Server Version#: 1.29.0.6244 (x64)
Player Version#: N/A
This has actually been happening to me on and off for awhile, and it’s finally gotten to the point where I’ve “had it”. Every 4-6 weeks, Plex will do a scan and “forget” the matches on shows that were previously matched and sometimes it will also completely hose my collections. Usually, this “forgetfulness” occurs with shows that I had to manually match, but sometimes, it’ll “forget” the match for other shows too. The files haven’t been altered in any way, but Plex just…“forgets”. I have a second VM, running on the same host, using the same dedicated domain user account, running the same version of Plex, pointing at the same storage that does not have this issue.
Config:
Windows Server 2019 VM hosted on vSphere 7.03U3g w/Nvidia P2000 in Passthrough.
Storage provided by virtualized TrueNAS SCALE instance on same host.
Plex db has been migrated twice over six years. No db errors in logs.
Any suggestions that don’t involve me doing an uninstall and reinstall? Because that would really suck.
99.9% of the time this happens its because the naming does not match what plex expects. In the past I’ve seen even a fix match break later if the naming is particularly poor.
So, could you give an example (screenshot) of a movie, show and it’s episodes which you have this problem ?
My problem isn’t that the initial match fails. My problem is that after I’ve already matched the item, One Plex instance will “forget” that match for no obvious reason that I can find, while the other does not.
Is “empty trash automatically after every scan” enabled in your server settings?
Most frequently this kind of things happens if one of your file locations aren’t accessible to the server during a scan
The scanner doesn’t see the file and Plex deletes it when the trash is emptied.
Upon the next scan when that media is now available again Plex thinks that it’s new
If those items were “fixed matched” when originally added, they will become unmatched again when they are re-added
This is caused by bad naming, as Dokuro and pshanew have pointed out which can correct them from being unmatched.
But you need to find out the root cause of why Plex can’t see those files
I don’t know if this is your problem but it’s something to check
Submarine 707R, I can completely understand it failing on the initial match, but after being matched, it was fine for years and across both migrations. Ditto for SWAT Kats. Bubble Guppies, I don’t get as it matched correctly the first time.
F:\Bubble Guppies (2011)\Season 01\Bubble Guppies (2011) - S01E01 - Call a Clambulance.avi (you have an extra 0 in the show number 001)
F:\Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron (1993)\ Season 01\Swat Kats The Radical Squadron (1993) - s01e01 - The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice.mp4
You can omit the season folder if you only have one season
The date inside the file name is not always necessary but I would highly recommend it in the show folder
If you want added info like “OVA Dual Audio” it can’t be in the show folder. If you put it in the file name, put it inside square brackets. Plex will ignore what’s inside of the brackets and not confuse it with part of the file name or show
In the show folder you can put the name of the show and year in parenthesis
Also the TVDB or TMDB series id if you want
I.e. {tmdb-181001} in curly brackets to help match it. If it contains anything else you’re gambling
People use filebot or TinyMediaManager to name their files easier
