I actually did forget that feature was there. It started out as part of the DVR feature and was expanded to be able to be used on all shows. So I was sort of correct that deleting was onyl available to the DVR feature. 
However, in this user’s case, he has confirmed that the files are moving moved (and renamed), not deleted, so this is a totally different wrinkle on the issue.
I think I realized where my problem lies, and I think you are absolutely right–it’s not Plex. I’m really sorry for the fuss I made.
I had the media share exported read/write, and I think I must have messed up when I pointed MediaMonkey on my Windows PC at it and it snarfed the Video files and moved them. I’ll turn on Plex today to make sure, but the renamed files sure look like the format Media Monkey would have used. I’m sure that was it.
Again, I’m sorry for the noise, and very much appreciate the support you gave me.
It’s good that you found the problem and let us know.
It may help someone in the future.
So this is Still a Thing, I just noticed My Library went from 1740 movies down to 1411. and I didn’t delete anything… the Logs Rotate Too Fast to see anything worthwhile.
No. There hasn’t been a single case where Plex was found to be randomly deleting movies. Have you checked if files are actually being removed or are they just being removed from your Plex library?
I was showing someone my Plex collection and we were discussing the amount of movies i had… at that time Plex said ‘1740’. The next day when I went to add a few new movies it said 1411.
So I had some time and compared a few of my databases that I backup to the current one. after running some SQL queries I found the only movies missing from the current database were movies that had been improperly named. No movies had been deleted…
But then why the noticeable difference in the movie count. I had been reorganizing my movies the day prior, does that count update slower? I did not have any unexpected duplicates when i was done with my cleanup and that when it told me 1740…
Were you making collections? They affect how Plex counts media.
^^ That is correct. The count is the number of items shown on the screen, not the number of items in your library. If you have the setting to show both collections and it’s contents, then those collections get counted on top. If you apply a filter, the count will go down.
So it has come to pass that Plex has deleted several of my show’s entire collections. My entire Doctor Who collection (all of it from 1963 to 2018), all of my Absolutely Fabulous, all of my Game of Thrones, all of it’s always Sunny, among other things. I have it set to keep everything indefinitely, I also have it set so it doesn’t empty the trash. I’ve never used the DVR feature, and I can’t even get into it as I don’t have Plex Pass - and doubt I ever will given that it’s this software is crazy buggy.
To say that I am annoyed would be an understatement - I’m now going to have to spend weeks re-ripping and re-encoding my stuff.
Can anyone recommend an alternative that doesn’t have this same quirk?
I’m using an i5 Mac Mini 2018.
There are a LOT of things about Plex that I dislike but I know that Plex never deletes files unless someone tells it to. You have to have the ability to delete files turned on and someone, with the rights to do so, must tell Plex to delete files.
I primarily use Emby for my media consumption but Emby has the ability to delete files, if it is turned on which I never do, just like Plex. IN the Emby forums and here the media manager gets blamed for file deletions but, in every case, the fault has always been shown to be some human error.
Also a lot of times it has turned out that the files were never actually deleted but rather Plex or Emby simply lost track of them because something happened like a drive mapping changed.
Once again I have NEVER seen either Plex or Emby delete a file without being told and allowed to do so.
People keep saying that Plex doesn’t delete files unless someone tells it too, but I had all the setting set to keep my media and to disallow media deletion and yet here I am. My drives have not changed, the media wasn’t moved, I haven’t been messing around with file locations.
And there are too many people who have had the same thing happen to them who’ve posted in this thread.
Something is clearly happening.
I honestly don’t know why the forum is showing me as having Plex Pass, I had the free trial for a month but now I don’t - not sure why it’s still showing as I certainly don’t have access to the DVR functions that are included in that- maybe that’s just another mess up on the software side they haven’t bothered to fix?
This also doesn’t change the fact that loads of people over several years have been reporting the same issues with this software, discount me all you like but what about the next load of people who’ll continue to post here about Plex deleting their media - is everyone on this thread a liar?
It’s all very well saying its a misuse of the software but when you’ve meticulously checked the settings to ensure that no media is deleted and it still happens, and several people report the same thing, there’s is something going on.
Perhaps its an obscure setting, or it may be a bug. If it’s the former a clear guide should be produced by Plex for people to follow to make sure settings are properly set to prevent accidental media deletion and a link to that guide should be posted on this thread as a bare minimum, if it’s the latter Plex should identify the bug and fix it.
Either way, Plex have a responsibility to ensure that their software and their accompanying documentation is fit for purpose - at the moment many people are experiencing that it is not.
Not according to their TOS. Sorry, they are not held to the same standards larger companies such as Microsoft or Google are
The only way Plex can track this is down is with logs showing Plex deleting the files. So far, none of the logs provided have shown Plex deleting files without cause.
In a number of instances this thread folks have misunderstood what they were looking at (either database deletions versus file deletions, reduced movie file counts in the UI because of collections being mistaken as deleted files, files moved by their NAS media software manager, etc) or they had settings that allowed Plex to delete their files (for TV libraries used by the DVR: delete after watch or delete after x amount of time).
In many cases, users aren’t providing any logs or logs that show files being deleted by Plex.
So while there are a number of posters on this topic (37 including folks trying to help) over the past 5 years, this is not widespread problem and hasn’t been shown to be a Plex problem.
Emby perhaps? I don’t know, I haven’t used anything other Plex since the old Boxee days. I’ve never had a file deleted that I didn’t ask Plex to delete and I’ve been using Plex for a long time (more than 8 years I think).
There is a forum bug somewhere, we will look into this. Would not affect your PMS.
We’ve looked at all cases where information has been provided by users. There has not been 1 single instance where Plex was found to be at fault. If your situation can prove Ple xis at fault, we will get it fixed. If this just happened recently, the information may still be in your logs. Please provide the entire set of PMS logs for us to review. Also, can you provide details on how your files were stored? full path to files, screenshots, etc. Whatever you can provide to help identify the cause would be great.
The only way for anyone to determine what caused the file deletion is through the Plex Server logs. Get and post the logs before they are overwritten.
So I have to dredge this topic back up as I am now one of the many crazy people who are having movies vanish from the server. I poured through the logs but show nothing being deleted. So the big question I have is, is there a setting that removes movies after they have been watched and x period of time has passed? If not, then im at a loss for words, as I have lost a good 100 movies or so.
Most of the time im only made aware of the issue when someone asks me, “didnt you used to have x y and z movie?”
Imho this only exists for series and has to be enabled on series level if I am correct. Haven’t found any comparable option for movies though.
^^ is correct. There is no setting to automatically remove movies.
If it’s not in the log, then PMS might not have been the culprit.
refer people to a previous post i made with a test delete, so you can see what actually happens when a delete does occur, plus a reminder to check your approved apps:
