I’m looking for help on re-jiggering my PLEX server and while I’ve read the “Move Media Content to a New Location” support article, multiple posts on here, on reddit, articles I’ve found on Duck Duck Go, and videos I’ve watched on YouTube, I’m still a little unsure of how or if it’s possible to do what I’m trying to do. I currently host my PLEX server on a Synology DS1618+ running DSM 6.2…4 (not upgrading to DSM 7 until it’s been out for a bit) and SHR with 2 fault tolerance with 6x8TB drives and multiple users. I’m adding a second DS1618+ with 6x4TB drives with the same OS and drive configuration. Right now I have all my media in /volume1/Plex/Library on storage pool 1 (which has 3 folders: Movies, TV, and WRC).
What I’m looking to do: transfer the movie and WRC folders to the new NAS (on storage pool 1) and leave the TV library on the current (larger) NAS without losing all the collections, custom covers, watched/unwatched status and other bits (especially the WRC folder - 30 years worth of rally racing videos that I had to get custom covers for and hand edit the metadata was not fun).
Can I do this by simply following the steps in the support article or is there something else I’ll need to do to accomplish this? Or is it just not possible? (please let it be possible!) Any help or advice you all can offer would greatly appreciated - thanks!
My folder structure is:
A. /volume1/Plex/Library/Television/Show/Season/(episode files)
B. /volume1/Plex/Library/Movies/(video files)
C. /volume1/Plex/Library/WRC/Season/(videos files)
I’d like to set things up as:
A. [Existing NAS]/volume1/Plex/Library/Television/Show/Season/(episode files)
B. [New NAS]/volume1/Plex/Library/Movies/(movie files)
C. [New NAS]/volume1/Plex/Library/WRC/Season/(videos files)
I intend to leave PMS on the current NAS
@trumpy81
I have enough space on the current NAS to wait a while. Are you currently running DSM 7? If so how is it? I’ve seen a number of forum posts asking for a way to roll back to DSM 6 I’m hesitant to upgrade.
You did what the warning files told not to do but were able to make work anyway. Congratulations. (No media anywhere in the Plex shared folder)
As you’re currently seeing, you have Media and Application in the same space. Many users have made errors resulting in an unusable PMS installation because they told PMS to monitor Plex/Library for media (which is incorrect) and causes PMS to monitor itself thereby creating an infinite loop.
With DSM 7, Synology forced us to break from the “Plex” shared folder and username plex.
The first (existing) version of the DSM 7 package puts the files where Synology wants them.
Since DSM 7.0-41890 has stabilized, I’ve figured out how to give us a lot of what we once had.
The Plex shared folder is still free for you to use.
I have created PlexMediaServer shared folder, which only the administrator and PMS can see, for Plex internal use (it contains an AppData folder). Nothing else should be placed anywhere in there because DSM is in control and always overrides any permissions you might set.
Regarding DSM 7 stability, it’s very stable. We’re also finding the new packaging (which I have here in forum preview ) is even better than my initial release.
Folks asked to roll back to DSM 6 (in most cases) when they were using firmware DSM 7.0-41882 or 7.0-41888. These had some major “breaking changes” which were detrimental to PMS. Since going final (7.0-41890) and my catching up with that final release, everything has gone very well. So well that I was able to complete all those things I wanted in the package for the initial release but couldn’t get done.
Regarding moving your media,
Will you have room on the new NAS to copy (duplicate) the media, even in large chunks, initially?
If so, we can move your media the right (and safest) way by copying and adding those duplicates then removing the originals after PMS has secured itself with the new locations.
If not, we will work out the more “detail rich” method
@trumpy81
Oh wow, I guess I took that to literally - I thought you just weren’t supposed to put anything in THAT folder but that the media files went inside the library folder.
@ChuckPa
I have had an issue recently with PLEX trying to generate thumbnails on a file and it appeared stuck in a loop (it was doing it for 3 days) and even after I moved the file out of the library.
I’ve just migrated all the files from the old 4TB drives to the new 8TB drives so I definitely have enough room (down from 92% used space to 66%). Hopefully I’m lucky - I believe I stacked the drives in the order they were swapped out - from what I’ve read I should be able to back up the configuration from the existing NAS and if I insert the drives in the same order they were originally in, the data should remain intact.
