Unexpected error loading movie library sorted by name

General Discussions
1

Ok, so how do you suddenly get an unexpected error loading all movies by name???

It works by name in reverse z-a, but everything vanishes and suddenly “unexpected error” and I can’t see my movie library.

This is a joke. Plex is a waste of money and a broken program.

I’m so tired of these UNEXPECTED ERRORS!!!

How many of you out there are sick of “corrupted” libraries and “unexpected errors” and sitting there waiting for paint to dry while your dashboard loads??

Always with the unexpected errors loading dashboard, constantly, and there is no reason for it.

No matter how many times people complain about it nothing gets done.

We don’t hear anything from plex, ever. It’s only ever blah blah some new feature on Xbox, blah blah some new western digital device.

Nobody cares, make the server app better! That’s where the focus should always be.

1 Like
2

This message typically is caused by a corrupted database. Try following our guide on repairing the database.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/201100678-repair-a-corrupt-database/

There was an unexpected error loading this library
3

Tell me something I don’t know mate.

No offence, but I’m over the run around “repair database”.

It’s a bandaid solution and it needs a permanent solution.

4

Database corruptions are often caused by things outside of Plex’s control. We’ve put in checks to make sure we don’t alter the database when it is busy and other instances that could cause the corruption.

If you are constantly getting corruptions there may be some other outside influence.

  • antivirus program
  • backup programs
  • computer crashing
  • bad hard drive

Or a very common mistake is to move the database to a networked drive.

5

Yes I realise there are many ways to cause corruption of the database.

Firstly my plex library has never been moved, everything is stored on a local hard drive, the same hard drive as the OS.

So why is it that in, let’s say a power failure, plex is the only system that becomes corrupt?

Why not the OS? Why not iTunes? Why not downloading programs? Why not the physical hard drives?

Everything works without issue except for plex.

It just shouldn’t be that way, it’s too fragile and something needs to be done about it by plex. They aren’t doing enough to remedy this problem.

Just look at the forums and you will see how many people this is happening to, it’s a very common issue.

A start would be Plex stepping up and making the process of restoring your library from a backup or repairing the library easier.

There are way too many steps to do this, manually renaming files, entering commands into terminal, like what is this 1996?

That should definitely be an option if your library is fully corrupt and won’t even start or show up.

But there should absolutely be an automated alternative that will pop up with a prompt and tell you “your database has become corrupt, would you like to close plex, repair the database and restart?”.

Majority of the time, when you realise your library is corrupt in some way it’s too late and you don’t even know when it happened or how, on what date? Which backup do you use?

And then you risk losing all of your watch history and metadata, so it makes it a scary proposition to restore from a backup.

It’s just a really terrible and thoughtless way of doing it. Plex needs to do more about this and simplify the process.

Why can’t there be an option to at least have the watch history be cloud based? Then you never lose it even if you do restore from a backup or wipe it completely and start fresh.

We pay enough money to Plex for that to be an option.

I don’t expect the metadata or other parts of the library to be in the cloud, but watch history? Cmon guys it just makes sense to do it that way; then it doesn’t matter if you need to start fresh.

How can you possibly improve something if you aren’t able to be critical of its faults?

How can you suggest to anyone who isn’t a tech expert to use plex when they’re going to run into issues like this?

It makes you lose respect for plex, it makes you get frustrated over the lack of feedback from developers, it makes you want to give up on the plex ecosystem.

And can we just mention the fact that the Plex apps are vastly different on each device?

Seriously; what is this? What’s going on?

Plex is being run by monkeys who don’t care about the end customer experience.

6

Yeah that’s just about the worst place to have the database.

See above comment.
From reinstalling the OS and reinstalling Plex, it’s about 2 minutes to having everything back up and running.
Unless of course you do something crazy like storing the database on the OS drive.

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7

Plex runs using an SQL database. These can get corrupted if the DB is being accessed during the power outage. My guess is outer programs you have don’t use a DB.

