# Will this work **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Media Server\ **Tags:** server-windows\ **Created:** [April 2, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771 "2020-04-02T20:57:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sedders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@sedders](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sedders)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/1 "2020-04-02T20:57:53Z")
Hi all just thinking able creating some redundancy for my plex server without spending a ton of money, as such would the following work Two PCs master and backup one 256Gb memory stick a usb hub and a number of external drives so if Plex server was installed on the memory stick both PCs told to look for the plex server on the memory stick if the master failed needed to be rebuild or for whatever reason was offline would the backup PC be able to take over and read from the memory stick and the same installation as the master PC? even if it hadn’t been on for a month or so ?’ at present I have two independent setups but would like to only have a single instance of the films/ series and reuse storage currently used by the backup PC I hope that makes sense I would appreciate your thoughts thanks ---
**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/2 "2020-04-02T23:21:22Z")
That could work if setup on both computers properly. You can’t just run it off the drive after a failure. Also, I would not use a memory stick. PMS does a lot of file access and your memory stick will not be fast enough. I would go with an external SSD hard drive. ---
**Author:** ![sedders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@sedders](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sedders)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 9:14am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/3 "2020-04-03T09:14:13Z")
Thanks MovieFan i currently run PMS from an internal ssd its located on a different drive to the boot drive, i was just thinking of moving that and both servers to accessing that. Ill take on board what you say about the memory stick. it maybe worth noting there are often 3 separate stream running at the same time @ 720 or 1080 thanks ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 9:26am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/4 "2020-04-03T09:26:31Z")
> [@sedders](#): > > i was just thinking of moving that and both servers to accessing that. You can’t access a [plex data folder](https://support.plex.tv/articles/202915258-where-is-the-plex-media-server-data-directory-located/) from 2 machines concurrently. As soon as that happens, mayhem ensues. Unplugging the SSD from the first machine and plugging it into the second is way safer. ---
**Author:** ![sedders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@sedders](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sedders)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 10:01am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/5 "2020-04-03T10:01:57Z")
Thanks OttoKerner my plan is to only have one server connected at one time, governed by the usb connection. what im also unsure about is if watch history history and managed users will be as it currently is. also where is the name of the server stored the more i think of it the more questions i have any advice has been gratefully received and will continue to be ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 10:07am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/6 "2020-04-03T10:07:50Z")
I strongly discourage you from attaching the plex data folder through a USB connection. You are creating an unnecessary bottleneck here. Use at least a SATA connection, or ideally a NVMe port. ---
**Author:** ![sedders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@sedders](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sedders)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 10:16am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/7 "2020-04-03T10:16:39Z")
ok thanks, the question then is how can I share the pms between the 2 servers, albeit one at a time, i’ve never heard of a NVe Port but will google it now thanks ---
**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/8 "2020-04-03T18:03:11Z")
Using a USB 3 connected hard drive should be fine if you will only have 2 clients accessing PMS at a time. USB thumb drives, even USB 3 ones, don’t work well enough. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/will-this-work/566771/9 "2020-07-02T18:03:11Z")
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.