Lost Media Server... Terramaster

[anon_nona]

I have been using Plex for audio during the last several months. It stopped working yesterday when I started a library files refresh. I have a media server running on a Terramaster NAS.

Since losing the server, I have tried starting the NAS, and restarting the server app. I installed the beta version. I rebooted the internet router and the wireless APs.

I can still log into the http://192.168.x.x:32400/web/index.html but I can’t seem to edit settings.

I can still get to the media files via SMB. SOL over here, and don’t want to go back to Emby yet.

[anon_nona]

Please help me.

[anon_nona]

Is there product support? I bought the lifetime license.

[danharrow]

I also have this problem.

I have signed up for a static public IP and this hasnt helped.

I have also done a full uninstall and reinstall to no avail. It knows there should be a server running.

Is there a way to clear all the settings on the TerraMaster side and start from scratch?

[blackzwe]

@BigWheel trust to help some paying customers here.

[sa2000]

@anon_nona Are you still having the problem with the Terramaster NAS?

I can see that you have 2 instances of Plex Media Server on Terramster - it is possible that for some reason, a new server instance was installed thus losing your old settings/configuration

The data on your plex.tv account shows a Model F2-210 Arm64 with

• “TNAS-51B2” created and last seen on February 9 2024 - version 1.40.0.7775
• server created October 27 2023 - last seen February 25 2024 - version 1.40.0.7998

Is the server running and accessible via a browser through the local IP
http:// 192.168.86.3:32400/web ?

If there is still a problem, could you look for the server logs and copy out and zip and attach = if the server is accessible through Plex Web, you can download the server logs zip and describe what the issue is when attaching the logs zip

See this article for location of the Plex Media Server app data
Where is the Plex Media Server data directory located? | Plex Support

[anon_nona]

@sa2000

I think what happened was that when I ran a manual “Scan Media Files”, something became corrupt and the database was no longer useable.

I ended up moving the original folder (see below) and reinstalling the software. But I lost crucial amounts of data from collections and playlists I really depend on. And because the database in the old directory isn’t working, I can’t just start using it again.

I need to be able to backup and restore playlists and collections. I can’t lean on Plex the way I did before this crash until I can figure this out. If you can point in the right direction, that would restore my faith in plex.

Also, I am very interested in restoring the playlists from the original folder into the new one, even if it’s not a merge. I’m the type of listener who builds playlists all day long while listening to music, and the playlists are very important to me. Please help me! Thanks in advance.

zoinks@TNAS-51B2:/home$ ls -al
drwxr-xr-x 4 plex plex 4096 Feb 8 21:42 plex
drwxr-xr-x 5 plex plex 4096 Feb 5 2022 plex.original

[sa2000]

@anon_nona

I think what happened was that when I ran a manual “Scan Media Files”, something became corrupt and the database was no longer useable.

I ended up moving the original folder (see below) and reinstalling the software. But I lost crucial amounts of data from collections and playlists I really depend on. And because the database in the old directory isn’t working, I can’t just start using it again.

Plex Media Server scheduled tasks backs up the database every 3 days and the last 3 backup files are retained - see https://support.plex.tv/articles/202485658-restore-a-database-backed-up-via-scheduled-tasks/

[anon_nona]

@sa2000

I found the steps misleading, which I why I had ignored the article when I looked for an answer. This is because the Databases folder contains dlna.db, shm, and wal files, and there were no shm and wal files associated with db and db.blobs until after the restore.

I tried restoring dbs from the old server to the new server, and that did not work. (service would not start). I moved original dlna files out, thinking that might do it, around and generally felt like the steps were outdated and not trustworthy.

I then restored the original server and the steps worked there, when I ignored the dlna files. But there were a few minutes where the server was ‘unavailable’. Scary stuff, glad I just stared at “unavailable” stupidly for three minutes when it miraculously came back online!

Ultimately, it is back now, even though it took a month and some fancy footwork. So, thank you!

Would be nice if yall could automate the backup/restore db steps, or at least GUI-fy them. Also, the uppercase letters and spaces in the linux directory names are not fun to work with in the NAS os cli over ssh.

[sa2000]

@anon_nona

I found the steps misleading, which I why I had ignored the article when I looked for an answer. This is because the Databases folder contains dlna.db, shm, and wal files, and there were no shm and wal files associated with db and db.blobs until after the restore

The shm and wal files only show up whilst the database is open and in use - or if there was not a tidy exit / shutdown. It does not matter if they are present or not - as far as following the instructions for restoring the database from a scheduled task backup

I have requested that the support article Restore a Database Backed Up via ‘Scheduled Tasks’ | Plex Support is amended to indicate that the .db-shm and .db-wal may not be present

The dlna db is not vital and is not part of the scheduled tasks database backups

@anon_nona

I tried restoring dbs from the old server to the new server, and that did not work. (service would not start).

Was that fingertrouble with permissions ? or was it actually running but taking a while to start because of some database migration during launch?

@anon_nona

I then restored the original server and the steps worked there, when I ignored the dlna files. But there were a few minutes where the server was ‘unavailable’.

What was the difference between this and the earlier attempt? Is it possible that you did not wait long enough on the initial attempt?

@anon_nona

Would be nice if yall could automate the backup/restore db steps, or at least GUI-fy them. A

I have put in a feature request for a gui interface for restore from backup - an idea for the future

[anon_nona]

@sa2000

What was the difference between this and the earlier attempt? Is it possible that you did not wait long enough on the initial attempt?

Thanks for your help.

The difference was restoring the db to a new server, versus restoring the database on the original server. I had been using the new server for several weeks. When I tried to restore the old database to the new server, the service would no longer start at all. I then removed the new server, went back to the old server, restored the database and it worked.

The servers were slightly different versions, and I’m not sure what went wrong. In a perfect world, I would have liked to ‘merge’ both databases but just knowing I can restore a database and having gone through the process once is comfortin’.

I’m guessing the databases are future proof (restoring old dbs to newer software versions).