Yeah, that would help.

Most people never run into this issue. We understand that this is a big issue for those that run into it, but it’s not as common as you may think.

8

Don’t you dare get snarky with me and call me stupid.

Stop being defensive, plex has faults just admit it.

Since when is storing your plex library on the OS drive a bad thing? (Especially since it is the default setting I might add). Nowhere does it say to move the library to an external drive unless you want to. And they don’t exactly make that simple either.

Lol from start to finish 2 minutes? What world are you living in where it takes 2 minutes to repair and restore a database?

You have to check to ensure nobody is watching anything, close plex, enter multiple lines of code to repair, then restart plex only to find that the repair probably did nothing.

Then close it again, google the location of the library folder (because it’s hidden on a Mac), choose the backup you want to use, rename the dB file and move 3 old db files out of the library folder for data loss purposes, enter multiple lines of code (again).

If you seriously think this is a straightforward process that can’t be improved and included in the plex UI then you’re wrong.

I don’t even know what you’re yabbering on about restoring the OS in two minutes.

9

Firstly, thank you for actually responding and not just getting defensive and callling me stupid.

Second, I don’t know anything about SQL, nor should I have to in order to run plex and have it be functional.

Third, Plex assumes every one of its customers is a coder or something, this is obvious by the way they push you into forums when something goes wrong instead of providing actual customer service (which they should because it’s a product we pay for). Which makes you annoyed and frustrated. If it was a free open source program I would still be annoyed but at least it would be understandable as they don’t have the resources. Plex has enough money to do something about this huge problem.

They will never break into the consumer market if they needlessly over-complicate the program and make it difficult to setup and run.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of the app, I love some of the features, that’s why I use it, that’s why I want to see it improve.

But it’s clunky, it’s over-complicated, it lacks customisation, apps on different devices are all over the place in regards to features and compatibility, there is zero customer service and it costs too much for what you get.

They do do some things right and the app has definitely improved over the years, but’s it’s not good enough.

1 Like
10

I would disagree slightly here. Keep in mind that Plex Media Server is a “server”, which is quite different than other programs. It’s true you shouldn’t need to be a computer expert, but anytime you run a “server” you should learn a little. It’s not one of those things that will just run out of the box for everyone.

We are trying to make things simpler but still have a ways to go. Things like backups, restores, and auto DB repairs are things I personally would like to see too.

11

I’m not an expert but I know a fair bit about computers and networking. I know enough that it shouldn’t be this trying to have a functional plex library.

And yes please, I’m glad you agree with me
In regards to automation of DB repairs and restores, it needs to happen or at least be easier.

Also when optimising the library, there needs to be feedback to tell you what is happening and when it’s finiahed “optimising”.

But the average person won’t know half of what I know and good luck to them trying to figure out how to navigate these kinds of
Issues.

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12

I guess reading isn’t your strong point.
Nowhere did I even say that.

However simply set the metadata right there in settings to anywhere but the system drive.

Apologise for suggesting you were stupid.
Looking at YOUR other posts referring to Plex staff as monkeys I suspected you were thicker skinned than that.

13

You said restoring the OS and plex it takes about two minutes to get it up and running. So yes you did say that. And no, I can read perfectly fine thanks.

There’s no need to get personal, I’m not on here to pick fights. I’m here to point out the obvious flaws with plex that need correcting.

So no hard feelings, I would never call someone stupid for doing something that is standard with the plex installation.

I do realise that installing the plex database on a separate INTERNAL hard drive would be beneficial, but for me, that’s not possible and I imagine that’s the case for many people unless they have a dedicated tower computer server.

I could write for days listing the issues with plex, database corruption aside, there are many issues that need to be addressed.

And yes if plex doesn’t listen to its customers and fix underlying core issues then yes I’ll call them out on that.

I love plex and I want to see it be as good as it can be, so this is in no way an attack on the developers, but they need to listen to its customer base.

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14

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