# RAM disk full - expand?

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-linux\
**Created:** [October 5, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631 "2022-10-05T00:09:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mike-Denver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9a28c/32.png) [@Mike-Denver](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Mike-Denver)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/1 "2022-10-05T00:09:34Z")

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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

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**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/2 "2022-10-05T00:32:15Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![Mike-Denver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9a28c/32.png) [@Mike-Denver](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Mike-Denver)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 4:46am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/3 "2022-10-05T04:46:53Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 6:11am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/4 "2022-10-05T06:11:11Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![Gloppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gloppie](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Gloppie)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 1:05am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/5 "2022-10-06T01:05:50Z")

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

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 1:20am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/6 "2022-10-06T01:20:22Z")

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@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

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mike-Denver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9a28c/32.png) [@Mike-Denver](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Mike-Denver)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/7 "2022-10-06T04:32:27Z")

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How much RAM is needed to avoid issues?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gloppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gloppie](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Gloppie)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/8 "2022-10-06T14:42:09Z")

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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.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mike-Denver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9a28c/32.png) [@Mike-Denver](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Mike-Denver)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 3:57am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/9 "2022-10-07T03:57:54Z")

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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.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mike-Denver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9a28c/32.png) [@Mike-Denver](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Mike-Denver)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/10 "2022-10-07T04:00:21Z")

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

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/11 "2022-10-07T05:32:15Z")

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@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.

> [@Linux Tips](https://forums.plex.tv/t/linux-tips/276247/2):
>
> Using other hard drives (Windows or Linux) with PMS This How-To is written to help with Internal and External drives. It also is written to demonstrate how to cope with NTFS and EXT4 formatted drives. By logical extension, any format supported by Linux can be handled using the technique shown here. In all cases, the goal is to give user plex permission to read your media files which Linux doesn’t allow by default due to its strict security model. We will walk through the steps needed …

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 5:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/ram-disk-full-expand/813631/12 "2023-01-05T05:32:34Z")

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