I use external USB 3.0 drives for all of my media storage. Sometimes, one of more of the drives are not connected (for various reasons). I’m concerned that Plex may REMOVE the missing files from the database and then ADD them again later, as new (“most recent”) items that possibly require me to fix names, sort orders, etc. I would LOVE an option to somehow HIGHLIGHT a missing media file instead. For example, overlay the standard (?) “NOT” symbol (a red circle with a red line through it) over the missing items. Others might prefer hiding the missing items altogether and/or include an option to always sort missing to the end of any sort order selected.
Right now, when a drive drops out (I’m having some USB issues) the Plex client (android and Roku, at least) tells me that I don’t have enough BANDWIDTH to play the file (I only have a 1GB/s Ethernet, so – no that is just plain wrong.) If I keep trying, it sometimes admits that the file is inaccessible. A clear, visual marker would be GREAT, as would the ability for the server to let the clients know that a file is not currently on line.
Minor amendment: Yes, I know that a show will sometimes show as “Unavailable” after you get to a specific episode (or try to open the movie).
I’m looking for something that DOESN’T require Plex to attempt to access the file , preferably something that shows at the highest meaningful level. For example, if my external drive ‘G:’ is missing, Plex could show any movies on G: as missing right in the movie list. If an ENTIRE TV series was on G: it could also be shown as missing in the series list, however, if only specific seasons were on G: and others are still available, then the SEASON item would show as missing, on down to the episode and extras.
Plex MUST have the necessary info in its database to do this fairly easily (at least at the individual item level). I hope someone will support this request. If nothing else, let Plex for drive and file availability and report when missing rather than just trying to open something and making the client wait for the thing to time out (and then report a network problem instead of the REAL PROBLEM.)
It became an issue for me because I tracked a problem down to a specific episode of a TV show that was apparently on a “bad” spot on the drive. When Plex tried to read it, the entire drive would drop out of Windows and Plex got VERY slow if I inadvertently tried to watch something else from the missing drive.
Early 2021 clean-up: implemented (disable automatically empty trash after scan will result in the suggested behavior; libraries allow filtering by in trash to more easily find impacted items)
