Plex Media Server 1.15.6.1079-78232c603-x86_64.spk constant scanning

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Greetings!

My Plex Media Server is running in a Synology NAS. I am using PlexMediaServer-1.15.6.1079-78232c603-x86_64.spk and I have an issue due to endless scanning of the movie library. What can I do to make Plex stop constantly scanning for movies?

Also, even when I cut off the app from running on Synology server 2 the Plex media scanner keeps running and utilize about 29% of the CPU. I tried to stop plex scan by shooting down the app but the scan process continue even when I have stop the plex app from running.

I have 2 NAS servers from Synology and both of them have the same issue. Here are the logs!
Synology Server 1 - Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-10_10-41-35.zip (6.8 MB) Synology Server 2 - Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-10_09-39-55.zip (4.7 MB)

4

I have 2 NAS servers from Synology and both of them have the same issue. Here are the logs!

Synology Server 1 - Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-10_10-41-35.zip (6.8 MB) Synology Server 2 - Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-10_09-39-55.zip (4.7 MB)

6

I followed the instructions from this post:

I disable all the scanning functions and I restarted the Synology NAS because even when I shut down plex app the NAS was running Plex scan in the background.

I have enabled the scanning functions on both servers and I would like you to look at them again. The Server 1 gets tuck scanning [Castlevania]

(#!/server/21e7a714e205258ffab0533c641e61577a56896d/details?key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F11319)

The Server 2 has the scanning enabled but I have not added any new media so it is not running scan now. Server 1 - Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-10_12-25-31.zip (4.0 MB) Server 2 - Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-10_11-25-59.zip (4.5 MB)

I just manually asked the Server 2 to start scanning. This has made the Plex app to start scanning and it wont stop scanning the same folder. Here is the log.

Server 2 -Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-10_11-47-47.zip (4.5 MB)

7

May I augment here with a few suggestions and questions?

  1. Turn off IPv6. Your internet service is IPv4. it’s just making a mess in the logs and causing PMS to waste time looking for IPv6 service.
  2. Is PMS continuously scanning a directory which has a torrent / download program writing to it? If so, you’ve created an infinite loop. PMS gets notified every time something is written to the directory.
8

I have turned off IPv6 and I do not have a download program or torrent in any of my servers, but thanks for your feedback. I double check these settings.

9

To explain how Plex looks for scanning:

  1. The Linux kernel has an iNotify list.
  2. Plex adds each directory found, starting with the top-most one you specify, to that list.
  3. If any of them have their “Date-Time last modified” changed, the Kernel sends a “changed” event to PMS.
  4. PMS, which is listening for these events, starts scanning.

Ways to optimize:

  1. Enable Partial scan
  2. Make sure not to place any media in the Plex share. (some do - which results in precisely this symptom because PMS ends up watching itself)
11

To add to Trumpy regarding music.

Music is painfully slow if not 100% perfectly named. It’s slower than movies and television when perfectly named but not too bad.

I use MusicBrainz Picard for my naming and am able to scan all media within the hour.
The initial pass through Music brains did take time. ( A labor of love )

I offer my naming rules:

Screenshot%20from%202019-06-10%2013-39-27
Screenshot%20from%202019-06-10%2013-39-27855×585 38.2 KB

[chuck@lizum Steely Dan.98]$ ls -la
total 772
drwxr-xr-x  15 chuck chuck   4096 May  7  2017 ./
drwxrwxrwx 102 chuck chuck   4096 Jun 10 13:45 ../
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 A Decade of Steely Dan/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Aja/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Alive in America/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Can’t Buy a Thrill/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Countdown to Ecstasy/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Everything Must Go/
-rw-r--r--   1 chuck chuck 728134 Jan 11  2015 Folder.jpg
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Gaucho/
drwxr-xr-x   2 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Gold (Expanded Edition)/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Katy Lied/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Pretzel Logic/
drwxr-xr-x   2 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Roaring Of The Lamb (1994)/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 The Royal Scam/
drwxr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck   4096 Mar  5  2018 Two Against Nature/
[chuck@lizum Steely Dan.99]$ ls -la Aja
total 69100
drwxr-xr-x  3 chuck chuck     4096 Mar  5  2018 ./
drwxr-xr-x 15 chuck chuck     4096 May  7  2017 ../
-rw-r--r--  1 chuck chuck  8742982 Jun 20  2016 01 - Black Cow.mp3
-rw-r--r--  1 chuck chuck 13881795 Jun 20  2016 02 - Aja.mp3
-rw-r--r--  1 chuck chuck 13556733 Jun 20  2016 03 - Deacon Blues.mp3
-rw-r--r--  1 chuck chuck  6968878 Jun 20  2016 04 - Peg.mp3
-rw-r--r--  1 chuck chuck 10001455 Jun 20  2016 05 - Home at Last.mp3
-rw-r--r--  1 chuck chuck  9013291 Jun 20  2016 06 - I Got the News.mp3
-rw-r--r--  1 chuck chuck  7815923 Jun 20  2016 07 - Josie.mp3
drwxr-xr-x  2 chuck chuck     4096 May  7  2017 Artwork/
-rw-r--r--  1 chuck chuck   747221 Jan 11  2015 Folder.jpg
[chuck@lizum Steely Dan.100]$ pwd
/vie/music/Steely Dan
[chuck@lizum Steely Dan.101]$
12

