cd /var/packages/PlexMediaServer/home
tar cf /volumeX/sharename/PlexBackup.tar .
Now we reverse the process
Install Plex if needed
Stop Plex
again, as ‘root’ in the task , we eXtract from the archive
# Get into the directory
cd /var/packages/PlexMediaServer/home
# move the unused new installation out of the way then start deleting.
mv "Plex Media Server" Plex-Unused
rm -rf Plex-Unused &
# extract the entire contents of the archive (which starts with `./Plex Media Server` right here )
tar xf /volumeX/sharename/PlexBackup.tar
# Make certain the ID numbers didn't change (OS reinstall loves to change them)
chown -R PlexMediaServer:PlexMediaServer "Plex Media Server"
When this finishes,
The unused space (usually very small) will be gone.
The restore will be complete
The User/Account ID numbers will match the current DSM installation
=====================================
In related news. we are talking with Synology to see if/how HyperBackup can provide backup capabilities for all of DSM 7’s apps in this new storage structure.
Too early to say anything so please don’t speculate or cross your toes yet…
A message of hope to all of you waiting for hours for the install process to end. Here is an extract of my migration log: 14h for the ownership change and I’ve moved up to the symbolic links conversion… Not through and a handful of errors, but CheckPa’s promise keeps strong…
OH come on, ChuckPa: don’t be demeaning to my poor DS918+. I counted 180’000 files in my various Plex shares (most being pictures, rest being… well… you know…). And 7y worth of visioning for my 5-people family. We are happy campers very happy with our life-worth Plex Pass
I updated to DSM 7 2 days ago, had uninstalled Plex, downloaded the latest version from plex.tv and installed it…then restarted the NAS several times (even waiting hours in between), but I still don’t see a “Custom” option in the permission settings for the shared folder.
I tried proceeding with the install (both attempting to use the /volume1/Plex folder and use the other “internal folder” option, but in either case I get the error that the PlexMediaServer user does not have enough permissions to continue.
After each failure Plex does not show up as an installed app, so I can’t try another “remove” process.
You will not be able to use the automation to migrate without “Custom”
To that: Are you signing in as user admin or a user with administrative privilege?
You need to use admin. If you’ve disabled it (which is good), re-enable it for this migration and give it a usable password. You can disable later.
I believe that plex share was setup since DSM 6 (previously I had used a docker version of plex) but not 100% sure. Would that entail a different procedure?
I am using the admin account…
Is this something I can get around by modifying the permissions via an ssh terminal?
More than happy to give this a go of it would be helpful. So far, I seemingly have Plex installed and running on DSM 7; however, server doesn’t show up on my list of authorized devices. Go figure. I have noticed that, a few times over the course of the day (I’ve gone through your recommended installation a few times…haha), when I’ve attempted to have the Serb added from my synology, I receive the “not authorized” page
Check Settings - Authorized Devices. Make sure you don’t have a dupe there.
You might have two instances now – The old UUID for DSM 6 and the new UUID for DSM 7.
As for not authorized, may I have log files or are you completely locked out?
If locked out; uninstall & keep then “Install using Claim Token” method to pull it into your account. If this fails, I will do digging into the account
re: authorized devices, the only plex server listed is the one I literally just added on my MacMini. Well, I don’t have the logs as the servers aren’t listed; however, I’ll do the uninstall & keep then “Install using Claim Token” method and fill you in on success/failure.
Since the Plex metadata is now in a root folder which is difficult to access, what happens when we want to migrate the metadata to another device 2+ years down the road? Will there be an easy way to export the data for a transfer by that point? Would I be better off installing a Plex container in Docker where the metadata is more accessible?
There are already longer term plans being discussed.
I’m unfortunately not able to discuss it at this time.
If you need to export now, the task is as creating a tar backup which is shown above but will help
If you want to use Docker now,
With the PlexMediaServer packaga installed and stopped,
Create a docker container definition which points the PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR to /var/packages/PlexMediaServer/home
I am still trying to catch up with DSM 7.0-41890 release (41222 → 41882 → 41888 → 41890).
If you’ll bare with me, I will help with a viable answer unless someone from the community wants to jump in and help as Docker is not my forte and DSM 7 removed Docker from my DS418
Keep == Touch nothing. Remove only the programs. This is equivalent to DSM 6 behavior. It’s also why I set it as the default (so you can change versions without fear)
Sign Out == As it means. Sign out so you can change account the server runs under.
Erase == Delete all the server information currently stored in PlexMediaServer. This is how you “start over”. It is a non-recoverable, fully destructive, operation.
The option I suggest for you:
Uninstall and sign out.
This keeps all your existing DSM 7 data.
Install – Using Plex Claim Token.
Click the ‘Get Claim Token’ to get a token and then paste in the window provided.
The installer goes out to Plex.tv with that token, authenticates, then configures the “Preferences.xml” to be attached to your account.
When completed, it prints who the server was claimed for in the installation message window.
I added the Plex Claim Token method for a few reasons:
you have multiple servers on the LAN
you might not have the flattest (single subnet) LAN
your LAN addressing might not be RFC-1918 compliant.
The Claim Token method provides secure claiming in those environments without need to do any keyboard typing.
comes to mind while it finishes up those ~ 1.8 million files
) 