Trying to put my media up at the top-most level in a proper shared folder

[photogman551]

Server Version#: Version 1.24.5.5173
Player Version#:

This is what my folder structure looks like right now:

The folder that says “Plex” is empty and I must have created that during installation.

Screen 3 is my PlexMediaServer folder and I assume that is where the actual Plex program is:

I would very much appreciate some help with this or alternatively, pointing me to some directions or documentation that could help me out. Also, can I get myself into some really problems doing this or is this a common task that is accomplished without much difficulty? Thanks for your help! It is greatly appreciated.

[tom80H]

IIRC the Plex / PlexMediaServer shares on your Synology are restricted to be used by the system user, used by DSM to run the server. As an admin on your Synology you can grant yourself access to those shares. This can be helpful if you need to manually collect some server logs.

As the names of the empty files in those shares indicate, they’re not supposed to be used for your media. There’s various threads of users who got their servers messed up by placing their media files in those shares. As usual, things might not break immediately but they will certainly break over time.
TL;DR: don’t place your media in those shares!

[ChuckPa]

If I may be of assistance?

I’m trying to put together a recommended installation and setup help for Synology.
Given all the possible ways of setting it up, it’s taking time.

There are two common techniques I’ve seen.

Technique 1

1. Create a shared folder named “Media”

2. Grant access to either Plex (DSM 6) or PlexMediaServer (DSM 7) as you create the shared folder (the name will be in the list … just hunt for it)

3. After creation, create sub-folders for each grouping of media. e.g “Movies”, “TV”, “Music”, “Photos” – whatever makes sense to you. Some folks separate Children’s TV/Movies into their own sub-folders, others separate 1080p and 4K into their own sub-folders, while others separate by Genre. The choice is totally yours.

4. Now, as you create each Library section in Plex, ADD the shared folder/sub-folder(s) which contain that media group/type.

example:

/volume1/Media/
  Movies/
     Movie1 (year)/
       Movie1 (year).mp4
     Movie2 (year)/
       Movie2 (year).mkv
       Movie2 (year).eng.srt

Technique 2

1. A variation of Technique 1 which is slightly finer grained.
2. Create different shared folders for each media type;

• Shared folder for “Movies”,
• Shared folder for “TV”,
• Shared folder for “Music”,
• etc, etc.

3. Grant the permissions for “Plex” (DSM 6) or “PlexMediaServer” (DSM 7) to each subfolder as you create it (the name will be in the list … just hunt for it).

Common

When the folder structure is created, Start moving your media into position.

Final:

Both these techniques keep your media under your control and safely separate from the Plex internal data files.

This makes maintaining much easier while keeping the changes of breaking the server by accidental compromise of the server’s internal data to zero.

[photogman551]

ChuckPa, in your Technique 1, step 3, can I move my folders since they are the same folders that you advocate creating from scratch? If I can do that, should I copy those folders and the movies, tv shows instead of moving them…just in case something doesn’t go right and I will still have the original copies to fall back on? Thanks for your help!

[ChuckPa]

@photogman551

Did you create Media under plex? or ? I’m not too familiar with the view you’re showing me.

If we can look at this using the Synology FileStation, it will avoid any confusion on my part (I’m a Linux guy).

I would expect:

1. On Volume1 (or whichever volume you decide)
2. Create a shared folder (either by type or some classification of your choosing).

• I created “Animated” shared folder for all my animated movies.
• I then created “Movies” shared folder for the current movies
• Lastly I created “Movies2” shared folder to help balance the space in use to make backup easier.

3. It’s equally valid to create “Media”

• then create a subfolder “Animated” - for animated movies
• Another subfolder “Movies” – for the current movies
• Lastly a subfolder “Movies2” – for ‘older’ or to make backups easier.. your choice.

4. What to do for Plex for Technique 2

• Create a Library section named “Movies”
• Add shared folder “Movies” ( /volume1/Movies )
• Add shared folder “Movies2” ( /volume3/Movies2 )

5. Repeat the above process for each library section type or grouping.

PS: I’m moving some files around right now so I can show you what it will look like for you.

On my Linux machine, Technique 1 looks a little different but is this:

[ChuckPa]

I copied some files to my DS418 (DSM 7) so you can see what it looks like.

1. Created shared folder movies

• PlexMediaServer has permission to Read
• I have permission to Read/Write

2. Copied the movies into movies shared folder

3. Here you see it adding all the movies.

Boom
Done