# Moving Metadata from windows to Linux question, **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2022, 10:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527 "2022-01-18T10:30:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![outbreakprime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7cd45c/32.png) [@outbreakprime](https://forums.plex.tv/u/outbreakprime)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/1 "2022-01-18T10:30:35Z")
I’m in the process of moving the metadata over to my Linux build. It all worked fine except I’m noticing it’s going through a lot of the TV shows I own saying " detecting intro" This is for the skip intro feature I know. But it takes a long time. Is there any way to copy this over as well? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![dane22](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/dane22/32/4389_2.png) [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:37am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/2 "2022-01-18T10:37:13Z")
> [@outbreakprime](#): > > Is there any way to copy this over It’s held in the database, so did you also copy that over? ---
**Author:** ![outbreakprime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7cd45c/32.png) [@outbreakprime](https://forums.plex.tv/u/outbreakprime)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:41am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/3 "2022-01-18T10:41:11Z")
I did, I copied the folders Media, plug in support, plug in and metadata, Started the Linux server and all the movies, watched data play list are all there. It just decides to scan for intros on all my shows. Can’t figure that one out ---
**Author:** ![dane22](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/dane22/32/4389_2.png) [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:46am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/4 "2022-01-18T10:46:52Z")
When you powered up for the first time on Linux, did you do the following: - Made sure that `Settings/Library/Empty trash automatically after every scan` was **NOT** selected? - Did you edit your libraries, and added the new path to your medias, and kept the old windows path as well? - And after that, did a `Scan library files` - After that, verified that your media now had two files, one working and the other showing as `Unavailable` - Then did an `Empty Trash` - Then removed the old windows path from the libraries ---
**Author:** ![outbreakprime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7cd45c/32.png) [@outbreakprime](https://forums.plex.tv/u/outbreakprime)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:49am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/5 "2022-01-18T10:49:19Z")
Thanks for the tips. I’ll nuke my server and start again following those steps. Thanks. Will update on how it goes ---
**Author:** ![pshanew](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/pshanew/32/160555_2.png) [@pshanew](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pshanew)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/6 "2022-01-18T13:35:42Z")
This post from a similar forum thread may be helpful (in that it explains why you’re seeing the behavior you are). > [@Regeneration of \`intro markers\` after moving plex media server from one System to Another](https://forums.plex.tv/t/regeneration-of-intro-markers-after-moving-plex-media-server-from-one-system-to-another/700240/3): > > Because you change the paths, the media\_parts table was effectively replaced with different entries. The intro detection uses data stored at the part level and since you now have completely new parts, it has to regenerate them. The blobs database you pointed out is where some of this is stored. It’s possible the situation has changed in the intervening months, but I’ve not seen anything to indicate that. ---
**Author:** ![outbreakprime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7cd45c/32.png) [@outbreakprime](https://forums.plex.tv/u/outbreakprime)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/7 "2022-01-18T13:55:24Z")
Ah looks like it’s not possible then, it’ll have to regenerate them all? ---
**Author:** ![dane22](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/dane22/32/4389_2.png) [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 2:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/8 "2022-01-18T14:11:34Z")
I stand corrected 😉 ---
**Author:** ![anon5074910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@anon5074910](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon5074910)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/9 "2022-01-18T15:01:23Z")
From what I remember when I done this changing the path to your library caused the deep analysis, chapter thumbnails and intro markers to be re-generated. If your moving from windows to linux then you have no alternative to change the path so they’ll need to regenerate. At the time I decided to let each of these run sequentially rather than forcing the system to try and do all at once. I have a powerful enough system but still decided to let it do it like that. So initially I set `Generate intro video markers` and `Generate chapter thumbnails` to **never** so that during server maintenance the system could concentrate on `deep analysis` first. I then played around with the times for the Scheduled Tasks to run at the times I wanted. Anyhow, once it was done I then enabled the other ones 1 by 1 above until they where completed. I had approx 500 shows with something shy of 20,000 episodes and the times took … - deep analysis took approx 40 hours - chapter thumbnails took approx 4 hours - intro markers took approx 40 hours Below are some of the stuff I checked as this was happening to ensure it completed before moving to the next one. ```auto grep -a "intro markers" /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Logs/Plex\ Media\ Server*.log grep -a "deep analysis on" /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Logs/Plex\ Media\ Server*.log grep -a "chapter thumbnails for" /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Logs/Plex\ Media\ Server*.log grep -a "butler analyzed" /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Logs/Plex\ Media\ Server*.log ``` You can also check for `--analyze-deeply` and `--chapter-thumbs-only` in the logs while they generate. ---
