Reduce Media Library Size

[savantali]

I have a rather large library size, and was wondering if there was a way to reduce it. My Library is ~50 GB, with a Plex Cache folder database also taking 50 GB, which leaves about 30 GB for logs, and various other things. I was wondering if there was some thing that could be done to reduce or limit the contents of the library folder?

root@plex:/# du -hs /var/ | sort -rh | head -n 10
77G	/var/
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
73G	/var/lib
4.1G	/var/log
86M	/var/cache
2.1M	/var/backups
32K	/var/spool
20K	/var/tmp
20K	/var/snap
4.0K	/var/opt
4.0K	/var/mail
4.0K	/var/local
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
72G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver
272M	/var/lib/snapd
123M	/var/lib/mlocate
122M	/var/lib/apt
38M	/var/lib/dpkg
2.2M	/var/lib/samba
544K	/var/lib/usbutils
452K	/var/lib/systemd
300K	/var/lib/cloud
144K	/var/lib/ucf
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
72G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
65G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media
5.0G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Metadata
2.0G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache
672M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support
53M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs
37M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins
16M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs
1.2M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Crash Reports
4.0K	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml
4.0K	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/plexmediaserver.pid
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
65G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/localhost/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
4.3G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d
4.3G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/b
4.3G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/4
4.2G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/8
4.2G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/7
4.2G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/1
4.1G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/f
4.1G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/e
4.1G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/5
4.1G	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/0
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/localhost/d/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
30M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle
27M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/f11ad0f2311c403977d8ac71a5571e370421fb9.bundle
26M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/b9596f0b2235f2de3c190b69a383d24981f4711.bundle
25M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/c7d0fb17169e64efb230f19699f9ec71c55b760.bundle
25M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/c7797c2930b97370d0c979f91d74405eb56343c.bundle
25M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/342f0e45883120b9c84d6be8ac0175c03b0de3d.bundle
24M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/7ca18b2530bd2b28c8d65041c5a08ccd9fd1214.bundle
24M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/6b33312f4d3d52613d1af6a44ce6ae893ad23ac.bundle
24M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/313ee4500cade8bd45488a633255c35670f90c9.bundle
22M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/f55bce0c39119e6b52960332be773b394875812.bundle
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/localhost/d/11 | sort -rh | head -n 10
112c666633e4cab85597c7258e711284008518e.bundle/ 114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/ 11893c9bc36624eae03f849eb0acf3150d87c47.bundle/ 11f88a274314431609b398c87c0a2e345bc1a9c.bundle/
113bb78afcd50a8d996e16f94b5492b8fe9b2a7.bundle/ 1158df2ea9f7cf03e580bf478315c110a7c6b57.bundle/ 11dc88066bdfb64520cffa610f7093af7b7c056.bundle/
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
30M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/ | sort -rh | head -n 10
Art/                    Chapters/               GoP-0.xml               Indexes/                Subtitle Contributions/ Subtitles/              Subtitles.xml           Thumbnails/
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
27M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Indexes
2.0M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Chapters
108K	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Art
56K	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/GoP-0.xml
36K	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Thumbnails
28K	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Subtitle Contributions
4.0K	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Subtitles.xml
4.0K	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Subtitles
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Indexes/* | sort -rh | head -n 10
27M	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Indexes/index-sd.bif
root@plex:/# du -hs /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Media/localhost/d/114427edb5210d3a123a43b42e1151fad7de9fe.bundle/Contents/Indexes/* | sort -rh | head -n 10

[OttoKerner]

Why is my Plex Media Server directory so large? | Plex Support

[savantali]

Hey OttoKerner,

Unfortunately, disabling that does not seem to resolve my issue fully - I have disabled thumbnails on most information, but the metadata folder is still taking up a substantial size of information:

With Albums and Artists (I only have one music library), I have disabled ALL metadata information on the library, yet it still has more metadata information than the TV Shows and Movies combined.

The alternative is for me to I guess swap the directory to it’s own drive instance, if possible I would want to try using rclone to integrate this so I can host the library on Google Drive or some other cloud based storage.

Is there any other alternative way to figure out what part of the metadatainformation is taking up this space for the Albums/Artists?

[JuiceWSA]

Here’s the paragraph you need from the link Otto posted:

Relocate your Plex Media Server Data Directory

If the underlying issue is that you’re running out of space on a small boot drive, for instance, then the easiest solution is often simply to relocate the Plex Media Server data directory.

Tip! : When relocating the data directory, you should make sure you do so to an internal drive on your computer (hard drive or SSD). Moving to a network location can result in poor, unexpected, or even completely broken behavior.

If you’re sweating over some part of 16G - you need more space.
I put mine on a local HDD with about 2TB free - it’ll be a while before I have to worry about 16G in my database. <—and my thumbs have been on for 10 years - I can’t use them if they’re not being generated and stored somewhere…lol

[savantali]

Thanks, but that isn’t actually what I am asking here. My entire Plex Media folder is in the upwards of 40GB:

While I know I can relocate the directory to another space, my question is even with all the metadata information that plex offers for Music disabled, why is it still taking up that much space?

My Plex VM is about 130 GB, and 60GB of that is taken up by rclone’s cache system. Meaning that with the combination of Plex Library, Rclone, and System files, my drive is full.

I am still trying to tweak the rclone cache sizess to get better optimum space out of it. But ultimately, I want to know why Plex still has a large metadata size even with everything disabled.

[JuiceWSA]

@savantali

I want to know why Plex still has a large metadata size even with everything disabled.

'cause that’s where everything is that makes your Plex work.

When mine got to about 200G in the blink of an eye - I knew I had to do something else - as it was pretty clear Plex wasn’t going to do it for me.

[savantali]

Sure but understanding the underlying cause of what is creating that size for music (where thumbnail generation shouldn’t be taking place, and with no metadata being downloaded and bundles cleaned) is what I am after here.

Getting the understanding of what components make up the size of the folder (because it is not immediately obvious to me when I go digging around the folder structure) first, then I can make the decision to off-board the folder, expand the disk size, or figure out an alternative.

[JuiceWSA]

Understood.

I sure don’t know what’s in that database and I stopped even trying to see how big it is 'cause asking Windows to get that info for you - it will - eventually - as it reads a million little files with almost nothing in them. Last I checked it was going past 200G and that’s all I know.

I also know it takes way too long to move my data - cause I recently had to move it and move it back for an HDD change. I hope there’s not another one of those in the near future, but if there is, there’s nothing else to do, but do it.

Good Luck. It’ll be a hot topic of interest for everyone without 2TB of free space on their database drive, where ever that is.