# New external hard drive

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-external-hard-drive/652695>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Created:** [November 12, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-external-hard-drive/652695 "2020-11-12T01:56:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bootsy1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bootsy1974](https://forums.plex.tv/u/bootsy1974)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-external-hard-drive/652695/1 "2020-11-12T01:56:18Z")

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I am going to move all of my movies and TV shows to a new external driver, will I have to fix all of the matching and metadata for my movies and TV shows by switching all of my content to a new external hard drive?

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**Author:** ![FordGuy61](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@FordGuy61](https://forums.plex.tv/u/FordGuy61)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 3:29am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-external-hard-drive/652695/2 "2020-11-12T03:29:36Z")

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You do not have to re-match, redownload metadata, etc.

See this support document:

> **[Move Media Content to a New Location | Plex Support](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201154537-move-media-content-to-a-new-location/)**
>
> As your media collection grows, you might upgrade to a larger hard drive, install a NAS, or otherwise simply have...

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**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 11:05am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-external-hard-drive/652695/3 "2020-11-12T11:05:24Z")

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On Windows, you might even be able to do it much easier, if you

- stop plex server
- move the files (keep all folder names the same!)
- unplug the old drive
- give the new drive the same drive letter which previously the old drive had
- start plex server

That way the server doesn’t even notice that something has changed

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**Author:** ![bootsy1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bootsy1974](https://forums.plex.tv/u/bootsy1974)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-external-hard-drive/652695/4 "2020-11-12T19:06:36Z")

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Thanks for this. My only worry is that most of my files are not going to be on the same drive letter. Right now I have 5 external hard drives with all of my files. When I move to the new external hard drives there will only be 2 hard drives so the drive letters will not be the same.

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**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-external-hard-drive/652695/5 "2020-11-12T19:18:53Z")

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I see. Then the above method is the officially recommended way.

If you want to have absolute control, you could edit the Plex database directly, and change the drive letters selectively: [[HowTo] Plex database modification - Moving media the right/wrong way](https://forums.plex.tv/t/howto-plex-database-modification-moving-media-the-right-wrong-way/126701/10)  
But it’s not for the faint of heart. (Or if you have never typed an SQL command before.)

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-external-hard-drive/652695/6 "2021-02-10T19:18:55Z")

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