Plexdata folder very LARGE

Plex Media Server
1

the plexdata folder is extremely large; 323GIGS, and is coming close to filling up the HDD.
I have a 1tb ssd partitions split in half…500gigs for OS/plex program and the other partition for ONLY plexdata.
my though was put the plexdata just on the 1TB SSD and getting a 250ssd for just the OS/plex program. but turns out i have no more power sata left…
I have:
1 1tb OS/plex program
1 10tb movies
1 10tb TV
1 4tb music/misc media

There is 84gigs free on the partition that the plexdata is on. to give an idea. I put this drive in first of the year and its filled up this fast
are there any files within the plexdata folder that I can delete to free up some space??

2

That seems extremely large even if using Video Preview Thumbnails.(Which I’m assuming you use?)
My Plex folder is a little larger at around 380GB, however that’s on a media library of around 180TB.
I would be tempted to investigate what exactly is using all that space. because it really doesn’t seem normal.

3

ok… how can i figure this out???

4

Hopefully, @tom80H or others may have some input on where to look on Windows.

5

so the break down:
within the plexdata\plex media server folder
cache 13.6gigs
codecs: 13.1 mb
crash reports: 0
diagnostics: 0
logs: 209mb
media: 254gb
metadata: 52gb
plug-in support: 2.29gb
plug-ins: 788kb
updates: 598mb

also something to note.
I am also running an EMBY server and another windows machine. Identical to my setup as plex. Same drives, everything and the emby data folder is 78gigs, and the Emby has more features, than plex… so something is a foot at the circle K here

6

Curious as to why your media folder is so big. I have 30tb of stuff too and my server folder is 253g and my media folder is only 10gig. You sure you don’t have video thumbnails turned on? Metadata folder is 186g,

7

yes video thumbnails are turned on.
if I turn them off… can I delete the metadata folder??

8

no, don’t delete that. It is full of media metadata and posters and stuff. In each library setting under advanced, turn off video thumbnails and there is a big red button to delete preview thumbnails. Turn them off and delete them all one library at a time and that should help.

9

well that did it…
went down to 74.1gigs for the entire plexdata folder.

so what am I missing out by not enabling Video Preview Thumbnails???

10

WHen you play a movie and you fast forward, you will see little video thumbnails of what is going on at that point in time as you scroll along the bottom. It helps you find a specific scene you are looking for. But, as you have seen, storing all those image files chews up a LOT of space so most people with large media libraries don’t mess with it.

11

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