Media Scanning is Endless loop - with Scan my library automatically enabled

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d
Player Version#: iOS 6.1

Desired:

  • I would like the plex media server to scan and update the library when there are folder changes (items are added or removed)

Actual:

  • the scanning never stop and is in an infinite look when “Scan my library automatically” is enabled

So under the Library section (in the plex web interface) there are the following settings (among others)
1 Scan my library automatically
2 Run a partial scan when changes are detected
3 Scan my library periodically

for some reason
1 - keeps scanning the drive endlessly

  • I’ve looked at the logs and there are a few folders that it scans endlessly (ted talk folder, youtube video folder, work folder (this has videos))
  • some tv show folders (there is no consistency in the files from what i can tell)
    2 - doesn’t scan for changes if a folder or files are added or removed or content is added.
    question1:
  • shouldn’t #2 do as it suppose to and update the library when the folders or files are added or removed?

However,
if I manually update library ( this could be because the software just runs a single scan) it doesn’t go in an endless scan and does what it suppose to run through the entire directory structure once but this is tedious since I have to repeatedly initiate this.

question2:

  • shouldn’t it stop scanning if no new folder or files are found?
2

A bit more troubleshooting. I updated the settings to “Scan my library automatically”. Looked at the alerts section and noticed 5 folders that repeatedly kept on coming up. So i checked the log files and found these entries repeatedly being logged.

Sep 13, 2019 08:48:35.077 [0x1106d25c0] DEBUG - The show '00 Ted Low' has leaves which have never been refreshed, we'll refresh.
Sep 13, 2019 08:48:35.079 [0x1106d25c0] DEBUG - The show '00 Youtube' has leaves which have never been refreshed, we'll refresh.
Sep 13, 2019 08:48:35.129 [0x1106d25c0] DEBUG - The show 'Mindhunter' has leaves which have never been refreshed, we'll refresh.
Sep 13, 2019 08:48:35.136 [0x1106d25c0] DEBUG - The show 'Prison Break' has unmatched leaves, and show was matched, so we'll refresh.
Sep 13, 2019 08:48:35.163 [0x1106d25c0] DEBUG - The show 'The Tick' has unmatched leaves, and show was matched, so we'll refresh.

folders:

  • first two are folders defined by me to store videos from ted talks podcasts and videos downloaded from youtube.
  • the last 3 are shows that have files but when look at them through the web app or the iOS app they don’t seem to have any metadata (show info synopsis). However, the show poster thumbnail is right. Also, I manually matched the show information and still the same results.

Those are the commonality of these two sets.

Question: is why are they saying “has leaves which have never been refreshed” when they have been stuck in a scan loop. Can’t it just stop scanning those folders if it didn’t find any matches? How do I force accept their leafless state to stop the scan loop?

3

Ok I have resolved the last 3 folders issue by unmatching those folders.

question:
how do you unmatch the first two folders if they never were “matched”

4

As a rule of happy Plexing, do not use automatic library scans or scheduled scans of any kind.
Be certain that you have Disabled

  • Empty trash after every scan
  • Allow media deletion

Manual scans are great. Deleting things using Finder is great.
The Plex Dance is very important to fixing things like in your last question.
The final thing that’s really important is naming your files well.

5

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