Howdy,
I have PMS on one machine and all my media files on a different computer. The Media computer is getting replaced. I have copied all the files from the old computer to the new one but assuming I can’t just add the new location as a new library or it will start from scratch and everything will shows as unwatched. Is there any way to point PMS to the new location but have it compare the info to know it’s the same as what it already had and keep the info?
I read the info here but have some questions: https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201154537-Move-Media-Content-to-a-New-Location
It says to COPY the data to the new location while PMS is off and then start it back up. It says the libraries wont’ work but if I did a copy, the data is now in the old and new location.
If I EDIT a library and add the new location but leave the old location, then will it find duplicates?
Maybe I’m reading it wrong but it doesn’t seem to make sense the way it’s written.
Thanks.
So the computer with Plex Server on it will stay?
How did you add the ‘network location’ to the Plex library?
If it was using drive letters (Windows), you could assign the same drive letters as before.
If it was using UNC paths \\hostname\sharename\foldername, you could assign the new media computer the same hostname as the olde one.
If it was by IP address, you could assign the same IP address to the new computer (and give the old media computer a different IP).
All three of these options don’t require you to do anything within Plex.
For Plex it will look like nothing changed. IMHO this is the most desirable option, particularly if you did a lot of customizing and manually corrected meta data.
To determine, how you did add the old network location, simply ‘edit’ your library(s)
go to the ‘Add Folders’ tab and see what’s displayed there.
Yes. THe Plex Server computer will not be touched.
The current setup was done via mapped a mapped drive to the old Media server. I had one drive setup like V:\Movies, and V:\TV Shows. On the new machine I separated Movies and TV Shows out onto separate physical hard drives so I don’t think I can duplicate what I already have.
Is it possible to modify the current library and change the path to a different letter? I could Map X: to where V:\TV Shows goes now if there’s a way to do that without messing everything up. Then could duplicate it on the new one. hmm.
@kelemvor33 said:
Is it possible to modify the current library and change the path to a different letter? I could Map X: to where V:\TV Shows goes now if there’s a way to do that without messing everything up.
There is, but it is only for the fearless:
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1080551/#Comment_1080551
OK. I guess if I lost the Watched info it’s not the end of the world.
Thanks for the info.
@kelemvor33 said:
OK. I guess if I lost the Watched info it’s not the end of the world.
Just follow this article then.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201154537-Move-Media-Content-to-a-New-Location
There is a good chance that you can retain a big part of your ‘watched’ info that way.
That’s the article I linked in my OP. I don’t quite understand when it says to add the new path but leave the old path when the files are in both places or if that’s really want I do. Just didn’t want to end up with two of everything…
Let’s pretend that G:\Anime is the old location
and H:\Filme3\Anime 3 is the new one
Then it’d look like this:
At the end of the procedure, you will remove the reference to the old location and any duplicates will get removed from your library.
OK, So I leave the files in both the old and new location and add them both to the same library. That somehow merges some of the info and keeps the “Watched” info? Then when I remove the old one it should still know what has been watched and what hasn’t? I guess I’ll just do it and see what happens.
Thanks.
@kelemvor33 said:
OK, So I leave the files in both the old and new location and add them both to the same library. That somehow merges some of the info and keeps the “Watched” info? Then when I remove the old one it should still know what has been watched and what hasn’t?
Plex doesn’t connect the ‘watched’ info to a particular folder path and file name. Instead, it connects it to the so-called guid
the guid is composed of the used metadata agent, to which your file was ‘matched’ and the unique ID of the particular movie or tv show episode on that particular meta data service.
So if you for instance watched a file that was recognised by Plex as “Avatar (2009)” using the ‘Plex Movie’ agent then it stores that.
If you now add a file which gets again recognised as “Avatar (2009)”
(and you are still using the ‘Plex Movie’ agent)
then Plex remembers that you already watched “Avatar”.
You can see this guid when you call up the Plex XML info from a video.
