RAM disk full - expand?

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.29.0.6244
Player Version#: Unsure - Linux Web player

Last night on a Ubuntu Chrome browser from a laptop, I tried to play a video I had recorded OTA and got a message something about out of space. Sorry, I didn’t catch the exact message and cannot replicate at the moment.

df command says /dev/shm is 99% used.

Played fine on Firestick, but immediately switched to HW transcoding.

Do I need to expand my RAM disk (currently 8GB)? Do I need more RAM (currently 16GB)? Was that just a fluke? At the time, I was recording two OTA shows (HDHR tuners if that matters). After they recordings ended, /dev/shm use went to 1%-2%. Server is Ryzen5 Ubuntu 22.04. Plenty of room on each of the library drives and the OS SSD.

Thanks,
Mike

2

Unless you’re transcoding more than 1600 Mbps (8 x 200 MBsec for a typical HDD),
you don’t need to use a ramdisk for the transcoder temp.

You need storage capacity more than speed.

3

Thanks!

I only ever have myself, so single stream playback with as many as 4 OTA recordings happening. Are you saying I should move the transcoder directory to the Boot SSD. Do I designate a size? If I just remove the path to the RAM disk, will Plex automatically switch back to it’s default location?

4

Leave the transcoder temp directory at default
-or-
if you have multiple partitions, put it on the largest partition because filling the root filesystem is dangerous at best and leads to boot failure.

5

I like using a RAMDISK to save ware on the storage, myself.

6

@Gloppie

That’s true but not everyone has the memory to spare.

As alternative, a USB 3.0 HDD with external power works really well too

7

How much RAM is needed to avoid issues?

8

It really depends on the amount you record. I’d look at the size of the finished downloads and double it. You also have to account for the comskip operation, thats why I double it. Then multiply per how many recordings you are making. Things like movies and sports obviously will use more space.

9

I cannot leave USB drives plugged in long term. On reboot, they screw up all my drive mounts. I assume I could add them into fstab and fix it, but it hasn’t been worth learning for a rotating collection of thumb drives.

10

So my biggest OTA recording is 7GB and I have four tuners. Sound like 50GB should get it done. Thanks for the suggestion.

11

@Mike-Denver

Use this. It uses the UUID= or, if you want, the LABEL= feature of /etc/fstab.

After this, your USB drives will always mount at the same place after reboot without fail.

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