Either way I’ll give DSM 7 a try on the new box once I get it up and running and go from there. The new NAS should be arriving some time today and I’ll get everything set up and come back for more help. Thanks for all the help so far!
If I want to move media from one folder to another i have found this method works, and works well, it retains played stats, etc.
Have the new location setup and ensure that your users do not access the library that is being serviced during this maintenance to avoid any potential playback issues.
turn off
Scan my library automatically
Run a partial scan when changes are detected
Scan my library periodically
from Server > Settings > Library - DON’T FORGET TO SAVE THIS CHANGE.
Add the new location (folder) to your library under Server > Manage > Libraries and then “Add Folders”.
Copy (not cut, although that may work I don’t recommend it for large moves) the media you want to the new location.
Delete the media from the old location.
Re-enable the settings from step 2. DON’T FORGET TO SAVE THIS CHANGE.
Run a scan “Scan Library Files”. from Server > Manage > Libraries.
Once you have done this your server should see all the media in the new location and everything should look exactly the same. I think only manual Collections may have a hiccup here so rebuild them if needed. I use this method on a Windows Plex server and have done so several times with no issues when adding drives to my server and/or just moving shows between one library folder and another. This method also does not affect the “Recently Added” which is helpful!
OK folks, I’m ready for the next step. The new NAS is set up and running DSM 7 (it’s pretty snazzy). I’ve copied my movies and WRC folder over to the new NAS in a shared folder named “Movies and Rallies” with sub-folders labeled “Movies” and “WRC” (go figure). The files are also still on the old NAS in their original location. PMS will continue to run on the older (larger) NAS. To refresh, my current PMS folder structure is (and I now understand this is the wrong place to store my media):
A. /volume1/Plex/Library/Movies/(video files)
B. /volume1/Plex/Library/WRC/Season/(videos files)
What I want to do is point PMS to:
A. [New NAS]/volume1/Movies and Rallies/Movies/(movie files)
B. [New NAS]/volume1/Movies and Rallies/WRC/Season/(videos files)
And I would like to do all this without losing things like covers, collections, play history, metadata, etc. if at all possibble. I appreciate all the help!
Well I must have borked something. Not only did things not move my entire movie library disappeared (just the library, not the files). Given all that, I’m just going start from scratch and want to point PMS to the NAS I’m going to host the movies on.
That being said I’m now having another problem and I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or just making a stupid mistake. The movies are on a separate NAS from the one that PMS is running on. I’m trying to point PMS to the folder but either I’m not pointing it correctly or it’s not seeing the movies in the directory or something else. The movie folder address is //192.168.x.x:50000/volume1/Movies and Rallies/Movies but when I point PMS there it’s either not seeing the movies or I’m not pointing it to the right place.
Sorry if I’m missing something ridiculously simple but I really appreciate all the help.
No worries on the forward slash & back slash thing. In the end it looks like I’m going to have to start from scratch anyway (like I said I’ve already done something to screw up the movies and I need to move the TV shows out of the library folder anyway). I’ll look at it as a learning experience, however I still have one issue: I can’t get the NAS’s to play nice together. I’ve followed the instructions above and have been unable to make it work at all. So if you’re willing to give me one last round of instruction…
How can I make TV NAS (where PMS is installed/running) see/access Movie NAS? (I figure TV and Movie might be less confusing than old and new when the old is the new and the new is the old )
On the General tab, I’ve tried both enabling and disabling the recycle bin.
On the Permission tab, I give Plex R/W permissions.
I open File Station and create folders named the following folders inside the Media folder as needed:
/Media
…Movies
…Rallies
…Music
On the TV NAS (the one PMS is running on):
I create a shared folder named PLEX Share.
On the General tab, I’ve tried both enabling and disabling the recycle bin.
On the Permission tab, I give Plex R/W permissions.
I open File Station and select the folder I’ve just created (PLEX Share).
I select Mount Remote Folder> CIFS Shared Folder.
I enter the Movie NAS IP address (\\192.168.x.x\Movies Rallies and Music [the name of the folder on the Movie NAS]).
I enter my NAS user name and password.
I click on the ‘browse’ button and navigate to the PLEX Share folder.
I select “Mount automatically on startup” and click “Mount”.
At that point I get a popup saying “The destination should be an empty folder” and can go no further. I’m running DSM 7 on both NAS’s and I’m not sure what I might be doing wrong.
)