# Plex Server Excessive Bandwidth when scanning for first time
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165
**Category:** General Discussions
**Created:** [April 10, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165 "2018-04-10T21:15:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/1 "2018-04-10T21:15:33Z")
I’ve read that scanning and downloading the files for the database is normal when Plex is doing it’s initial scan to add everything.
What is not normal is how much data it’s used since it started. Most people have a data cap for the month and I’m no different.
On my linux VPS running ubuntu, I have a 2 TB bandwidth for the month.
Before I started the scan, I had around 100 GB used out of the 2 TB.
I have about 3900 movies, and it’s added around 300 of those so far in about 3 hours. The ridiculous part is it’s used 300 GB for 300 movies.
I know it needs to scan and down metadata, but that’s excessive. Metadata usually only amounts to a few gigabytes for the entire collection, not hundreds.
Any ideas?
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/2 "2018-04-10T21:24:49Z")
It’s also performing media analysis and, if you have thumbnail generation on (It is by default), it will scan each file in its entirely to pick out chapter marker images. Stop the scan Edit the library section… Delete and disable the Thumbnails
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/3 "2018-04-11T13:00:31Z")
Same issue. I had to delete Plex from the VPS. It wasn’t setup correctly and ended up disappearing. I couldn’t get it to show up again to claim, so I redid the install.
I turned off thumbnails, video previews, and other settings that could cause it before I started the scan.
55 Movies on there now, and it’s used another 70 GB.
Something isn’t right. My local main server never used this much bandwidth, even with adding TV Shows into the mix. My home internet I have a 1TB cap per month, and I’ve never went over.
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/4 "2018-04-11T15:25:43Z")
When you create a library section, after you Add the folders, you need to UNCHECK the thumbnail box in the Advanced tab. It is checked (enabled) by default.
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/5 "2018-04-11T17:08:55Z")
Weird how it’s separate from the main settings. I’ll try it and see how it goes.
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2018, 11:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/6 "2018-04-11T23:06:45Z")
They did it that way because it’s a per-Library Section setting (the intent). You want chapters for movies but not for television or home video items
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/7 "2018-04-12T00:03:29Z")
Still having the issue. It’s using around 5-10gb of data for each movie it adds.
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/8 "2018-04-12T00:23:04Z")
Should I try deleting the library and starting over?
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/9 "2018-04-12T01:43:27Z")
Delete the library section.
Empty Trash
Clean bundles
Optimize database
Now, when you create the library, make certain to turn it off in the **Advanced** tab before you click **Add**.
Because your thumbnail generation is still in progress, the change won’t take effect until first pass is done. No need waiting that long
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2018, 11:49am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/10 "2018-04-12T11:49:48Z")
It added 500 movies over night, and it used about 800gb
I’m out of ideas.
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/11 "2018-04-13T21:20:17Z")
I won’t be able to try anything else until next month after the data cap restarts. Any other ideas?
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### Author:  [@leelynds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/leelynds)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2018, 6:13am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/12 "2018-04-14T06:13:04Z")
I might be reading the posts wrong, but I believe the OP was a question regarding the amount of data being downloaded, and the suggested solution was a method to reduce the amount of space taken up on a hard drive.
Kindly ignore this comment if I have mis-read
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/13 "2018-04-14T12:25:52Z")
The odd thing is it’s not using any data on the local disk, only 10GB roughly. That doesn’t make sense either.
It’s using excessive bandwidth when scanning and adding movies, or in other words it’s downloading a massive amount of data. I’ve never seen Plex use this much data when adding a library before. It would of been hard not to notice, as Comcast would have charged me for going over the 1TB data cap.
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/14 "2018-04-14T15:36:25Z")
At this point, I need the log files.
When you again attempt, As it’s adding media ( **and not streaming to anyone** ), collect the logs and attach here
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/15 "2018-04-16T00:22:03Z")
Here are the logs. I had 200 GB left for bandwidth usage. It added 30 movies and used another 53 GB. I stopped the scan at that point.
I was supposed to leave debug checked and verbose logging unchecked correct?
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/16 "2018-04-16T00:29:14Z")
Please go back and manually grab the `PMS Plug-in Logs` subdirectory (under `Logs`) before it is lost. I need it. This tells me everything about what’s happening.
For reasons unknown, it’s not in your logs.
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/17 "2018-04-16T02:40:24Z")
Not sure how to do that with a headless server
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/18 "2018-04-16T02:43:02Z")
SSH to it.
```auto
ssh IP.of.remote.server
-login-
# get to root
cd "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server"
tar cfz /tmp/Logs.tar.gz ./Logs
```
now copy that tar ball out to where you can get it back to your computer and attach here.
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### Author:  [@Nate8727](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nate8727)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2018, 3:09am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/19 "2018-04-16T03:09:29Z")
Ah, I figured it out. It’s weird having a headless server and forced to use command line for everything. Makes good practice though.
There are a bunch of files in the zip btw.
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-excessive-bandwidth-when-scanning-for-first-time/232165/20 "2018-04-16T04:22:11Z")
the ZIP file is corrupt. That’s why I had requested tar
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