Why is Plex using up so much space in AppData?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.43.0.10492 (stable)

I was noticing that my Windows 11 desktop C drive was starting to have a lot of space used up so I decided to take a look…I found that under Users/<myuser>/AppData/Local/Plex Media Server/Media/localhost/ there were a lot of folders which had indexes of some size.

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Is this expected/normal?

Could this be all of the video preview thumbnails? I do have that enabled in both movies and shows.

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From the (brief) time I tried Plex on Windows for testing, the server configuration and metadata was in a folder in appdata. So all metadata, posters, backgrounds, thumbnails and so forth were in there. Video Preview thumbnails are known to be a big space hog, too.

I recall when I uninstalled Plex it didn’t offer to remove that folder, either. I had many gigs of hard drive space eaten up until I removed it myself.

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Why is my Plex Media Server directory so large?

Advanced, Hidden Server Settings

[HowTo] An extended guide on how to move the Plex data folder on Windows

Yes.

Plex stores metadata, thumbnails, artwork, etc. in the Plex Data Folder.

The Plex Data Folder can be relocated if desired. There are also steps you can take to r or reduce the size of the folder.

Relocation
To relocate the folder, see the support document linked above.

  • The recommended location is an internal, NTFS formatted drive. A SSD is preferred, as it is faster than a hard drive. However, a hard drive also works.
  • Relocation to a USB external drive is possible, but not recommended. If the drive disconnects while Plex is running, it will cause database corruption.
  • Do not relocate the folder to a network drive mounted via SMB or NFS, as that will cause database corruption.

Size Reduction
As @nx6 mentions, video preview thumbnails can take up a lot of space.

Options to reduce that space include:

  • Stop thumbnail generation
  • Delete existing thumbnails
  • Reduce the interval at which thumbnails are generated

Stopping/deleting can be configured on a per library basis if desired: Edit the library → Advanced → Enable video preview thumbnails. Note that deleted thumbnails will be recreated unless thumbnail generation is stopped.

Thumbnail generation can also be configured on a per-server basis: Settings → Library → Generate video preview thumbnails. Thumbnail deletion is only on a per-library basis.

See Why is my Plex Media Server directory so large? for information on each option.

Plex temporarily uses space when transcoding media. The default location is in the Plex Data Folder. The location can be changed in Settings → Transcoder + Show Advanced.

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Thanks to both of you for all of the great info :slight_smile:

I was considering to move the Plex data from my C drive (~40 GB remaining) to one of my SSDs (~2 TB remaining) as they have a lot more space (as per one of the links provided above) but I was curious about something…

I currently have 3 drives…

  • C
    • where I installed Plex and the data is kept
  • M
    • external 4 TB SSD using USB 3 (NFTS)
    • where I have my media and Plex backups stored
  • P
    • external 4 TB SSD using USB 3 (NFTS)
    • a mirrored drive of M for general backup and recovery purposes should the M drive stop working
    • this is achieved using FreeFileSync to copy any new files (though never delete, I do that manually periodically) which is scheduled every night at 1 am via the Task Scheduler

If I were to move my Plex data over to M, would the backups to P potentially cause any data corruption? I ask because I run Plex 247.

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Yes, unfortunately, that will likely happen. You will either need to

  • create a custom profile for your backup software, which doesn’t copy the database files in use
    (if you need to restore this backup, you need to remember to rename one of the spare copies), or
  • stop plex server during the backup process
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Hi @OttoKerner

I do have the ability to exclude folders/files for the backups but I wonder if it should be the whole Plex Media Server directory or specific files?

Would the files just be the following…

com.plexapp.plugins.library.db
com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-shm
com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-wal

or would there be others I should consider?

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Also:
com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db

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Mine is 1.2TB

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I went through the steps in [HowTo] An extended guide on how to move the Plex data folder on Windows

It took about 30-40 minutes and everything is working as expected on the first go…thanks very much everyone :slight_smile:

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Just make sure that your external drives never swap their drive letters.
Unless you have manually assigned the letters, this can happen far too easily.

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I have them manually assigned… This way if my M drive ever dies I then unplug it and manually change my P drive to be my M drive and things continue to chug along.