Need help migrating server data to new hard drive

Plex Media Server
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Windows Update forced me to do a clean install which off course removed Plex and all other apps, so I had to reinstall. But the PlexData folder was intact.

In the reinstall process, I made (at least) two mistakes. First, I accidentally gave the server a different name from before, which I later corrected. Second, I had not yet re-connected the external drives nor had I unchecked “Empty trash after every scan.” The end result of this is that all the metadata, posters, watch history, etc. was wiped.

I did, however, make a clone of the drive before reinstalling Windows, so I still have a good copy of all the data as it originally existed. So I unchecked “Empty Trash after every scan,” exited Plex Server, connected the external drives containing the media files, and then copied the contents of PlexData from the clone to the active drive. I also copied the data from C:/Users/[Username]/AppData/Local/Plex Media Server from the clone to the active drive.

However, when I restarted Plex Server, none of the original data shows up. I’ve double-checked that the server name is correct. What am I missing? Is there more data that I need to copy from the clone?

Thanks for your help!

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The server’s “identity” is not defined by its “friendly name”, but by its ID number which is stored in the Windows registry. SO to restore a server fully, you’d need to restore the full registry branch HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server from the original machine.
If you didn’t save this registry branch, you’ll have reset each of your Plex clients and pick a new “default” server in each of these. Because all the clients are referring to a certain server by its ID number. And this ID will change if the registry branch is being created afresh.

If the old server was not shut down cleanly before the backup of the Plex data folder was created, chances are high that the primary database file is corrupted in your backup. Which means Plex will behave as if it’s completely empty.
You will have to remove the damaged version and reinstate one of the backup copies in its place: Restore a Database Backed Up via 'Scheduled Tasks' | Plex Support

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