Plex on Unraid, Multiple Paths possible?

[deltaexray]

Hi,
 

I need help with setting up additional paths for data access for the Plex docker container, i.e one is for data on hdd's, one for data on ssd's etc.
Cause I couldn't really figure out how to do so on my own

Thanks

[wgstarks]

Here are a couple of examples.

 

 

 

For each of these I added a library folder in the Plex settings (Plex_TV_Torrents for example) and identified it as TV Shows. Added the paths you see in the examples into the docker container.

[trurl]

14 minutes ago, deltaexray said:

one is for data on hdd's, one for data on ssd's

Usually it is about user shares, not disks. You can, of course, configure a user share to be only on HDD or only on SSD and then you would just do the usual user share paths like in the examples above.

 

Is there some reason you need to specify disks instead of user shares?

[Frank1940]

Look at the directory    /mnt      and you will see a   user   and a    user0   directory.     user0   has only the files/directories that are on the actual parity-protected array.  (user0 was scheduled to be deprecated but there are a few people who found it useful...)   user has all of the files on the array plus those that are on the cache.   It is the one that is normally used.

 

Just be sure you understand what is going on if you are going to use user0.  

[trurl]

8 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

Just be sure you understand what is going on if you are going to use user0

I don't see any good reason to do so for this use case.

[Frank1940]

6 minutes ago, trurl said:

I don't see any good reason to do so for this use case.

I don't understand what the use case was in the first place.  It appeared that the question was regarding hard disks (most likely found on the Array) and ssd's (most likely in a cache situation).  user0 will only show those files on the array which is probably all of the hard disks in most systems.   As far as the ssd's go, a disk mount setup of the cache (or cache pool) is possible for them. 

 

The OP will have to get his head around how to integrate all these storage points into one cohesive  storage system.  

 

As I said, I admit that I don't have a clue as to why the OP is wanting this separation...

[deltaexray]

6 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

I don't understand what the use case was in the first place.  It appeared that the question was regarding hard disks (most likely found on the Array) and ssd's (most likely in a cache situation).  user0 will only show those files on the array which is probably all of the hard disks in most systems.   As far as the ssd's go, a disk mount setup of the cache (or cache pool) is possible for them. 

 

The OP will have to get his head around how to integrate all these storage points into one cohesive  storage system.  

 

As I said, I admit that I don't have a clue as to why the OP is wanting this separation...

The Idea behind it is simple: I want my larger media (Movies, TV Shows etc.) on the HDD array and my smaller ones (music and photos) on a secondary, non cache, ssd pool. That's why I asked, in the first place, how you tell the plex docker container where to look for them. 

I however admit, that my first post was written a bit to complicated :')

 

[wgstarks]

You can create a share which only includes the hdd’s and add it to the Plex docker as I described. If you don’t want the SSD’s to be in the array you can create a cache pool with them and then add that path to the docker.

https://unraid.net/blog/unraid-6-9s-multiple-pools-support

[deltaexray]

Thank you! Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming what u can do

[wgstarks]

I may be wrong but I’m not sure there is any real benefit using the method you’re describing. I have all my videos large and small on hdd’s and have never had any issues with slower transfer rates. Of course, if you are just using drives that you already have that would be a benefit of sorts. You might want to do a little testing once you have everything setup and see if there really is a performance advantage.

[trurl]

17 minutes ago, deltaexray said:

I want my larger media (Movies, TV Shows etc.) on the HDD array and my smaller ones (music and photos) on a secondary, non cache, ssd pool.

Separate user shares. Larger media in shares that don't use cache, smaller media in shares that are cache-only. Plex doesn't know where these are, just what their container paths are. And plex docker doesn't need to know which disk these are on, just the host path to each user share.

 

For example

 

Movies share set to cache:no, host path is /mnt/user/Movies, files won't be on cache. *

music share set to cache:only, host path is /mnt/user/music, files will all be on cache. *

 

The container doesn't need to know what disks they are using, and the application itself can't know anything about disks anyway.

