Hey guys, just installed Plex Media Server to my unraid box.. Love the software but it crashes a little.. Quick question, i have to copy metadata and database files over (about 2.5gb) from my windows machine into the file system of the unraid.  What is the best way to do that?  I think they need to go /usr/local/plexmediaserver .. Where is that 2.5gb stored?  on one of the unraid shares i made or on the actual flash drive?

 

thanks guys, hope that made sense..

Anything not /boot/* or /mnt/* is in RAM

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

thanks for the reply, appreciate it.. I will have to look a little closer as this is a database for all my movie art and metadata so it would have to be on a physical disk that lasts a reboot..

 

*update*

this is where it is supposed to go: /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/

If you have a cache disk then that is probably a good location to put files you want to survive a reboot.

don't have one, ran out of SATA ports.. wonder if it is worth buying a PCI expansion card with SATA?  I did make a share on one of my disks to do this, would that be enough?

don't have one, ran out of SATA ports.. wonder if it is worth buying a PCI expansion card with SATA?  I did make a share on one of my disks to do this, would that be enough?

 

You can always just dump the files on a data disk, it's just that the write times will be slower due to the parity drive.

 

Personally, I wouldn't think that buying a PCI controller would be worth it purely for a cache drive, I'd wait until you need more data drives and then buy a cache drive at the same time, although, it's up to you.

thanks for the reply, ya, i will just wait until i need more data drives..

 

sorry im at work now and cannot check..  So i already changed the paths in the setting of plex to be on a new "plex" share.. So does that mean that the "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/"  will be a folder on my Plex Share, so i can just copy and paste my movie art and stuff there?

 

I was thinking i would have to telnet/SSH/FTP all my files into that directory.. Damn, Linux is difficult..

 

 

 

 

thanks for the reply, ya, i will just wait until i need more data drives..

 

sorry im at work now and cannot check..  So i already changed the paths in the setting of plex to be on a new "plex" share.. So does that mean that the "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/"  will be a folder on my Plex Share, so i can just copy and paste my movie art and stuff there?

 

I was thinking i would have to telnet/SSH/FTP all my files into that directory.. Damn, Linux is difficult..

 

As per the above user said, anything that's not /boot/* or /mnt/* is just going to be dropped the second you reboot, and, I can't quite remember the default folders but based on the folder path I'm going to assume /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/ is the default 'library' folder. I'd recommend changing that to a data drive since (I'm pretty sure) that'll all be dropped the second you restart your server.

 

Personally, this is my set up, you'll obviously need to change it to a data drive due to your lack of a cache drive:-

 

Thanks Automatic.. I did create a share called Plex, then changed my settings to reflect that.  I will check when i get home that the directory structure is there in my user share..  If it is there, i assume i can just copy and paste all my stuff right into the "Plex" share..

 

thanks again guys, i know newbies are annoying   Just trying to get this working..

 

Automatic, does your Plex server just stop after a while?  mine works great, then all of a sudden a few hours later becomes unavailable..  It works much better running it on a local machine but i would rather have it running on the server so a Roku or PS3 will work without the server AND my computer turned on..

 

 

Thanks Automatic.. I did create a share called Plex, then changed my settings to reflect that.  I will check when i get home that the directory structure is there in my user share..  If it is there, i assume i can just copy and paste all my stuff right into the "Plex" share..

 

thanks again guys, i know newbies are annoying   Just trying to get this working..

 

Automatic, does your Plex server just stop after a while?  mine works great, then all of a sudden a few hours later becomes available..  It works much better running it on a local machine but i would rather have it running on the server so a Roku or PS3 will work without the server AND my computer turned on..

 

I've only had my unraid set up for ~ 4 days, so, the max uptime I've had is ~ 24 hours (Due to random acts of annoyance and large uploads), but, Plex hasn't crashed one (Although, I will say it's annoying that Plex doesn't start on startup).

 

Anyway, can I ask why you made a "Plex" share? Unless you mean Media share. Just store the data somewhere like:-

 

/mnt/Disk1/appdata/Plex

 

and make sure Disk1 never gets full. I suppose you can make a share, but, doesn't really seem logical to me.

you know what buddy, i was just following a tutorial on the plex forums and didn't know any better.. I will change that to my disk 7 that has tons of space on it..  So once i make it on disk 7, i should be able to copy everything and paste it right onto that disk within Windows explorer..

 

thanks for all your help..

you know what buddy, i was just following a tutorial on the plex forums and didn't know any better.. I will change that to my disk 7 that has tons of space on it..  So once i make it on disk 7, i should be able to copy everything and paste it right onto that disk..

 

thanks for all your help..

 

Once again, I'm just talking about the settings, not media. I strongly suggest you use a share for media to spread it out over drives as media files are huge; however, a single 2.5GB settings file (What? I have ~ 5TB worth of shows and it's not that large) isn't really something I'd create a dedicated share for.

Sorry, let me clarify.. I have all my media stored over about 6 disks, about 600 movies.

 

When i first read about Plex SERVER, I set it up on my home computer..  After playing with it for half a day getting all the titles and movie covers to show how i want it, i found out about Plex server for Unraid (linux).

 

So basically what i want to do is copy all my settings from my Plex Server on my home computer, over to the settings on my Unraid Plex Server so i don't have to go get all the cover art, posters, etc, all over again.. 

