not matter then if I just press play on the individual episode, run from the playlist, or go in and specifically tell it to play the 264 version, I get the same error message on the chromecast.
I have tried updating the library, emptying trash, reuploading the files and trying again, placing a text file into the empty folder so that Plex doesn’t think it’s just an accidentally unmounted drive, and everything else I can think of.
Looks like you’ve done some research - that’s what I’d try. How about folder paths when you created the library - any strange characters in the folder path?
@astrofisher said:
I have tried updating the library, emptying trash, reuploading the files and trying again, placing a text file into the empty folder so that Plex doesn’t think it’s just an accidentally unmounted drive, and everything else I can think of.
Looks like you’ve done some research - that’s what I’d try. How about folder paths when you created the library - any strange characters in the folder path?
No weird symbols. Currently one of the problem shows, the folder doesn’t even exist (I have tried re-adding it and starting again before), and I use Plex naming convention for all my shows.
One of the other problems shows, (the HEVC episodes I replaced with 264s, which are presenting as multiple versions) ran on Plex, so the naming must’ve been fine, it’s just my computer and chromecast lagged while playing HEVCs. The new H264 episode are named exactly the same as the old files, and play perfectly fine on my computer - which means the names must be fine too (and they look fine, double checking them).
I have the same issue. The drive the files were on is not even connected anymore. No amount of empty trash or refresh library deletes the “unavailable” files. Allow media deletion is enabled.
chris
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Subject: Re: [Plex Forums] Is there a way to manually delete “Unavailable” media?
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IceNine commented on Is there a way to manually delete “Unavailable” media?
I have the same issue. The drive the files were on is not even connected anymore. No amount of empty trash or refresh library deletes the “unavailable” files. Allow media deletion is enabled.
You can enable media deletion in the server settings.
Settings > Server > Library > Show Advanced > Allow Media Deletion
now you can go the the show that is no longer on your hard drive and depending if you want to delete the whole show, the season, or a single episode go to that page and click the ellipses (the three dots aka the more menu) and chose delete. if there is media still there then it will delete it off of the hard drive as well. Also it will prompt you to confirm.
I recently removed a server too from my Plex account and I’m getting double files now. I have these options checked (Update my library automatically, Run a partial scan when changes are detected, and Empty trash automatically after every scan). I’ve tried running scans, but nothing’s deleting automatically. If I do it manually that works, but not on a scan. Is there anything I’m missing?
Look into the properties of your library. On the ‘Add Folders’ tab there must be no completely empty or non-existent folders listed.
Yeah, so I had those there too. Removed them, re-scanned and they still appeared. Ended up deleting the library all together, then re-doing it all. That did the trick. Luckily it saved my history there also.
Any update to this problem… I have a download folder that Plex scans so I can watch before I spend the time to properly relocate. Folder is now empty yet still shows now removed from folder items in Plex
