To anyone who can help…i deleted plex and the server, it deleted ALL my movie cover art which i have stored in files, now my external hard drive will no longer allow me to ADD cover art already previously stored…please help
That sounds… rather odd.
Plex won’t delete any files stored locally alongside your media (e.g. local posters, backdrops, themes…). Especially not if you simply uninstall the server app.
Plex will also not modify artwork embedded within files.
So whatever is going on in your setup might be beyond Plex.
it only happened when i installed Plex and than deleted, plex checked a box to delete my media from hard drive and now i moved my back up files with cover art embedded to my external and the cover art VANISHES…
Would you mind elaborating what exactly you did and what happened?
I’m not sure I fully understand what you’re trying to say.
There’s a server setting to allow deleting media in Plex (Settings > [Server Name] > Library > Allow media deletion). This allows you to delete media from within Plex – if you click the Delete button on an item inside Plex, it’ll remove that item from your library and delete the file from your drive.
However that’s in no way linked to uninstalling the server or other Plex apps. Nor will it selectively remove embedded metadata or artwork.
Yes i originally had that box checked which deleted files from my hard drive…i went back and unchecked it, i re added the deleted files to my hard drive and lost all my embedded cover art on my hard drive and can no longer add it. although the saved .jpg’s are still in their original file…it’s like Plex did something to my hard drive library that will not allow me to edit it…plex also added .nfo files to ALL my movies…
i’m terrified to re install the server as it already has done too much damage…
Please re-check your setup. Plex most definitely doesn’t add .nfo files to your system.
Do you have any other apps involved in processing or serving your files?
Which checkbox are you referring to? There is not setting to remove your media when uninstalling Plex Media Server. Did you delete your media from within the Web client UI? That will remove your media, but there is a confirmation page to verify you want to do this.
plex also added .nfo files to ALL my movies…
Plex does not add nfo files. Sounds like you might have something else running on your machine that may be doing this.
that .nfo file ADDED after installing Plex
when you install Plex the box is auto checked to delete media…i found this out the hard way after Plex removed all my movies from my hard drive…i had to use the forum and someone helped me UNcheck that box
Yes, the “Allow media deletion” option is enabled, but you still need to manually click on the “Delete” button for your media and then confirm you want to delete it.
that .nfo file ADDED after installing Plex
Are you running any other media related programs? That other program may be adding the file after it detects Plex Media Server installed on your computer, but Plex definitely did not add this file.
i deleted inside manage libraries…unknowingly that it would delete from my hard drive…my bad, i’ll eat that but that doesn’t explain why AFTER i deleted the server i can no longer view my movies and or add cover art back to my hard drive files
It stripped ALL my embedded artwork from the files and will no longer allow me to add manually…
What did you delete? Do you mean you uninstall Plex Media Server by deleting it from the Applications folder? You are running on a Mac, right? That’s what the image above looks like. Uninstalling Plex does not remove anything but the program files. It should not affect anything else on the computer. You could reinstall the app and everything would be back the way they were. That’s how you upgrade/downgrade Plex Media Server.
It stripped ALL my embedded artwork from the files
Are the images actually embedded in the file? Your earlier image shows them as separate files next to the video file. Did you enable the 2 options mentioned above by @JaysPlex? That’s needed for Plex to use artwork other than from our database.
The images are EMBEDDED into the file…now they are NOT nor can i add them with the app i used before…i deleted my movies before deleting Plex server…
Do you mean the embedded cover is now missing from your file? Plex has nothing to do with that.
nor can i add them with the app i used before
Are you trying to add the cover back to the file? Again, Plex has nothing to do with that. Since you restored these files, check the permissions. Sounds like maybe they are set to read-only.
the .jpg files are still in my folder but on my hard drive, i can no longer embed them…they were embedded before Plex so how can you say plex has nothing to do with it? do you think if i re install Plex server and check all the setting. it might re allow my embedded artwork back to normal?
