I have Plex running on a Windows server. Some of my media is on the same Plex server, but the vast majority is located on a Synology NAS. The current Synology NAS is getting on a bit now, so I’ve purchased a new one.
What is the best way to manage the migration in terms of the Plex server itself? I was thinking of copying all of the data on the existing Synology NAS, so that there’s a copy on both, and then simply adding these locations to the existing libraries I’ve created. Then, once I’ve verified everything is all OK on the new NAS, simply removing the locations from the old NAS.
I know that adding the same film, results in an additional location being added when you edit the film details, so I’m speculating that this approach will work, and just one minute the film will have two locations and then just the one?
If the NAS only holds your media but not the server itself, you don’t need to migrate the server.
More complicated would be the question on how to avoid the loss of metadata, after the media files have changed their storage location (from old NAS to new NAS).
If you can completely avoid that the server sees any change at all, it would be best.
How to achive that depends on how you currently are accessing the NAS in Plex.
There are several ways:
by IP address in a UNC path
by host name in a UNC path
by drive letter which has been connected to the UNC path in Windows.
You can see which it is by looking at the “Add Folders” tab in the properties of your plex libraries.
The Plex server is staying as it is now (WIndows). That is also where the metadata is also stored. I won’t be changing anything on the Plex server itself.
So, literally all I intend on doing is making an exact copy all the films I have on the original NAS to the new NAS. From my perspective, I’m then expecting the Plex server (hosted on the Windows server elsewhere), to simply add the films again, and having two locations for the same films.
Once I’ve validated everything looks OK - I’ll then be simply turning off the original NAS. I’m then expecting the Plex server to simply remove the location it had for those films on that storage, but leaving the locations for the same films on the new NAS.
I was intending to simply add the locations to the library and let Plex figure out that it actually has two locations for each film. I’ve noticed it’s done that before when I’ve accidentally added a film in two locations or if they are different versions of the same film, e.g. low res and hi-res or a different release like theatrical or directors cut.
I do something similar. I have a share lets call it TV that sits on NAS01. In Windows I have that mapped to T:\ When if the drive containing TV goes bad, I remove the mapping to to NAS01\TV and remap T:\ to NAS01\TV_new and plex doesnt know the difference. Before doing that just backup your database in case something goes bad, you can always restore it.
