Thanks Otto,
ive done as you suggested, and re-enabled “run partial scan when changes are detected” with “scan my library automatically” disabled. and it seems like there is no auto scanning going on now.
i then went to see if i could find out more about these particular options. and according to https://support.plex.tv/articles/200289526-library/#toc-1 it seems my suspicions may be correct. if “scan my library automatically” is disabled, then “run partial scan when changes are detected” will also be disabled, because it depends on the former.
do we know what may be happening to cause this issue of missing files?
i have a hunch; because most of my media is automated, sometimes things tend to happen in batches when scheduled. perhaps when plex sees a change and starts the scan, during said scan another file(s) gets loaded into the media directory and plex doesnt notice it… and as we have found, the only way to rectify once this has occurred is with plex dance rescanning after the fact will not retroactively fix the missed file(s). i hope that makes sense.
