What kind of success rate have you had importing data from Plex in PC to Plex in unRAID?

[ingeborgdot]

I'm just wanting to know what to expect, now that I'm ready to start getting Plex all set up. What type of success rate have you had getting all of the data imported to the new Plex in unRAID?
What Plex install did you use in unRAID? I don't know if it really makes a difference, but I see so many videos on it, and each chooses a different one for a different reason. What is your reason?

I have changed my folder structure in unRAID, so it is different in the PC Plex than the unRAID one.

I just went with 3 folders in unRAID. tv, movies, movies4k.

Should I change the structure in the PC one before I do the export and import in unRAID?

[ingeborgdot]

I have decided on linuxserver for my install.

 

Since I'm running my sonarr and radarr on a custom network, do I need to run Plex on the same custom network? I haven't seen anything on this yet. It may be out there, but I haven't found it. Thanks.

[ConnerVT]

I asked most of these same questions when I set up my server nearly two years ago.  I'll share my thoughts, but note they are one man's opinion.  There will be many other opinions, maybe as many as there are Plex users.

 

First, I found no easy way to transition from my PC Plex server to the Unraid one, if one wishes to keep all of the metadata, watched history, etc. that is in the Plex appdata.  I did a fresh, clean install of Plex on the Unraid server and started anew.  I think I created my initial Media share, containing a Movies and a TV folder.  In each of those I added one or two movies/series (each in their own folder, using Plex naming conventions) so I had content to create my initial Plex Libraries.  I did not have any 4K content at that time, but have since added a 4K Movies and a Music folder to my Media folder.  I installed the docker, configured the Plex app, and just let it rebuild metadata.

 

I've added much more media to my Plex server since I moved to Unraid (everything was previously packed into 2 3TB drives on my daily driver PC).  IIRC, I think I mounted at least one of those drives temporarily as an Unassigned Device then copied files to where I needed using Krusader.  But you could also copy files across your network.  Either way, I suggest (at least temporarily) turning cache off for your media share (run Mover to insure no files there, then configure the share), and turning on Turbo Write (this will make transfers to the array faster, but requires all drives be spun up).  No matter how you slice it, it will take some time to transfer/copy your media over, assuming TBs of data.

 

As tempting as it is to copy all at once, I would focus on one media type at a time (ie. TV) then move on to the next.  So no need or benefit to messing with how you have things configured in the PC server.

 

As to which Docker container to use, it comes down to support.  As a general rule, most all containers contain the release from the application's developers.  Some may include additional stuff, such as plugins, packages, etc.  Myself, I tend to go with linuxserver.io containers (as I use for Plex).  They are an active community, and containers are updated weekly and issues addressed promptly.  Their official support is on Discord (not my preferred platform).  Binhex has many good containers, and supports his work here on the Unraid forum.  I would personally avoid the one that comes directly from Plex - Docker seems to be the red-headed stepchild to them.  No support from them, either on this forum or their own.

 

 

[ConnerVT]

11 minutes ago, ingeborgdot said:

Since I'm running my sonarr and radarr on a custom network, do I need to run Plex on the same custom network? I haven't seen anything on this yet. It may be out there, but I haven't found it. Thanks.

 

Generally, for containers to communicate with one another will need to be on the same network.

 

Edit: Though, now that I look at my config, I run Plex in Host.

Edited November 27, 2022 by ConnerVT

[ingeborgdot]

1 hour ago, ConnerVT said:

 

Generally, for containers to communicate with one another will need to be on the same network.

 

Edit: Though, now that I look at my config, I run Plex in Host.

Which is what I found out I had to do also. My custom network didn't work.

[ingeborgdot]

Well,it was almost 100%, but not quite.

I finally got time to get the swap from PC to unRAID Plex. It all went pretty well, except 7 of the people I share with are not on the list anymore. I don't know what happened. Why would 5 make it, but 7 not make it on the share list.

The ones that made it on the list had been on there a long time. The other 7 had only been on several months.

Please tell me there is a way to fix it. They are not the most tech savy people. Thanks.

[DanielPT]

I was also wondering this.

 

I enabled the sync options in plex.

Moved all my data and let it scan.

 

It worked perfect