So, I don’t get the logic. I have a show I optimize it for TV then I want to delete the original and keep the optimized version. Instead Plex deletes both. I’m pretty pissed off at this ■■■■■■■ point. What good is it to optimize and then Plex delete it? If I wanted to delete both I would ■■■■■■■ tell it to delete both.
Unfortunately that’s how the system works, if you delete the original it deletes the optimized versions.
What you could do is, once you create your optimized versions, move them to a new folder and point your plex library to your new folder. That way if you delete the original file it will still keep the optimized files.
I want to control my media not Plex. I want to delete what I want to delete. The ■■■■■■■ logic behind this is moronic and whoever decide this is how to code it is just as ■■■■■■■ and stupid. Why in the ■■■■ would I want to delete something I have just ■■■■■■■ optimized?
Optimized versions link to the original file. If you were managing optimized versions actively, you could see a benefit in easily being able to target them and remove them without messing with the original file. I think that was the spirit and intent when they set it up this way.
Because of this… If you want to replace the original version with the optimized one, you’ll have to do so manually in the folder structure. This will create some breaks in annoying places if you’re a purist though… Plex will not recognize that you’ve removed optimized versions unless you’ve done so though the GUI. It will keep an entry for them after you’ve moved them (with a missing file notation) until you delete the reference in the GUI.
Sorry for the bad news. Plex takes some interesting approaches to rule sets.
It sort of makes sense if you delete your media thru the Plex interface. If you delete the episode or movie, the optimized version is no longer needed. The intent of the optimized version (I believe) is only for streaming to remote clients, and use the original for clients on the local network.
What Plex really needs, for those that might use the optimizing feature to make smaller video files is an option to REPLACE the original version.
It just pisses me off when it deletes media and does tell me it’s deleting media that I don’t want deleted. I’m certainly not the only one that wants this behavior changed.
One is the optimized (subordinate) version of another. When you delete the parent item, the subordinate is also deleted. It’s called pruning leaves. Take the branch, the leaves go with it.
In software, you see it as dependencies. How many times have you seen a package install dependencies and then, sometime later, when you remove the package, those dependencies are also removed because nothing else has laid claim to them?
Should you want to keep the leaves, move them to a new share and the problem is solved.
The way it should work is when deleting the original it should ask (if there is an optimised version) to delete both or replace the original version with the optimised version. That simple.
There are as many ways to do this as there are different opinions .
If you feel that strongly about it, may I suggest making the feature request for it and explaining in 1-2-3 (engineer style) how the progression works?