i have the same problem after last update in the synology server , i think the server cant read the NAS drive now the only option if im trying to add liberary is plex internal folder Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-11_02-25-03.zip (7.2 MB) Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-11_02-19-45.zip (2.8 MB)

13

Thanks for the logs.

what I am finding in your logs is a repeated attempt to download the H264 codec and it’s failing.

Open FileStation,
Navigate down to Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs.
Delete everything there
Restart PMS.

Something is corrupted (which happens) and it can’t continue/recover.

Jun 10, 2019 05:40:45.048 [13778] ERROR - downloadContainer: expected MediaContainer element, found Response
Jun 10, 2019 05:40:45.048 [13778] ERROR - Codecs: Failed to download XML for codec 'h264_decoder'
Jun 10, 2019 05:40:45.048 [13778] ERROR - CodecManager: failed to install codec for h264
Jun 10, 2019 05:40:45.048 [13778] ERROR - [MI] Failed to install codec h264
Jun 10, 2019 05:40:45.048 [13778] INFO - CodecManager: obtaining decoder 'h264'
14

I did it, but yesterday I deleted PMS and the folder with all the settings. I also used an older version of PMS and I got the same problems. I just deleted the files in the Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs. I still have the same problem.

Here is the log file:

Server 1 - Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-10_19-40-33.zip (3.2 MB)

Every time that I add a new movie it will get stuck with the newest move added and will leave the previous movie that was trying to scan alone.

What else can I do? The only way to fix this is to go to settings/library and disable all the scanning functions

15

Adding to the earlier feedback

Synology server

You have a permissions issue - probably due to the recent change where the plex user is no longer admin

Jun 11, 2019 02:02:09.152 [0x7fafd9432740] DEBUG -   * Scanning /volume1/video/Series
Jun 11, 2019 02:02:09.152 [0x7fafd9432740] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file "/volume1/video/Series": boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/volume1/video/Series"

Jun 11, 2019 01:57:40.729 [0x7fa50d03e740] DEBUG -   * Scanning /volume1/video/Movies
Jun 11, 2019 01:57:40.729 [0x7fa50d03e740] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file "/volume1/video/Movies": boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/volume1/video/Movies"

Jun 11, 2019 01:59:26.307 [0x7f861ac42740] DEBUG -   * Scanning /volume1/video/Movies
Jun 11, 2019 01:59:26.308 [0x7f861ac42740] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file "/volume1/video/Movies": boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/volume1/video/Movies"

Jun 11, 2019 02:02:07.361 [0x7f7e5bc00740] DEBUG -   * Scanning /volume1/video/Animation
Jun 11, 2019 02:02:07.362 [0x7f7e5bc00740] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file "/volume1/video/Animation": boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/volume1/video/Animation"

Jun 11, 2019 02:02:08.024 [0x7feca9078740] DEBUG -   * Scanning /volume1/video/Wedding Video
Jun 11, 2019 02:02:08.024 [0x7feca9078740] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file "/volume1/video/Wedding Video": boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/volume1/video/Wedding Video"

Jun 11, 2019 02:02:08.563 [0x7fd968dfd740] DEBUG -   * Scanning /volume1/video/Movies
Jun 11, 2019 02:02:08.564 [0x7fd968dfd740] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file "/volume1/video/Movies": boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/volume1/video/Movies"

Jun 11, 2019 02:02:09.152 [0x7fafd9432740] DEBUG -   * Scanning /volume1/video/Series
Jun 11, 2019 02:02:09.152 [0x7fafd9432740] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file "/volume1/video/Series": boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/volume1/video/Series"

NVIDIA SHIELD

You are running on a very old unsupported version and codecs do not exist anymore. Did you select Uninstall Updates?

