I’ve recently moved my Plex Media Server from a local version running on Mac OS to my Synology 218+.
Created a TAR backup of /Application Support/Plex Media Server
Clean install of Plex onto Synology
Modified ‘Machine Identifier’ and ‘ProcessedMachineIdentifier’ in the prefs file
Gave Plex share all necessary permissions for he media folders (already on the Synology)
Started Plex - optimized libraries, cleaned bundles, emptied trash etc
After all this, most of my Movies Library (4800+ titles with Collection tags etc) still shows now poster art. The meta data itself still seems ok, as the collection tags and data show up, however the posters don’t show. When I Edit the file, it recognizes the number of posters etc that was associated but none show.
If I "analyze’ the file, then refresh, the posters come back, but then i lose all custom meta data (posters, associated collections, clean film name).
Luckily I am still running the local version of Server until I can resolve this issue but need help. It would take me weeks to go through and fix the whole library. It seems to me to either be a permissions issues (though unlikely as I’ve confirmed them a number of times against instructions) or more likely some sort of orphaning from the poster bundle.
my last try i trashed the prefs file and let the Synology build generate it’s own new one. unfortunately same issue still. but i’ll try one more time against that FAQ
i’m not moving the actual media - it was sitting on synology already so the drive and path name stays the same. the only issue i can tell in exact matching is that when the library was being served from a local version of PMS, the path the the media storage library was ‘volumes/video/movies’. Now that the PMS is on the same Synology box, the path is now ‘volume2/video/movies’. im not sure i can change this as its the difference in how it’s reading the share names, no?
I’m not sure what you mean messing with anything. I’ve followed the instructions verbatim a few times now and am always ending with the same issue. I clearly stated above that the volume name is treated differently when on synology versus via AFP share. Luckily I am still running the local version of PMS on my Mac with media already on Synology so I can keep working on resolving the poster missing issue. I asked about fixing via the DB because it seems that the volume name/path issue is the most likely culprit. The meta data text stats correct but attached posters don’t. Refreshing the meta data would unfortunately lead to losing my collections tagging, as well as having to fix names.
I’d appreciate any further help in this but again to reiterate, I’ve gone through the steps multiple times.
@Krstfr1 Did you ever get this working?
I’m in the same situation. I’ve followed numerous explanations, including the official method, and I always seem to end up with most things working, except for the posters.
I’m surprised people keep suggesting the FAQ. Did something change? Does Plex now migrate data that was manually entered, like box art and titles that can’t be matched? If not, you’re really just wasting everyone’s time. I wrote that post about howto edit the database 3 years ago because the FAQ is simply wrong. No amount of following the steps on the FAQs will correctly will get you the desired outcome unless your media is all auto matched. In those three years I am surprised the FAQ has not been updated to point out it’s shortcomings.
I would be glad to find out that, since I wrote that post 3 years ago, Plex will now carry over manual edits made to unmatched items.
Joseph Elwell.
My post, which has the only effective way of maintaining your manual edits has been around for over 3 years. I constantly get pinged because so many people link to it. Including Krstfr1 above.
It shocks me that Plex experts still tell people that moving your media is a simple task. It’s not.
trumpy81, you asked what exactly is wrong with the FAQ. I will quote my post above:
“No amount of following the steps on the FAQs will correctly will get you the desired outcome unless your media is all auto matched.”
The FAQ should have been updated, YEARS AGO, to point out that no matter what steps you follow carefully, you will LOSE all metadata that manually entered in the past. Any title changes, any posters you added. Anything that didn’t auto match. Even thing you had to go and “Fix Match” in the UI will be LOST! It’s misleading to tell people that they must have done something wrong if it didn’t work. Sure they must have done something wrong if alot of their content didn’t match correctly. But all the content that failed to match at all (or worse if it auto matches the wrong movie) all that is on Plex’s poorly written FAQ and Plex experts and customer help that continue to blindly point people at the FAQ.
Joseph Elwell.
This is one of those cases where science doesn’t care what your opinion is.
The implementation is here:
I believe MovieFan.Plex has incorporated my SQL statements into the database tool.
If you put a home move in your plex library, using no matcher, but editing the title and poster in the plex web ui - you will lose your edits when you move no matter how carefully you follow the FAQ. Or if you upload a custom poster for something that matched using imdb, you will also lose that poster. I think a better FAQ would simply tell people that they will lose manual edits, and that the move procedure is meant to pick up properly named files that can be matched by default matchers.
Joseph Elwell.
