I am using a raspberry pi for my server. Not well versed in linux but I’m learning. I have the exact same file in each directory, so it is not a naming issue. I have both locations added to the server as different libraries, one being the desktop and the other being my external drive. I can watch the movie from the system drive library but not from the external drive library. This may be a question for a raspberry pi forum, but regardless, any help?
Server Version#: Not sure, newest version?
Player Version#: ^
The latest version of Pi OS for Raspberry Pi 4 has absolutely no issue mounting an NTFS drive. It does so instantly. The problem is the terrible support Plex provides for what should be the ultimate Plex device. The permissions for the NTFS drive that didn’t need to be mounted because it already was have been changed to all AND Plex has been added to the user group for the NTFS drive. Hours have been wasted sorting out alternative ways of making this work because the folder on the drive still will not appear when selected. This should absolutely be a non issue. Instead it’s a problem that begs to ask the question is Plex really worth it at all? A reply with something that is clear, actually step by step, not making assumptions, and is actually written by someone who has experience, and maybe even cares would be appreciated.
I do not have very much time today, but maybe I can help you.
(1) Make sure to install the “ntfs-3g” package. I am not sure if it is nowadays by default installed in Raspbian. It was not a year ago. The kernel ntfs implementation is used by default, but you really want “ntfs-3g”. Please restart your Pi afterwards.
sudo apt install ntfs-3g
(2) Do you use the default PMS setup with Linux user plex? Please post the output of systemctl status plexmediaserver to make sure you do not have a systemd drop-in, e.g. “override.conf”, in place. If you have, please post the contents of your “override.conf”.
(3) Please post the output of the Linux permissions of your media directory you are not able access. e.g.: ls -ahl /mnt/hdd/movies. We do only require the first lines, i.e. the permissions of the directory itself and at least one media item.
Thank you. Can you now please show us the same output for the directory that is still “empty” in Plex? Or is even /media/pi/ledisk empty when you try to create a new library?
The instructions posted by @ChuckPa in his reply describe the “correct” way to add a NTFS-drive to your Linux system with correct permissions. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as plugging your drive into your Pi and letting the desktop environment (LXDE) handle things for you. LXDE just makes sure the logged-in user (pi) can access everything and does not care about anybody else.
Please let us try the hard way (temporary), just to show you the instructions would work:
(1) get the device name for your extern drive: mount | grep "/media/pi/ledisk". We are looking for /dev/sdb1 or something like that.
(2) unmount your drive sudo umount /media/pi/ledisk
(3) create a directory in /mnt we will use to mount your drive at: sudo mkdir /mnt/ledisk
(4) mount your drive with default options at /mnt/ledisk, assuming your external drive is /dev/sdb1:
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /mnt/ledisk
(5) try to access this directory in Plex
In theory, this should to the trick, temporarily. Afterwards, we have to add an appropriate entry to /etc/fstab to make this permanent.
I can do some experiments with my Pis later this week to find a more “accessible” way to have Plex up and running within seconds.
Btw: you might not be aware of the official Plex Ubuntu Appliance. It’s Ubuntu preinstalled with Plex and supported by Ubuntu. https://ubuntu.com/appliance/plex/raspberry-pi . If there is nothing else on your Pi right now and starting from scratch is an option for you, you could also try this Appliance.
Yeah that’d make sense to have something that works in seconds AND also make it clear to people that this is basically the one thing they always will run into. Not sure why the bash happened? Here’s yet another photo.
This is exactly what the problem is. All this code is just thrown together and it’s expected that everyone just knows what is what. Not good. One moment please. Thank you for the clarification.
Assuming that there a complete long term solution with the link provided at the top of the page and it is somehow understandable great, but this solution can be done each and every time there is a reboot yes? Even if those other instructions get botched somehow? Or would it be better to just wait for your new solution later in the week?
You only have to add one line at the end of the file /etc/fstab. You have to open a text editor with root permissions, e.g. sudo mousepad /etc/fstab or sudo kate /etc/fstab. I am not sure wether mousepad or kate are available in Raspbian.
Then, all is permanent and you can safely reboot your Pi In a nutshell, this issues your mount /dev/sda ... command automatically at each boot.
This solution just has a little flaw: the name /dev/sda1 is not guaranteed to always point to your external disk when you use two or more external drives. The better option is to use UUID=... as discussed in the above tutorial. So, for now, you are good. But keep in mind to pay extra attention whenever you connect more than one USB drive.
In a nutshell, this issues your 