MacOS Plex *Client* Sync to external drive

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1

I want to be able to use the App to manage sync, but store on an external drive to save space.

I have Plex Server running on a Synology NAS, using the Mac App (Also test with iPad app via Mac App Store). I’d want the NAS to be the main server vs manually copying to the drive then running the server locally.

Is this possible? In my testing, I can run the application from the external drive, but a Plex folder is created under “~/Library/Application Support” to store the Sync Downloads. I’d want the Sync downloads to be stored where the App is running (from the external drive)

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You should be able to place a symbolic link to the folder used by the Plex client when downloading your media (pointing it to your external drive instead).

I haven’t been doing this for some time… should be ~/Library/Application Support/Plex/Plex Media Server/Sync/. You cannot do that on an iOS device (just mentioning as you referred to testing this with an iPad as well). Keep in mind this won’t give you an easy-to-navigate output – from what I remember you won’t even get clear file names.

1 Like
3

This works perfectly! Thank you. I’m not sure if it matters but I just made the symlink for the whole folder Plex creates in Application Support.

here’s the steps I used for anyone who finds this in the future.

  1. Download “Plex for Mac” app under “Apps & Devices” here: Media Server Downloads | Plex Media Server for Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and More

  2. Drag the App from Downloads to the external drive

  3. Start the App, a folder is created in “/Users/USERNAME/Application Support/Plex”

  4. Copy the Plex folder to the external drive, delete the Plex folder under “Application Support”

  5. In the Terminal run:

ln -s "/Volumes/EXTERNALDRIVE/Plex" "/Users/USERNAME/Application Support/Plex"

That’s it!

4

Why would you want to run the app from an external drive?
I can understand that some users might want to keep media files off their system drive… but what’s the benefit of keeping the app itself off your system drive?

Also… that approach doesn’t give you a “portable installation” as the app will always have a local footprint in your OS.

5

Yes I understand this won’t be truly portable - I have a base model Mac and minimizing storage wherever I can.

I only need the app when I know I’ll be offline for awhile, otherwise the web client is perfect.

The app itself is 300MB so that’s the reason I’m running it on the external drive.

6

I’m stuck trying to get my Plex metadata moved to a dedicated external drive, per the instructions
above posted by kylewill.

My old source directory:
/Users/PlexServer/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server

of which I copied the entire “Plex Media Server” folder to my Thunderbolt 3 SSD into this new directory:
/Volumes/Plex Extension/Plex Media Server

NOTE - in the terminal script posted by kylewill, the Plex folder within Application Support is just plain “Plex” whereas my folder is titled “Plex Media Server”. I find that a little strange. I have been running this instance of the Plex Server for probably close to 5 years or more, on a Mac Mini (of course though many macOS and Plex updates) - so maybe it is a legacy folder naming convention?

Anyway, when I try to run the script template kyleweill posted:
ln -s “/Volumes/EXTERNALDRIVE/Plex” “/Users/USERNAME/Application Support/Plex”

modified for my folders as:
ln -s "/Volumes/Plex Extension/Plex Media Server“ "/Users/PlexServer/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server”

I get the following message in Terminal:
ln: Server”: No such file or directory

Any ideas what the problem is? I’m a newb with terminal commands.

Thanks,
Robert

7

The reason those paths don’t match is because this thread is about using symbolic links for the “Plex for Mac” client – while you’re tinkering with the Plex Media Server.

From the error message it appears you might have mixed up your quotes which causes Terminal to look for a folder called “Server” instead of the full path. To avoid that – simply drag & drop the directories you need into the terminal window. This will paste the full and escaped path of those directories (e.g. adding a \ prefix to all spaces), therefore it obsoletes the need to quote your parameters.

8

Thanks for the clarification on what this thread is focused on, Tom80H. Will what I’m trying to do work for pointing Plex to a new location for storing all my Plex database/metadata files? I’m not worried about where the Plex Server app itself is installed to/running from - but my metadata/database files are becoming huge and need to be moved.

My current Plex Media Server folder is about 320 GB, and it lives on my Mac mini internal 500 GB flash drive w/ macOS and other core apps - so it is a ticking clock for encountering a storage problem. Just trying to relocate it to a dedicated drive with plenty of room, but finding instructions I can follow have been a challenge - most of the time they are either for older version of Plex Server, or for Windows or Linux based installs.

Sorry for sidetracking this specific thread, and thank you for your help.

9

The commands are solid – looks you just got some typos / issues with the quotes.

  1. stop your Plex Media Server
  2. execute ln -s /Volumes/Plex\ Extension/Plex\ Media\ Server /Users/PlexServer/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server – that’s assuming the PMS on your Mac is running under the user PlexServer – and check the link is working
  3. restart your Plex Media Server
10

I just ran the script. Looks like its working as expected!

Big… ** B I G ** thank you, Tom80H!!!

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