# Two HDDs disconnected for replacement **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Media Server\ **Tags:** server-windows\ **Created:** [August 26, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554 "2022-08-26T17:43:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/1 "2022-08-26T17:43:51Z")
Hi at all, will I have to re-assign media files or will plex immediately recognize the “old” drives again when I put them back into my PC without having to do metadata manually? ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/2 "2022-08-26T18:29:39Z")
Precautions you might want to take before disconnecting the old drives: - disable automatic library updates - disable periodic library updates - make sure that “Empty trash automatically after every scan” is disabled - note down the drive letter which is currently assigned to each drive. You will have to restore these drive letters after reconnecting the hard drives. Only after doing this I would risk a new library scan. So, effectively Plex should not notice a change in the location of the media files it has in its database. ---
**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/3 "2022-08-26T18:32:44Z")
Too late, It does scan libraries immediately. Will it recognize the “old” drives (letters are the same) or will I have to recover my plex database from a file backup? ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/4 "2022-08-26T18:34:50Z")
That depends on the state of the setting “Empty trash automatically after every scan”. If it’s still active, you will have to [restore a database backup](https://support.plex.tv/articles/202485658-restore-a-database-backed-up-via-scheduled-tasks/). (You should do that immediately.) ---
**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/5 "2022-08-26T18:45:18Z")
Unfortunately, “empty trash” has been set. So I have to restore if I don’t like the result from “auto scan” after the drives re-appear, right? ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/6 "2022-08-26T19:43:22Z")
I wouldn’t wait until then. Just do it now, after disabling all of the above. ---
**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/7 "2022-08-26T20:09:36Z")
will wait and see. still have the automatic database backups that are made every 3rd day. ---
**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 2:13am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/8 "2022-08-27T02:13:05Z")
Actually, you might be ok. If pms does not see the folder that the library points to, it will skip scanning that library and not do anything. So the files will not be tagged to be deleted and the empty trash won’t remove them. ---
**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 12:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/9 "2022-08-29T12:08:30Z")
com.plexapp.plugins.library.db still has the same size as last week before HDD removal. so I guess Plex really did not care until now. HDDs will be back wednesday. will report then. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/10 "2022-08-29T12:10:37Z")
That is no safe indicator, because during its runtime, Plex server uses a “working copy” of the database file. On top of that, after deletions the size of the DB file won’t change until a “vacuum” is performed. (which only happens occasionally and during server maintenance) ---
**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/11 "2022-08-29T17:04:53Z")
If you look at PMS now, without those drives, do you see them still listed but shown as “unavailable”. If so, then it is working as I mentioned above. When you put the drives back, as long as the paths haven’t changed, the files will become “available” again. If you don’t see them listed in Plex now, then they were removed and they will be added back as new items. ---
**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/12 "2022-08-29T19:15:25Z")
yes, those files are “unavailable”? I can see the drives are still listed in “media” as library source folders. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 7:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/13 "2022-08-29T19:18:28Z")
Call up the preplay page of some media items which are stored on these drives. If they’re still listed, all is well. You should see “File unavailable” if you inspect the [plex media info](https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201998867-Investigate-Media-Information-and-Formats) of it. ---
**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/14 "2022-08-29T20:25:35Z")
that is the case now. so should I disable automatic library updates and disable periodic library updates or leave it as is? ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 5:22am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/15 "2022-08-30T05:22:15Z")
I’d say yes. Better safe than sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/16 "2022-08-31T16:56:42Z")
plex recognized the reconnected HDDs without a problem. “unavailabe” media files are available again. no confusion due to disconnecting the drives. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/two-hdds-disconnected-for-replacement/807554/17 "2022-11-29T16:57:13Z")
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