I have plex installed on a windows 2012R2 server. Initial installation puts the “Plex_AppData” on the C:\ drive. In settings i moved this to where i keep the content “M:” awhile ago. I take regular file level copies of this “M:” drive to an external.
1- Do i need to take “Plex_AppData” to the external for a good restore? its quite large.
2 - if i don’t need it to do a restore can i change the drive letter in settings without losing anything?
All data of which there is only one copy, should be considered as ‘deleted’.
Ask your self: Could I live with those data getting erased?
You could restrict your backup to just the folder Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases. This will at least save your valuable ‘played’/‘unplayed’ information.
If you want a usable copy of the latest database file, you must shut down Plex server before taking the copy.
Or you use the integrated backup feature for the main database file, which is performed every 3 days. (Settings - Server - Scheduled Tasks - ‘Show Advanced’)
Make sure that the folder you are referencing there is existant and accessible. Otherwise the backup will fail silently.
You can change the drive letter and the folder with the Plex data in it.
But you must do it while Plex Server is shut down.
See this article for some details and precautionary measures: Moving Metadata on Windows - #3 by OttoKerner
Thank you for the quick response. I’m not really concerned with the played/unplayed info but more of a if i had to restore from scratch is the app data folder necessary or will cover art / info etc be re-downloaded. The core of the backup is to have the movies / folder structure am i correct?
Of course the metadata will get re-downloaded if you have the media files themselves.
Unless - you have a lot of media for which there is no online metadata source. Like personal videos or photos, or custom made series like tutorials and such.
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