Plex can't see external HDD

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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1

Server Version#: 1.18.1.1973

Hey guys, I am trying to set up a plex server using the linuxserver/plex docker container on xubuntu 18.04 LTS. I have the server up and running but it cannot see my external hard drive.

The drive is formatted in NTFS and I have followed the following guide (and read many threads here) to mount it: Using EXT, NTFS, or other format drives (internal or external) on Linux. I have done my best to follow it to the letter (although I have clearly done something wrong).

I have created the folders where I will mount the drive and set their permissions as outlined in the guide, when I check permissions at this stage all looks good (I intend to mount he drive to /disks/Files/):

#:~$ sudo ls -la /disks
total 12
drwxr-xr-x  3 max  max  4096 Nov  4 23:44 .
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4096 Nov  4 23:44 ..
drwxr-xr-x  2 max  max  4096 Nov  4 23:44 Files

I then add the following line to my /etc/fstab:

UUID=0E941037648E5CF3                     /disks/Files ntfs  defaults,auto,rw,nofail 0 1

After umounting the HDD and mounting to /disks/Files (or rebooting) my permissions are as follows:

#:~$ sudo ls -la /disks
total 12
drwxr-xr-x  3 max  max  4096 Nov  4 23:44 .
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4096 Nov  4 23:44 ..
drwxrwxrwx  1 root root 4096 Nov  4 19:47 Files

and ls /disks/* gives the following output (“Backups”, “Movies” and “TV” are the 3 folders on my HDD):

#:~$ ls  /disks/*
Backups  Movies  TV

Why is “Files” only read/write by root? I am assuming this is why plex cannot see my folders?

Please understand I am very inexperienced with Linux, and may need a little hand holding to get this fixed (i.e. detailed instructions would be greatly appreciated).

Thanks for your help, it is appreciated!

3

The default permissions for “max” are likely 0755 which is what we’re seeing.

NTFS permissions don’t map to Linux well. We end up with 0777 which cannot be changed.

There are two permissions values at work here:

  1. The permissions of the Linux directory before mounting (0755) which are owned by you
  2. The permissions of the directory inside the filesystem after mounting (777) which have no owner so are assigned to root.
1 Like
4

The best thing to do is not format it with NTFS, otherwise you need ntfs-3g instead of ntfs in your mount options for read-write.

Next, in your docker run file do you have:

-v /disks:/data
5

Thanks for the response ChuckPA. Is there anything I can do to make the drive usable as my Plex library while keeping it in NTFS (this is my preference as I often copy media onto it from a physically remote windows PC outside of my network)?

6

Thanks for the reply Tiebierius. My preference is to keep it formatted with NTFS as I often physically take it to a remote windows PC to copy media back and forth. With that in mind what is my best option?

I am sorry (new to Linux) but I am not sure exactly what I need to do to get ntfs-3g in my mount options? I have ntfs-3g installed on my system. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

7

@maxholt

My Linux distro (Fedora) mounts it as ntfs (which it is formatted as).
It is the bootable partition on this system (dual boot).

I will leave it as it is because that’s what Windows wants.

What I did with it was to:

sudo sh
mkdir /windows
chnod 755 /windows
chown chuck.chuck /windows
mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /windows

My fstab does state ntfs and not ntfs-3g

8

Installing Windows 10 would solve all issues and require zero hand holding.

Just an opinion

9

First verify that the driver is installed:

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g

Then edit the fstab to be:

UUID=0E941037648E5CF3                     /disks/Files ntfs-3g  defaults,auto,rw,nofail 0 1

Then remount the filesystem sudo mount -a
Remember to shutdown Plex before unmounting and removing the drive.

10

@pl_5309

This is what is driving this thread.

11

Thanks for the help mate, I tried this but still get:

drwxr-xr-x  3 max  max  4096 Nov  5 00:10 .
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4096 Nov  4 23:44 ..
drwxrwxrwx  1 root root 4096 Nov  4 19:47 Files

I ended up reformatting to ext4, all works perfect now! I have given up a bit of inter-system portability but its not the end of the world.

Thanks for all the help guys!

12

I have a portable drive (WD 4TB type).
I used Linux to format it as NTFS.

I don’t understand the differences but the TV likes it, any PC I plug it in likes it, and my workstation likes it… all using the NTFS file system

For my use case, it provides that minimal Windows interoperability which is needed.
My system here is no longer dual boot. I’ve finally been able to leave that behind with my recent HW upgrade.

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