# Problems after moving metadata
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538
**Category:** Plex Media Server
**Tags:** server-windows
**Created:** [October 30, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538 "2020-10-30T14:56:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pabhudds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pabhudds)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/1 "2020-10-30T14:56:47Z")
Hi
Wondering if anyone can suggest how to get out of hole I seem to dug myself into. I had previously moved my metadata from my OS drive to another disk, and this was fine.
I’ve been building up my collection and spent a lot of time fixing metadata, images etc and it occurred to me when that drive failed I would lose most, if not all, of my work, so I figured I would move the data again to my drivepool where it would be duplicated across multiple drives.
All seemed to work so I removed the original metadata folder. Then I noticed that newly added items were missing images. I could add them but could not get them from the agents in Plex. A bit of reading and I discovered that I should not use a virtual disk like DirvePool for metadata because Plex requires hardlinks to work (don’t know why) and pooled drive don’t support that.
So I copied my metadata again from the pool to a single disk, an SSD outside of the pool, but Plex would not run: I started it and the notification icon appeared but the web site would not appear. After a few minutes, the icon would disappear. The Logs had not been updated, so I assume something is stopping Plex from even getting that far. I created the folder (E:\PlexData) using the same user account I use to run Plex so I don’t think it can be a permissions issue.
I tried a different drive, but the result was the same.
Switching back to the Pool location allowed PLex to run.
Could it be that when I copy the data back from the pool the lack of hard links is causing Plex to choke, and is there any way I can keep my metadata?
Thanks for any guidance.
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/2 "2020-10-30T15:00:13Z")
Did you the copying while plex server was completely shut down?
Otherwise you end up with a damaged database.
You may find this command line copy tool useful: [[HowTo] An extended guide on how to move the Plex data folder on Windows](https://forums.plex.tv/t/howto-an-extended-guide-on-how-to-move-the-plex-data-folder-on-windows/197060/77)
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### Author:  [@pabhudds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pabhudds)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/3 "2020-10-30T15:01:14Z")
Yes, I had used the Exit option under the icon and also stopped the Plex Update Service.
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/4 "2020-10-30T15:03:37Z")
Execute the command anyway (after adapting the source and target folder parameters, ofc.)
What path did you actually put into the registry?
How does the content list of `E:\PlexData` look like now?
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### Author:  [@pabhudds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pabhudds)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/5 "2020-10-30T15:15:18Z")
By "the comamnd " do you mean using RoboCopy? that is what I did for all moves (admittedly just using the \E switch) and this worked for the first move to the drivepool.
I updated 3 locations in the registry:
HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server
LocalAppDataPath = “E:\PlexData”
ButlerDatabaseBackupPath = “E:PlexData\DatabaseBackup”
HKEY\_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server
LocalAppDataPath = “E:\PlexData”
The E:\PlexData folder has two folders and nothing else.
DatabaseBackup (empty)
Plex Media Server (with subfolders)
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/6 "2020-10-30T15:19:24Z")
This looks all in order then. Is the SSD formatted with NTFS?
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### Author:  [@pabhudds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pabhudds)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/7 "2020-10-30T15:20:26Z")
Yes it is. All drives are NTFS.
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/8 "2020-10-30T15:22:46Z")
> [@pabhudds](#):
>
> ButlerDatabaseBackupPath = “E:PlexData\DatabaseBackup”
Is this a typo? there is a backslash missing after `E:`
> [@pabhudds](#):
>
> LocalAppDataPath = “E:\PlexData”
I’d put a backslash at the end of the path as well `E:\PlexData\`
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### Author:  [@pabhudds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pabhudds)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/9 "2020-10-30T15:23:26Z")
I tried with and without the trailing backslashes.
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/10 "2020-10-30T15:28:53Z")
The Logs folder is empty?
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### Author:  [@pabhudds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pabhudds)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/11 "2020-10-30T15:32:22Z")
The Logs folder has the logs that were copied, but they have not been updated since then (actually the Updater writes a log, but not the server)
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/12 "2020-10-30T15:36:34Z")
Have you checked the access permissions of the whole E:\plexdata folder? The user account under which the server is started needs to have full r/w access to every single folder, subfolder, and file in there.
Reset them when in doubt – recursively.
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### Author:  [@pabhudds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pabhudds)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/13 "2020-10-30T15:37:47Z")
That’s my next step, I suspect this will take a long time since copying the metadata takes a couple of hours each time.
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/14 "2020-10-30T15:38:18Z")
It is faster than the copy process.
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/15 "2020-10-30T15:40:47Z")
You may find this useful: [http://lallouslab.net/2013/08/26/resetting-ntfs-files-permission-in-windows-graphical-utility/](http://lallouslab.net/2013/08/26/resetting-ntfs-files-permission-in-windows-graphical-utility/)
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### Author:  [@pabhudds](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pabhudds)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/16 "2020-10-30T22:46:00Z")
Otto, I want to thank you so much for your prompt help and suggestions.
I am not entirely sure how I achieved it but Plex is now running again happily and I can refresh metadata and get all images.
Thanks again
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2020, 6:51am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/17 "2020-10-31T06:51:53Z")
Glad to hear that.
Happy plexing!
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### Author:  [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2021, 6:52am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-after-moving-metadata/648538/18 "2021-01-29T06:52:14Z")
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