Server Version#: 1.14.0.5468
Player Version#: 3.77.1
I am running into a problem in the last day or so where items - so far specifically movies - I add to Plex are adding and creating their own collection immediately. For example, I am building a Christmas Collection right now. I have a collection named as such. I added a new movie to Plex - Frosty the Snowman - and it immediately, without me even editing the file, created a new collection called ‘Frosty the Snowman’. I removed that and added it to my ‘Christmas Collection’. Everything was fine for a while, until I started playing the movie. I stopped it halfway through, and checked my Christmas Collection again. Lo and behold, it was gone from that collection. Further investigation showed it created the ‘Frosty the Snowman’ collection again.
It is not isolated to just this file. I have found for the last 24 hours or so that many movies are removing themselves from collections all together and some are creating their own new collections.
I did just update my server version earlier today. Not sure if it related.
Anyone else seen anything similar or have any suggestions? I don’t want to have to constantly monitor my collections to make sure that they stay as they are supposed to.
So I un-checked that option (you were right, I did have it checked. It seems to have fixed the issue with movies I add automatically making their own collection. However, it is not fixing the issue where collection information I add is then getting removed at random. I haven’t been able to find any rhyme or reason to when it happens, but new movies I have been adding will randomly just lose the collection information I entered. I double-check when I add the collection info - save it, then look at it again, and it is there. But then within 24 hours, random movies just lose their collection tags.
OttoKerner, I will take a look at that. Can you tell me how this is related though? I like to understand the solutions so I can better troubleshoot issues in the future.
If the Plex server can’t find the file of the affected movie anymore, and the above check box is activated, then the movie is removed from your library. And with it all metadata - and that includes the collection information.
If the server finds the file later again, it will add it back into its library - but of course now without the collection.
The above can sometimes happen if your media storage is on external drives or a network file share.
If you use media storage like that, leave the check box off.
Thanks for the explanation. I have a single dedicated server setup with an SSD for the OS and a 10TB HDD secondary drive for the media. Just to be safe, I tried unchecking that box and waiting a couple of days. Unfortunately, I am still consistently seeing files lose their collection information. It is still random files - some new, and some that have been on there for months or even over a year.
Most of my files are in mkv container formats, with a few scattered mp4’s. I can say with certainty that it is a mix of those file types that are having the issue.
One crucial piece of information - I moved recently and switched ISP’s. I had an extremely hard time getting the remote access configured on the new ISP (AT&T). At one point, I got so frustrated, I uninstalled PMS and deleted all associated Plex files (not the media itself, just the plex files). It was late when I did it, and I failed to realize until it was too late that I deleted all the library data and had to rebuild it from scratch. I let the server scan and rebuild everything - it took a couple of days to do so. That was a little over 2 weeks ago.
I haven’t noticed the collection issue start until the last 4 days (give or take a day). I haven’t made a connection between these two things because of the time gap between rebuilding the server library and the collection information starting to disappear.
Looking at Plex’s Home Screen and the recently added movies, yes, they do appear as recently added (again, most of them were added 2 weeks ago though, not in the last couple of days).
Please inspect the Plex XML info of one affected movie.
Copy the number in the addedAt="nnnnnnnnnnnnn" key and put it into the https://www.epochconverter.com/ to get a readable date.
Compare this date with the real date when you added the file/rebuilt the library.
I pulled one file that I know lost the information. If I do a search on the xml, I have 2 fields for AddedAt. Converting them, the first AddedAt date shows the correct original date that I would have added the file - back in January. The second date AddedAt date correlates with when I rebuilt my library - on November 13th.
Attached are the log files. I already had logging turned on, and verbose logging. So I turned off verbose and followed the rest of the instructions. Sorry if there is additional data in them that makes it difficult to go through. I can try wiping the log files and creating new ones all together if that will be easier (just need info on where the log files are kept). Plex Media Server Logs_2018-11-28_11-59-34.zip (3.7 MB)
I am also going to try to review them myself, but I appreciate the help!
I can’t find any traces of database corruption in your logs.
So it’s all good.
A different idea:
Are the affected items in a mp4/m4v container?
If so, inspect their embedded metadata if they have an ‘Album’ value set.
(you can use the free mp3tag for this )
