great. thanks darcilicious!
so really the only downside to building a new library with folders (as opposed to a single MEGA library) is losing all the metadata edits I’ve done. Which is a huge factor but perhaps with an eye to the long term it may be worth it.
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Yes & No … there is still a way to “skin that cat”
Here’s how:
Thank you so much for your help both.
BTW, QNAP support has also said, “I noticed you are using Plex Media Server version 1.14.1.488. This version is not yet compatible with our NAS which may cause some issues. Please try using the version 1.13.5.291 provided in the QNAP App Center and see if the issue persists.”
so will try that as well as restructuring my library
Hi ChuckPA,
I’ve taken your advice and am in the process of creating a new music library with multiple folders instead of one single large folder with 75K tracks. It’s time consuming but I’m not putting any deadline on myself. Just a bit every day. But one thing I have noticed : In my original library I’ve created a lot (close to 100) of playlists. Now that I’m about 25% of the way through building a new library (using exactly the same files; just divided into small folders) I notice that when I want to add a track from the newly created library to a playlist Plex automatically gives me the option to add it to one of my existing playlists which I created from the old library. So do Playlists exist ‘separate’ from libraries? Or do all libraries share the same playlists?
My idea was once I had the new library fully uplloaded and ready to go I’d delete the original library to carve out more space on my NAS. I assumed if I did so I’d lose all my Playlists as well. But it appears this may not be the case. What am I missing? Shouldn’t a new library have its own set of playlists?
Confused.
PMS keeps track of media by MediaItemID. (because of the database).
PMS doesn’t care where the item physically is or its pathname. It only cares about the ID number.
This said, if you move the media and PMS doesn’t lose track of it, any playlist it’s referenced in will be fine.
This is why we have the “Moving media to a new location” support page.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201154537-move-media-content-to-a-new-location/
Playlists and past play history are maintained intact by following this sequence.
It involves two important steps.
- Turn off “Empty Trash after every scan” and “Automatically detect changes”
- You keep both the old folder name and the new folder name in the library folders list until everything is moved.
Step 1 is obvious… You don’t want PMS trying to second-guess what you’re doing
Step 2 allows it to retain the old location but now see the new location. This is important because PMS will attach the new location to the existing media ID.
The second part of the above quote “Automatically detect changes” isn’t included in the support page article. And that might explain why I have more than the occasional hiccup when I have moved media. If it is an important part of the procedure, maybe the support article should be updated.
Here’s my TL;DR of that same page.
Probably a better and easier to use guide, but as an average user, I shouldn’t have to look for the “TL;DR” version here in the forums, with a “server-linux-tag” 
But thanks for the extra info, I’kk be sure to add that extra step next time.
I’m doing what I can to help. 
lol
Thanks for all your help ChuckPA. Created new folders with fewer albums in each as suggested. Followed your advice around moving files etc. optimised, bundled wash and rinse. Still the same issue. So I guess it is a flaw in Plex app. Perhaps one day it will be fixed.
What I fail to understand is this:
[chuck@lizum Shell.206]$ find /vie/music /vie/oldmusic -type f -print | wc -l
32490
[chuck@lizum Shell.207]$
I can give these to PMS, all at once, with no difficulties. I do not need break them into blocks of 5000.
So what is the difference? Perhaps how I curate my media. Below are my Chicago albums.
drwxrwxrwx 101 chuck plex 4096 Dec 6 18:59 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Apr 21 2018 Chicago - Chicago 13/
drwxr-xr-x 5 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago at Carnegie Hall/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago II/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago III/
drwxr-xr-x 4 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago VI/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago VII/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago VIII/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago X/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Chicago XI/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Apr 21 2018 Chicago - Chicago XIV/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Mar 8 2018 Chicago - Hot Streets/
[chuck@lizum Chicago.212]$ [chuck@lizum Chicago.213]$ ls -la Chicago\ -\ *13
total 433092
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Apr 21 2018 ./
drwxr-xr-x 14 chuck plex 4096 Apr 21 2018 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 67416670 Apr 21 2018 01 - Street Player.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 30727685 Apr 21 2018 02 - Mama Take.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 23834849 Apr 21 2018 03 - Must Have Been Crazy.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 30954575 Apr 21 2018 04 - Window Dreamin'.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 24514361 Apr 21 2018 05 - Paradise Alley.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 29165669 Apr 21 2018 06 - Aloha Mama.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 32515302 Apr 21 2018 07 - Reruns.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 32926253 Apr 21 2018 08 - Loser With a Broken Heart.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 34410433 Apr 21 2018 09 - Life Is What It Is.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 31881141 Apr 21 2018 10 - Run Away.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 34913279 Apr 21 2018 11 - Closer to You.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 70059624 Apr 21 2018 12 - Street Player (dance mix).flac
-rw-rw-rw- 1 chuck chuck 132656 Apr 10 2018 front.jpg
[chuck@lizum Chicago.213]$
I will share the Picard naming template and my tagging options if it is of benefit.
Hi again,
i’m happy with the naming structure etc of Plex. don’t have any issues there. I’m wondering if I split my (100k tracks) into two or more libraries would that make a difference in the freezing or slow response? (BTW) since moving a lot of files to a second root directory on my NAS the freezing doesn’t seem to be so regular…still happens but less frequently and usually self corrects after a few seconds.
So may be I create 2 libraries ?
Apparently that’s what you’ll need to do.
thanks. will let you know how it goes.
I wonder if SSD caching would help in this case Chuck.
All sorted. Splitting up my library into smaller chunks was the issue. Thanks everyone.
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