Refreshing metadata plex media server

Plex Media Server Metadata & Adding Files
1

Server Version#:
Player Version#:1.16.1.1291

every so often movies and shows will just disappear and I have to end up manually refreshing the metadata to get all of the titles to repopulate. Why do I have to do this regularly?

I have two Shield pro models so all metadata is stored internally as far as metadata.

my storage devices that actually store the media, TV shows and movies…etc are all hooked up to one of my PC’s that I use solely for a plex media server. My PC shares the drives over my home network via network sharing. I have the storage devices mounted to my shield’s over my home network.

the metadata thing has been happening a lot. I can do nothing for a few days, not add media, nothing, and some content will end up missing. I have to refresh the metadata for them to show back up. the only reason I know shows are missing because I also run plex on a separate server and I compare it to that because it’s pretty much always accurate of what I have.

2

The symptoms you describe sound like the connection to the media drive gets temporarily lost while Plex is looking for updates.

The most easy fix could be to disable Plex from automatically emptying its trash. Hence if it cannot find a media file it won’t automatically delete the record in its library and all associated metadata.
Settings > Library > Empty trash automatically after every scan

Plex will subsequently still show media it can no longer access but display a trash bin on top of the poster.

3

Thanks I will try this. But won’t I still have to scan for metadata since the items with the trash icon will be unplayable?

4

Not if the connection to the drive isn’t permanently gone.
This can be helpful with drives being temporarily disconnected.

5

So if the drive is connected then the trash icons will disappear?

6

that’s correct.
from what I remember, the worst to happen is for Plex to take a sec to check if the file is available again when you open the pre-play screen.

7

thank you. I appreciate the assistance. It got annoying having to refresh metatadata on both shield PMS’ every few days.

8

I noticed whenever I scan the library when I add new content (the shield won’t auto scan when you add files, weird) this happens. What do you think is causing the media drive to become lost or disconnected?

9

Could be many things…
Sometimes it’s as simple as a drive spinning up too slowly, causing Plex to run into a timeout

10

weird. I wonder if it’s when the shield sleeps. Because the storage devices are mounted to the shield over the home network. Maybe when it sleeps that happens? I dunno. but thanks for the tip, this keeps me from going crazy and it stops plex from shuffling the titles around because it’s reloading the metadata. It just shows the trash icons and the titles stay where they were.

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