Newbie Question - Migrate Plex from FreeNAS?

[ptcadoc]

Hi everyone

 

Non tech newbie (I'm in the medical field) here so please bear with me with your patience.  I have a FreeNAS server that I painfully put together around 3 years ago and it's currently still the same version 9.something.  Use the server mainly for Plex and storing a few files.  It's run out of space (around 7 TB) and adding new drives to FreeNAS is incredibly complex and the FreeNAS community isn't too helpful either.  Also, FreeNAS is incredibly difficult to use for a lay person like me. 

 

Have heard good things about Unraid and it seems easier and more flexible so I want to switch.  I have 3 4TB drives and an SSD and I want to add 2 more 4TB drives.  Questions

 

1.  Is there a way to migrate the Plex meta data over to Unraid or will I have to just redownload all of it.  If so, how? I can't even see the Plex meta data file on the server because it's on an SSD and for some reason I can't access it  

2.  Is it possible to directly transfer 7TB of movie files "directly" to Unraid via a USB connection (I have the movie files backed up on a 10 TB external drive) or does it have to go through the network ?

 

Thank you 

[testdasi]

Start with the easier one.

 

2. It depends on the filesystem of your external backup. If it is a FS supported by Unassigned Devices and Unassigned Devices Plus plugins (e.g. btrfs, xfs, ext4, ntfs, fat32, exfat, HFS+) then it's as simple as connect USB, check the main page under Unassigned Devices section to find the drive and click mount.

You will still need a file manager to copy files on the server side (e.g. using mc from commandline or a docker like Krusader) or using console command (e.g. cp or rsync). If you do it on another PC then there's a chance the files will go through the network via the 2nd PC, which defeats the purpose.

If your external uses zfs as a file system then things are more complicated e.g. you need the zfs plugin or a custom-built Unraid kernel with zfs baked in and would certainly need to be comfortable with command line to deal with that without involving the network.

 

The difficult one.

 

1. It's quite hard to say. I can tell you easiest path is to just redownload everything.

If it were a Linux-based OS then I can comfortably say it's not difficult to migrate but FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD so I'm not too sure if the Plex db has any significant diff. Migrating the db should be easier than doing Linux -> Windows but is probably harder than doing for example Ubuntu -> Unraid.

[Energen]

FreeNAS does use zfs so you can go that route if you want to and are up for an adventure.

 

If you have everything from the FreeNAS already backed up to an external drive (assuming fat32/ntfs as most people don't change the format of a regular store bought external drive) then *I* would just not bother with the zfs drives from freenas and just get all the drives up and running on Unraid and copy the data from the external drive later.

 

As for the Plex metadata.. they say most of the data should be compatible across systems... it might be worth trying to back up at least some of the stuff like your watched status database.

 

For FreeNAS the entire metadata/database location is at ${JAIL_ROOT}/var/db/plexdata/Plex Media Server/

 

So you could potentially move that entire folder to Unraid and restore everything.

 

I would archive the folder somehow -- whatever you could do on freenas -- into a zip/rar/lzma/whatever.  Because there's a LOT of files that would take forever to transfer by ftp/smb/whatever.  Otherwise, since the cache/metadata isn't really that important and can be redownloaded in a couple hours by Plex, I'd concentrate on just the databases in /Plug-in Support/Databases, or none if it if you don't really care.

 

 

 

[ptcadoc]

7 hours ago, testdasi said:

Start with the easier one.

 

2. It depends on the filesystem of your external backup. If it is a FS supported by Unassigned Devices and Unassigned Devices Plus plugins (e.g. btrfs, xfs, ext4, ntfs, fat32, exfat, HFS+) then it's as simple as connect USB, check the main page under Unassigned Devices section to find the drive and click mount.

You will still need a file manager to copy files on the server side (e.g. using mc from commandline or a docker like Krusader) or using console command (e.g. cp or rsync). If you do it on another PC then there's a chance the files will go through the network via the 2nd PC, which defeats the purpose.

If your external uses zfs as a file system then things are more complicated e.g. you need the zfs plugin or a custom-built Unraid kernel with zfs baked in and would certainly need to be comfortable with command line to deal with that without involving the network.

 

The difficult one.

 

1. It's quite hard to say. I can tell you easiest path is to just redownload everything.

If it were a Linux-based OS then I can comfortably say it's not difficult to migrate but FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD so I'm not too sure if the Plex db has any significant diff. Migrating the db should be easier than doing Linux -> Windows but is probably harder than doing for example Ubuntu -> Unraid.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.  It's a "regular" external drive I believe NTFS - I have it attached to a Windows desktop.  Your point about not using a PC to make the transfer is an important one I really don't want the transfer to go through the network.

[ptcadoc]

4 hours ago, Energen said:

 

 

For FreeNAS the entire metadata/database location is at ${JAIL_ROOT}/var/db/plexdata/Plex Media Server/

 

So you could potentially move that entire folder to Unraid and restore everything.

 

I would archive the folder somehow -- whatever you could do on freenas -- into a zip/rar/lzma/whatever.  Because there's a LOT of files that would take forever to transfer by ftp/smb/whatever.  Otherwise, since the cache/metadata isn't really that important and can be redownloaded in a couple hours by Plex, I'd concentrate on just the databases in /Plug-in Support/Databases, or none if it if you don't really care.

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply.  The problem I'm having on FreeNAS is that I can't find that plexdata/Plex Media Server folder - I know that I did somehow specify it to be placed on the SSD because that's the advice I got but that SSD now seems "hidden" from the network I can't see it as a Windows share.  I do recall it WAS visible initially then I did "something" and it's now hidden (yes, I know that sounds absurdly newbie, my apologies).  Obviously the drive is working.  Any suggestions as to how to make it "visible" again (or just get the contents off it)?

 

Thank you in advance