**Author:** ![chris0101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/67e7ee/32.png) [@chris0101](https://forums.plex.tv/u/chris0101)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/10 "2022-01-18T19:55:05Z")
Ok great thanks for the tips people. One thing i’ve noticed now moving the metadata across, when i change the path it automatically starts scanning the Library ( i assume to check the path ) However it seems to remove the previous link without me removing it, i’m also noticing its adding some movies as recently added? and the date is " 1900-01-01" not sure whats going on there ? is my database corrupted? thanks ---
**Author:** ![anon5074910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@anon5074910](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon5074910)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/11 "2022-01-18T19:58:07Z")
For the 1900 date check out this post [TV Media showing RELEASED as January 1,1900 - #12 by drzoidberg33](https://forums.plex.tv/t/tv-media-showing-released-as-january-1-1900/739029/12) which has a fix for it. Also do you have `Run a partial scan when changes are detected` enabled. It’s under library settings. Might be worth disabling that until you get stuff fully scanned successfully. ---
**Author:** ![chris0101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/67e7ee/32.png) [@chris0101](https://forums.plex.tv/u/chris0101)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/12 "2022-01-18T20:32:51Z")
I don’t have [quote=“dokuro, post:11, topic:771527”] Run a partial scan when changes are detected [/quote] enabled. check this out, it seems movies are getting added twice? this is happening with a bunch of movies, Also the toy story 4 with a picture shows as the old path, the blank one with no metadata shows as the new path, ![hmm](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/8/3/c/83c19fce57bb2521510ba1ef776b60afb91d97e4.png) i think i have a wider issue here as well, as you can see from the second picture ![meta](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/5/9/5/5951228dda2e9f559ab6b815177abcd2e78a4a1b.png) if i try and fix match , it just doesnt find a match and its completed very quickly, im not sure its doing anything… hmm this didnt happen the first time i transferred the metadata over. strange ---
**Author:** ![anon5074910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@anon5074910](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon5074910)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/13 "2022-01-18T20:36:41Z")
I suspect this is probably okay and normal based on the steps from @dane22 above [Moving Metadata from windows to Linux question, - #4 by dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/4) Its likely still scanning and matching so I’d suggest letting it fully finish before finishing the rest of the steps outlined above. BTW… in case you don’t know you can check under **setting → status → alerts** as the scanning and matching is happening. I typically use that when I’m doing a large scan of media changes to see the status of it. ![Screenshot from 2022-01-18 20-51-08](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/d/0/b/d0b8b7fe0c020840896583e08c75abeb86a63f06.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![chris0101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/67e7ee/32.png) [@chris0101](https://forums.plex.tv/u/chris0101)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/14 "2022-01-18T21:08:03Z")
Yep you were right, waiting it out and its all fixed itself, great thanks for the help, ill just let it do its scans and such now ---
**Author:** ![anon5074910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@anon5074910](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon5074910)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/15 "2022-01-18T21:12:43Z")
A watched kettle never boils 😁 You may need a little fix matching depending on your media naming but let plex do its stuff first and then see where you are. ---
**Author:** ![chris0101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/67e7ee/32.png) [@chris0101](https://forums.plex.tv/u/chris0101)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2022, 8:45am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/16 "2022-01-20T08:45:29Z")
Looks like the scans have completed and all done correctly. good stuff One little issue i’m having is with two TV shows. certain episodes in the show have the bin icon and have the old path to the media in the info. i have confirmed they’re there and accessible in the new path, it seems quite random on which episodes ---
**Author:** ![anon5074910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@anon5074910](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon5074910)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2022, 9:03am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/17 "2022-01-20T09:03:31Z")
Have you done an optimise on the db after these scans and updates? If you have then unless someone else has an idea I’d suggest as it’s just two shows doing a [plex dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064) on them. ---
**Author:** ![outbreakprime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7cd45c/32.png) [@outbreakprime](https://forums.plex.tv/u/outbreakprime)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2022, 9:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/18 "2022-01-20T09:10:12Z")
I’ll try and optimise now . ---
**Author:** ![anon5074910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@anon5074910](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon5074910)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2022, 9:11am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/19 "2022-01-20T09:11:54Z")
Maybe one more scan after the optimise is done for good measure 😀 ---
**Author:** ![outbreakprime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7cd45c/32.png) [@outbreakprime](https://forums.plex.tv/u/outbreakprime)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2022, 9:14am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527/20 "2022-01-20T09:14:15Z")
Have done both of those and unfortunately still no available, I can confirm it’s literally 4 episodes, they all still have the old path which is strange … Is there no way to add the oath manually to them? [Next page](https://forums.plex.tv/t/moving-metadata-from-windows-to-linux-question/771527.md?page=2)