 

I am trying to follow these directions:

 

Moving a Plex Database

From a PC, copy the contents of ~\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server EXCEPT the Plug-ins folder (all these files and folders are 2.5gb)

To a Linux box, copy the files to /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/ and ensure they are all owned by plex:plex

 

this is from the Plex Wiki..  Hopefully that makes a little more sense..

 

 

Sorry, let me clarify.. I have all my media stored over about 6 disks, about 600 movies.

 

When i first read about Plex SERVER, I set it up on my home computer..  After playing with it for half a day getting all the titles and movie covers to show how i want it, i found out about Plex server for Unraid (linux).

 

So basically what i want to do is copy all my settings from my Plex Server on my home computer, over to the settings on my Unraid Plex Server so i don't have to go get all the cover art, posters, etc, all over again.. 

 

I am trying to follow these directions:

 

 

Moving a Plex Database

From a PC, copy the contents of ~\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server EXCEPT the Plug-ins folder

To a Linux box, copy the files to /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/ and ensure they are all owned by plex:plex

 

this is from the Plex Wiki..

 

Okay, your best bet would be to copy them to disk 7, like you said, then update the unraid plex options to use disk 7 for the library settings, however, not too sure how well plex will like the fact that it's changing from window's directory format (Drive:\Folder\File.ext) to linux's directory format (/MountLocation/Folder/File.ext) and you'll probably have to do some fiddling around in the configuration files. Here is what I had to do to modify my sickbeard to work with linux:-

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26067.msg228159#msg228159

 

If you've only had it for a few hours it's probably just easier to reconfigure it on unraid, but, if you're really persistant I'd just follow taht tutorial but instead of /var/lib/plexmediaserver use /mnt/Disk7/, also, make sure to update the library folder in the settings.

Longer explanation of my previous post about everything except /boot and /mnt being in RAM.

 

When unRAID boots it unpacks all of its operating system files from bzroot and keeps them in RAM. Since bzroot is not altered to reflect any changes to these operating system files, they will all be restored to the original from bzroot when you reboot. /var is one of these.

 

This is why some people add code to the go script to alter operating system files every time they reboot. I have code in my go script which alters /etc for example.

 

/boot is the flash drive. /mnt is the mount point for array drives, cache drive, and possibly any drives you mount outside the array.  Anything stored in these locations will persist after reboot.

 

 

you guys are great, thanks a lot, will report back after i look at my server!

thanks for the reply, ya, i will just wait until i need more data drives..

 

sorry im at work now and cannot check..  So i already changed the paths in the setting of plex to be on a new "plex" share.. So does that mean that the "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/"  will be a folder on my Plex Share, so i can just copy and paste my movie art and stuff there?

 

I was thinking i would have to telnet/SSH/FTP all my files into that directory.. Damn, Linux is difficult..

 

As per the above user said, anything that's not /boot/* or /mnt/* is just going to be dropped the second you reboot, and, I can't quite remember the default folders but based on the folder path I'm going to assume /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/ is the default 'library' folder. I'd recommend changing that to a data drive since (I'm pretty sure) that'll all be dropped the second you restart your server.

 

Personally, this is my set up, you'll obviously need to change it to a data drive due to your lack of a cache drive:-

 

 

 

Using a directory with a leading period is no longer recommended for using as a store on your cache drive for your plugins. It's recommended to create a cache only share for this purpose. Some plugins, Plex in particular, sometimes have problems when put in a directory with a leading period.

 

To the OP: If you have another hard drive lying around you can use as a cache drive, you can get a 2 port SATA controller for as little as $10 so it won't cost you much to just add a cache drive. Putting the library on an array disk is going to keep that disk spun up all the time.

A couple comments..

 

Just checked the sever and my Plex STARTS automatically on Unraid startup, nothing needed on my part..  It doesn't list the version number on the started screen (weird) but i just grabbed the latest version.

 

Also, i was trying to copy the files over and it says i need permission.  Does anyone know how i can just paste everything into that Plex folder with the proper permissions?

 

Mrow, im in Canada, nothing costs $10   any link to a good place to buy a SATA PCI card?

A couple comments..

 

Just checked the sever and my Plex STARTS automatically on Unraid startup, nothing needed on my part..  It doesn't list the version number on the started screen (weird) but i just grabbed the latest version.

 

Also, i was trying to copy the files over and it says i need permission.  Does anyone know how i can just paste everything into that Plex folder with the proper permissions?

 

Mrow, im in Canada, nothing costs $10   any link to a good place to buy a SATA PCI card?

 

$12 bucks for this 2 port card. You'll have to put in your postal code to see what shipping to Canada will be.

Where's the link?    I will get it shipped to the US as i live right by the border..

Haha, sorry.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?p_id=2530&seq=1&format=2

oh Monoprice, they are great, thanks man..

damn Plex.. now the whole thing isn't work.. i uninstalled, installed, uninstalled, installed!!!!  it won't find any media, starts automatically, doesn't start automatically, says Plex version, doesn't say Plex version, etc.. kind of frustrating, going to bed now

damn Plex.. now the whole thing isn't work.. i uninstalled, installed, uninstalled, installed!!!!  it won't find any media, starts automatically, doesn't start automatically, says Plex version, doesn't say Plex version, etc.. kind of frustrating, going to bed now

 

Wait until your card gets here so you can set up a cache drive. Then I'd recommend just wiping everything related to Plex, redownloading the plugin, and try again with the library location set to a cache only share on the cache drive.

I was able to do the removepkg and it said it uninstalled but it kept all my settings, etc.  How do I wipe everything and anything related to plex?

 

Thanks guys, I know newbies are annoying.