1.4.3.3433-03e4cfa35 - NVIDIA SHIELD

One of the requests highlighted earlier would have got back
<Response code="404" status="Release with version 584154a-1188 not found"/>

Please update to the current version for the SHIELD which is either 1.15.8.1918 (Beta) or the earlier public release

16

yes, Plex M. S. did not have permission! I will test it now

17

Maybe I need to let PMS a few times because it did not have authorization to edit files in the libraries. The PMS still doing full scans even when I selected:
Run a partial scan when changes are detected
When changes to library folders are detected, only scan the folder that changed.

I will give it a few hours and see if these changes are enough to make PMS stop scanning

18

We need to establish why this is triggering every 30 seconds. If it is to do with a file/directory changing or a bug

Jun 10, 2019 19:38:40.024 [0x7fb39a88f700] INFO - Library section 1 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)"/The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018).mkv'

Jun 10, 2019 19:39:09.406 [0x7fb39a88f700] INFO - Library section 1 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)"/The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018).mkv'

Jun 10, 2019 19:39:39.504 [0x7fb39a88f700] INFO - Library section 1 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)"/The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018).mkv'

Jun 10, 2019 19:40:10.069 [0x7fb39a88f700] INFO - Library section 1 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)"/The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018).mkv'

The double quotes on the directory path seem out of place - but i cannot say at this stage if it is leading to an issue

Each of these schedules a scanner job to run - and the scanner jobs sees there is no change and exits

Check list directory and see if anything changing in the directory. There is an @eaDir but we do not have a notify for changes within it

19

The PMS did not have admin rights to the folders. I have deleted the library that was having issues and I am running a fresh scan now. I would like to know if PMS has full administrator rights for make changes in the NAS it will not bring these scanning errors. I had to go for a clean scan run and see if this will get it fix.

Thanks

20

If I may add here?

User Plex needs R/W to the Plex share. (where Library is)
The internal DSM storage areas are too small to hold all the metadata, so we placed the share out on the main volume. Doing so provided other additional benefits.

User Plex only needs Read-only to your media directories unless you plan to store Optimized media with your main media. In that case, it needs Read-Write there as well.

Additionally, due to how Synology uses Video Station (their product), /volume1/video follows special, Synology-determined, rules.

It is almost always in your better interest to create a “Movies” and “Television” shares for your media. This way, you are in control of the permissions.

21

thx, i solved permission issue in synology server.

and regarding NVIDIA SHIELD server i removed updates due to frequent crashes when im playing any movie or series !! what shall i do ?

22

undo that by coming back to latest version. Login to your Google Play account in a browser and forice an install of the current version

23

I have installed the newer PMS for Synology, I added administrator’s rights to the PMS but the app stills keep scanning non-stop. I deleted the libraries and I started the process again. Here is the Log file for Server 1.
Server 1 - Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-11_21-09-19.zip (4.3 MB)

24

It is the same as before. Some files / directories are changing

Jun 11, 2019 20:26:39.231 [0x7fcc61fc5700] INFO - Library section 12 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/Trading Places (1983)"/Trading Places (1983).mkv'

Jun 11, 2019 20:27:07.645 [0x7fcc61fc5700] INFO - Library section 12 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/Waiting Women (1952)"/Secrets of Women (1952).mkv'

Jun 11, 2019 20:27:08.540 [0x7fcc61fc5700] INFO - Library section 12 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/Trading Places (1983)"/Trading Places (1983).mkv'

Jun 11, 2019 20:27:39.672 [0x7fcc61fc5700] INFO - Library section 12 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/Trading Places (1983)"/Trading Places (1983).mkv'

Jun 11, 2019 20:28:06.254 [0x7fcc61fc5700] INFO - Library section 12 (Movies) will be updated because of a change in '"/volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/Trading Places (1983)"/Trading Places (1983).mkv'

can you get full directory listing of /volume1/Synology HD/Media/Movies/HD Movies/Trading Places (1983) that show date / time modified and also all files/directories listed

you could do a ls -ail periodically there

Also would like to see how the library is defined in terms of directory paths
So edit the library in plex web, select add folders and get screenshot