My i3-7100 box is dying and I will be replacing it with a new board and i5-10400 CPU.
I don’t know much about Linux kernel level stuff though, and so I don’t know if I need to reinstall the OS. Or, can I just move the OS drive to the new system and Ubuntu will figure out the hardware changes?
For Plex, I will be using Quick Sync transcoding and I think that different Intel libraries are needed per this post from @chuckpa. Assuming that I can move the drive without reinstalling the OS, is installing the new Intel software sufficient to re-enable Quick Sync support in Plex?
With Linux, all the drivers you’ll need are already present.
You can move the drive to the new system and power-up
BEFORE you do this, I do caution:
Edit /etc/fstab
– Comment out any other HDD mounts
– Comment out any network share mounts
After booting,
– Check the network config as the device name will likely change. Tweak as appropriate.
– Let apt have a chance to double check for updates – just in case other software you have is processor dependent.
Reboot it
With it now running as you expect less any other mounts
– Edit /etc/fstab again
– Start bringing the other mounts up
When you’ve walked through that, you should be ready to reboot it one last time and come up fully operational.
Well this is disappointing, the new system will not recognize the old boot drive as bootable.
I am sure this is some kind of Secure Boot issue.
The drive should be GPT… it was dedicated to Ubuntu, not dual boot, and I would have chosen GPT if offered in the Ubuntu installer… but no matter how I fiddle with the Secure Boot/UEFI settings the board won’t see it as bootable.
I also found that on my board, for some reason you cannot use the CSM settings if you use the iGPU (thanks Intel!). Maybe that is what is doing me in, maybe I misremembered and relied on CSM on the previous system.
Fortunately I have another SSD so I can just try installing Ubuntu again and go from there without losing any files, just time. Perhaps this will be my opportunity to try restoring a PMS database backup.
Now, If the CSM is giving you grief, it might be better to start the OS disk over
I recommend:
Boot from a live USB and “Try” mode (you get the command line where you need)
Make a tar file of your Plex install –
sudo bash
# Make the mounts
mount /dev/sdXx /mnt # (your main hdd)
mkdir /mnt2
mount /dev/sdYy /mnt2
#
# Now we save PMS
cd /mnt/var/lib/plexmediaserver
tar cf /mnt2/Plex-Library.tar ./Library
# This is a good time to copy over anything else you want to save
#
# When done, Unmount
#
cd /
umount /mnt /mnt2
#
# shutdown and get ready to install the main HDD again
init 0
Now you can install on that non-bootable HDD and get it the way you want,
Restoring:
You can also copy over files from the SSD which is holding all your other data
sudo bash
# Get Plex installed (apt install or dpkg file.deb)
# With Plex installed
systemctl stop plexmediaserver
cd /var/lib/plexmediaserver
# Clear out what the installation created -- not using it
mv Library Library.junk
rm -rf Library.junk &
# Restore what was saved
tar xf /path/to/SSD/Plex-Library.tar
# Change ownership to match the UID/GID on this system
chown -R plex:plex ./Library
I fought with it a while longer but it did seem to be an insurmountable CSM issue. So, I unplugged the old PMS volume and installed 20.04 on another SSD. Perhaps this will prove to be a mistake but I did turn on UEFI and let Ubuntu install itself in Secure Boot mode, including creating a Secure Boot password. If I ever wanted to play with proprietary drivers it seems like that was necessary anyway.
Thanks a million for the Plex brain transplant instructions, that all makes sense. I just won’t need the live USB boot step since I went ahead and made a new permanent Ubuntu install on another SSD. Once I get the basics like openssh server going, I can recover the Plex library from the old volume.
(This is an ongoing PITA but it was also a day where a well stocked PC parts stash paid off again! Not only did I benefit from a spare SSD, but the motherboard I bought was the wrong size… I mixed up my Mini and Micro ATX, so I got a board too big for my case, ugh. Fortunately my stash included an unused Mini ATX case. Don’t call it “hoarding,” it’s “being prepared!”)
Hey, one more dumb question @ChuckPa … When I install Plex will it automagically fetch the Intel Compute Runtime stuff needed for Quick Sync transcoding on my 10th gen CPU? Or do I need to hit the Intel github and install that stuff manually?
Ah, I see the hints after the installer runs. For a future searcher here is a link to 21.49.
This explains why the installer asks for intel-igc-opencl but it isn’t actually present in the latest releases, I guess.
I actually don’t have enough disk space to tar up the original, not without sending it to a network volume. (I guess those video thumbnails DO take a lot of space!)
Since both old and new filesystems are mounted at once I am doing a cp -r to move the Library directory to the new install. But… Do I need to do a cp -a or some other method which will preserve all attributes? Hmm, no, tar cf doesn’t do anything fancy I think. Well, we shall soon see…
Yep, I think all is well! Well, I gotta double check the Intel support stuff, but Plex is up and it looks just like it used to, great!
I did not intend for you to be my personal Linux tutor today @ChuckPa , thanks again for the help.
EDIT: Tautulli verifies hardware transcoding is working. Sweet. All done!
