Is there any downside to having the same folder in multiple libraries? Ie will the database grow or will it take more hard drive space?
For example, if there are two folders, one is “/Media/Kids Films” and the other is “/Media/Feature Films”. Then two libraries, one with both folders and one with just “/Media/Kids Films”
This will work. During playback and if you’re using the same agent for those libraries, Plex might consider the different records to be the same movie (which they are… so if you playback movie A in library 1, it’ll also show as “played” in library 2).
As for storage… the main impact on your storage are the movie files; Plex will maintain 2 records in its database and the downloaded artwork but that shouldn’t be noticeable on your HDD.
If you’re aiming at having that library to share with your kids (as part of a Plex Home setup)… you could do the same with labels and e.g. only granting them access to the movies flagged as kids-friendly in your main library (also works with content rating as a filter criteria).
I don’t want to say anything bad but I don’t like the rating system cause it relies on an always changing online source. Case in point…
I don’t know what content the OP has but just imagine if Nymphomaniac or Ken Park became PG-13, or even PG/G. Not good for the kiddies.
@MacSupport
I do exactly what you want to do. I have 4 main libraries.
KidMovies/KidShow and Movies/Shows
KidMovies point to a folder kidmovies
KidShows point to a folder kidshows
While movies point to a folder movies and kidmovies
and shows point to folder shows and kidshows.
This will double the space required but well worth it for the peace of mind.
Fair point.
Admittedly it’s not as bad with movies (compared to tv shows).
When you say “double the space” you just mean the database, not duplicate movie files, right.?
That is correct. The database will have duplicate entries for each movie and plex will store duplicate metadata(posters, backdrop pictures, etc).
Well that doesn’t sound too bad. For a library with a couple thousand films is there a way to calculate or estimate the additional storage requirements?
Well on a mac you can visit your ~ Library/Application support/Plex media server/metadata/ TV or Movies and Right click /get Info and calculate your folder size currently. I believe it won’t be gigantic therefore should not be alarming if it doubles. Seven hundred movies for me is 730MB for movies. I at times Purge the Plex media server cache to save space and remove any gremlins.
I’ve calculated between <1mb to 10mb additional per item(movie). Some movies take a bit more than others because the over abundance of internet resources. An example of this would be older movies or “B” rated movies where there might be only 1-5 movie posters and no background pics while other blockbuster movies may have hundreds of posters and dozens of background pictures.
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