 

*Note that simply setting the user shares this way won't have any effect on where already existing files are stored. If any shares you want cache:only have files on the array, you will have to move them, etc. Let us know if you need help with that.

 

[trurl]

Here is what I do.

 

My main media shares are cache:yes, so they get written to cache and moved to the array.  I have a lot of music and photos on these main shares and I don't need to access all of it frequently.

 

I also have some additional media shares, set as cache:only; a share where I copy a subset of my photos, and a share where I copy a subset of my music.

 

This allows other devices to quickly access a subset of my photos and music without spinning up the array, such as for changing wallpapers, playlists, etc.

[deltaexray]

I'll take a look at what u ppl have suggested. Though it's quite fun to see how many replied in such short notice

But I'm actually realizing, as said here before, that setting up a new share and letting it use the cache as a storage location is the most usable. That said, I've got a couple Samsung SSD's laying around that I can use for a second pool, so probably gonna use them

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by deltaexray

[Dustiebin]

Hi All,

 

Not wanting to hijack someone else's thread, but this is something I have been thinking about recently but just for my music collection. 

 

I use Plexamp a lot. Currently ripping all my CD's and any others I can find in charity shops ect to build my own Notify.... Thing is I dont want all my disks spinning up when I ask Plexamp to use Time Travel Radio (as an example) and it picks some songs I put on my server say last year....

If they were all on a SSd / NVME drives I would not need to worry..............BUT, how do I make sure they are protected (I understand the array is not backup  working on that via another unraid box) by Unraid as part of array? 

 

My limited knowledge of Cache is that the info (if you choose) will after X days be moved to the array. How would that work if I wanted music on SSD permanently? 

 

Thanks in advance... 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Dustiebin

[wgstarks]

20 minutes ago, Dustiebin said:

My limited knowledge of Cache is that the info (if you choose) will after X days be moved to the array. How would that work if I wanted music on SSD permanently

This is user configurable. If you set the share to cache only then the files are not moved.

[trurl]

4 hours ago, Dustiebin said:

limited knowledge of Cache

https://wiki.unraid.net/Manual/Shares#Use_Cache_.28and_Mover_Behavior_with_User_Shares.29

[Dustiebin]

Thanks @wgstarks and @trurl for your responses. 

 

From what I am reading I can have the mover shift my files from a 'music' cache pool to the array and then bring them back to the cache. 

This would allow me to keep my music protected by the array but have it on a cache pool for no spin up of mechanical drives when using plexamp. 

 

Would that mean that the mover (going from its name) will move the files each time from the array to my 'music' cache pool... so the files are no longer on the array... so if I lost a drive for whatever reason on the array my music on the cache pool would not actually be on the array ..... BUT if i lost the 'music' cache pool drive it would not be on the array to rescue back as it had been moved off the array by the mover app... 

 

Or am i reading too much into it? 

[trurl]

4 minutes ago, Dustiebin said:

Or am i reading too much into it?

You are overthinking it. Either keep them on the array, or keep them on cache.

 

On 9/22/2022 at 9:53 AM, trurl said:

I also have some additional media shares, set as cache:only; a share where I copy a subset of my photos, and a share where I copy a subset of my music.

Note that these are separate shares from my main media shares, and these separate shares have their own files (in this case, a copy of a subset of files on other shares) and their own settings (they stay on cache). These copies are done manually, the contents of these other shares are changed manually, and the main media shares stay on the array where they are protected.

 

Maybe you want ALL your music always on cache? Make another cache:only share and copy it all to that share. Don't try to get mover involved in this at all. If you want to automate it you can do an rsync script and schedule it with User Scripts plugin.

 

In any case, you should always have another copy of anything important and irreplaceable. Parity is not a substitute for backup. My music is one of the things I backup offsite.

 

[itimpi]

You are correct in that any file only exists in one location so is either on the main array OR on a pool.

 

if you want files on a  pool to be protected against drive failure then the pool must be a multi-drive pool.  
 

An alternative is to regularly run a backup process from the pool to a location on the array.   This is what is typically done for docker ‘appdata’ files and VM disk images (plugins exist for these two cases).