Hi,
Sorry in advance for my English, it’s not my native language (French).
I search in other tread, but I don’t seeing equivalent issue.
Last night, my SSD disk C: with my Operating System died.
So, I reinstalled windows on a new SSD.
All my Plex directories was on an other hard disk who is still ok.
But I can’t find the good way to restart my plex server.
If I installed Plex Media Server in my new OS, in the directory saved, I have a second server in my plex interface. (screenshot)
There’s no online/cloud copy of your server.
If the server data directory was only on the dead SSD and you don’t have a backup, this data is gone.
The web app remembers your old server by it’s separate machine identifier. That’s why you still see this orphaned entry (the Plex app doesn’t know if the server is only temporarily offline or dead).
Do you have a backup of the server’s data directory?
Your screenshot shows the program folder. Plex’s data are not in there, but in the plex data folder location.
If you are referring to the media files, Plex doesn’t store its data in there.
The machine ID is stored in the registry. On the dead SSD.
But it won’t bring you your plex data back. These can only be salvaged if you get access to the old plex data folder.
The plex data folder are in this reporty too, I have moved them years ago. I can find metadata , but I don’t know in what folder are playlist and collection.
If i need the registry keys there is no chance anymore…
Otherwise, if I cannot restore the old server, is there a way to copy the data (Folders, metadata, playlist, collection,…) to the new one?
So you have mixed program folder and data folder? Not the best of decisions, but I guess you can salvage them.
You’d need to edit the registry according to this [HowTo] An extended guide on how to move the Plex data folder on Windows
and use the path G:\Plex (or wherever you are copying this data).
You must do this while the plex server is not running (i.e. no Plex task tray icon visible)
But do keep the program files this time on C:
You need to copy the whole folder. Don’t try to be selective.
open the registry editor regedit.exe
go to the branch HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server
and create a new string (right-click) (“String Value”) and name it LocalAppDataPath
Edit the newly created string and type in the new location
Beware! The path you type in must not include ‘Plex Media Server’ as last part.
So if now your plex data reside in E:\plex\Plex Media Server\, you type only G:\plex\ into the input field.
