Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Unraid

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Problem setting up plex server with path to usb

Featured Replies

Hello i'm a newb and try to set up plex on my unraid server.

 

I'm using unraid 5 rc11 and plex v0.9.7.12.407-db37d6d. I have also installed SimpleFeatures v1.0.11. I'm running the free unraid server.

 

So I want to run plex server on my unraid box but i'm having some problems. If I set Library directory and tmp directory for plex to a location on my Hard drives (which are part of the array) plex works fine, But the problem is my hard drives won't spin down when I set it to a location to the hard drives.

 

So a grabbed anothe rUSB stick which was lying here around and plugged it into the server. I installed "Mount Drives" which let me mount the usb stick to /mnt/disk/the name i give to the usb

 

So I thought yeah it worked I mounted the usb, now I can change the path from plex

server library to /mnt/disk/settingusb/plex/library

and the tmp dir to /mnt/disk/settingusb/plex/tmp

 

The strange thing is, if I do so, plex doesn't want to start anymore. He doesn't have a problem with the tmp dir on the usb-stick. But when I set the library to the usb-stick, he doesn't want to start anymore.

 

 

Can somebody help, please.

 

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

edit: I don't think it is a good idea to set tmp and library directories to the server USB flash drive? Or isn't that important?

you need to post some logs. either syslog or plex logs.

by thge way. installing plex on flash drive is not very good idea - amount of read and writes caused by plex server will kill the flash drive sooner or later.

best thing you can do if you don't want to buy pro licence and use cache drive is to get any 2.5" drive, mount it manually and set up tmp and library there. kinda what you did with the usd drive. this way your array can spin down and you dont have to worry about flash drive failure.

  • Author

Thank you, maybe I buy the pro version in the future, but right now I don't need it ;). It was a free usb so I don't really care if it dies :P. I first want to try it with the usb and after that I can still install a cache drie (pro version) or a 2.5" drive.

 

My syslog (hope this is it ;) i'm a newb :P )

tail -n 40 -f /var/log/syslog

Feb 25 17:19:45 Tower su[24782]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:19:47 Tower pms: Check 1: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:19:50 Tower pms: Check 2: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:19:53 Tower pms: Check 3: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:19:56 Tower pms: Check 4: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:19:59 Tower pms: Check 5: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:20:02 Tower su[24843]: Successful su for unraid-plex by root

Feb 25 17:20:02 Tower su[24843]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:20:15 Tower pms: Stopping Plex...

Feb 25 17:20:18 Tower su[24963]: Successful su for unraid-plex by root

Feb 25 17:20:18 Tower su[24963]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:20:36 Tower pms: Plex Media Server: changing owner of /mnt/disk/settingusb/plex/tmp from root to unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:20:36 Tower pms: Starting Plex...

Feb 25 17:20:36 Tower su[25079]: Successful su for unraid-plex by root

Feb 25 17:20:36 Tower su[25079]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:20:38 Tower pms: Plex Media Server IS running

Feb 25 17:20:38 Tower su[25128]: Successful su for unraid-plex by root

Feb 25 17:20:38 Tower su[25128]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:30:22 Tower ntpd_intres[1219]: host name not found: 0,be.pool.ntp.org

Feb 25 17:42:21 Tower su[447]: Successful su for unraid-plex by root

Feb 25 17:42:21 Tower su[447]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:45:12 Tower dhcpcd[1095]: eth0: renewing lease of 192.168.123.2

Feb 25 17:45:12 Tower dhcpcd[1095]: eth0: acknowledged 192.168.123.2 from 192.168.123.254

Feb 25 17:45:12 Tower dhcpcd[1095]: eth0: leased 192.168.123.2 for 7200 seconds

Feb 25 17:46:26 Tower ntpd_intres[1219]: host name not found: 0,be.pool.ntp.org

Feb 25 17:48:02 Tower pms: Stopping Plex...

Feb 25 17:48:05 Tower su[2542]: Successful su for unraid-plex by root

Feb 25 17:48:05 Tower su[2542]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:48:21 Tower pms: Plex Media Server: changing owner of /mnt/disk/settingusb/plex/library/Application Support from root to unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:48:21 Tower pms: Plex Media Server: changing owner of /mnt/disk/settingusb/plex/tmp from root to unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:48:21 Tower pms: Starting Plex...

Feb 25 17:48:21 Tower su[2661]: Successful su for unraid-plex by root

Feb 25 17:48:21 Tower su[2661]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

Feb 25 17:48:23 Tower pms: Check 1: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:48:26 Tower pms: Check 2: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:48:29 Tower pms: Check 3: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:48:32 Tower pms: Check 4: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:48:35 Tower pms: Check 5: Plex has NOT started yet, something is maybe wrong!

Feb 25 17:48:38 Tower su[2720]: Successful su for unraid-plex by root

Feb 25 17:48:38 Tower su[2720]: + ??? root:unraid-plex

 

The plex log, I don't have one, because it didn't start :P. I have one when it starts. But thats not with the library to the usb stick. (And it's huge)

 

Putting Plex on a USB flash drive is probably not a good idea. The amount of I/O Plex does will probably kill that flash drive. You might want to look at the SNAP plugin and putting it on an old hard drive.

  • Author

And why doesn't it allow me to use the usb stick? Why isn't it working? The latest thing I want to do is buy a HDD and find out it isn't working :/

  • 5 months later...

I am bumping this topic because it is the only thread I found where I am having the exact same issue. My details are a follows:

 

I am running UNRAID (new server with basic install - 1 parity and 2 data drives to store my movies)

I was able to get my library pointed to another flash drive which I mounted with:

mkdir /mnt/usb

mount -t vfat -o umask=000 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

#echo '[usb]' >>/boot/config/smb-extra.conf

#echo ' path = /mnt/usb' >>/boot/config/smb-extra.conf

#echo ' read only = No' >>/boot/config/smb-extra.conf

#echo 'browseable = yes' >>/boot/config/smb-extra.conf

#echo 'public = yes' >>/boot/config/smb-extra.conf

smbcontrol smbd reload-config

 

 

The above commands are in my go file (echo commands now commented out / just used initially to create a smb share).  Plex is up an running which I can verify via the Tower gui.  The issue is that I cannot get to the plex web page (http://ipaddress:32400/web).  When I switch the library back to flash drive where UNRAID is running (which of course you loose settings on each reboot) or if I place the library on one of my array drives (don't want to due this because drive will not spin down), I can access the plex web page just fine.

 

I realize that running the library on a flash drive is not a good idea but I can just recreate the library when it dies. Don't want to go to a cache drive at this time or run on one of my array drives.

 

I think the issue is permissions or something?  Maybe I need to mount differently?  When I ping ipaddress:32400 I do not get a ping response even though plex is running. I can ping the ip address / just not plex running under 32400.

 

I am not a Linux expert.  Any thoughts / help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

  • 2 weeks later...

Problem solved. Reformatted to reiserfs and fixed permissions by issuing Chmod 777 after mounting the USB.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.