Has anyone migrated a Plex database to a new PC?

[SpyderTracks]

Hi all

I'm just jumping ahead a while to when I upgrade my PC.

I want to export / migrate my existing Plex database to the new Windows installation. I've looked over the practicalities and it looks relatively straightforward, but just wondered if anyone has done this in the past and had any golden nuggets they came across that may be of help?

This isn't going to be happening until the 4th quarter of the year, I'm just uber nuts about being prepared in advance.

Appreciate any insights.

 

[steaky360]

Watching in anticipation. I'm also looking to upgrade a PC and want to convert the old carcass into a Plex server of some kind... and ... even after reading it seems a bit daunting so any advice or tips I can pick up here will be helpful

I'll quietly sit in the corner... rocking

 

[SpyderTracks]

Watching in anticipation. I'm also looking to upgrade a PC and want to convert the old carcass into a Plex server of some kind... and ... even after reading it seems a bit daunting so any advice or tips I can pick up here will be helpful

I'll quietly sit in the corner... rocking

Are you migrating an existing Plex server or setting up from scratch? I can certainly help with a fresh setup, and once I've done the migration, should be able to help with that also.

 

[steaky360]

Setting up from scratch, don't have a plex server of any kind just a collection of media on a Synology NAS currently

 

[SpyderTracks]

Setting up from scratch, don't have a plex server of any kind just a collection of media on a Synology NAS currently

I can definitely give pointers. The actual Plex setup is Uber easy, Plex does everything itself, it's really intelligent. The hardest bit is configuring the network for external access if you have a double NAT setup if you have an old Mesh network, but if it's a straightforward network, it's just a case of setting port forwarding.

I think you'll be amazed at just how much is intelligently automated by Plex

 

[Scott]

I did it a couple of years back and it was an absolute doddle. Pretty much exactly like the instructions and I came across no issues.

If you want to give it a go though, why not fire up a VM just to be sure?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I did it a couple of years back and it was an absolute doddle. Pretty much exactly like the instructions and I came across no issues.

If you want to give it a go though, why not fire up a VM just to be sure?

That's a good idea, I'll do that in hyperv just to be sure it's working. Appreciate that

 

[techguyone]

I migrated mine to the new pc a month ago, I just included all the metadata in C:\Users\yournamehere\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server

and it then remembered all the poster art and custom stuff.

Bare install first, then before you run it, copy in that stuff.

Worked a treat.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I migrated mine to the new pc a month ago, I just included all the metadata in C:\Users\yournamehere\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server

and it then remembered all the poster art and custom stuff.

Bare install first, then before you run it, copy in that stuff.

Worked a treat.

That's awesome, exactly what I need. Does that include the watch history so unmarls watched content do you know?

 

[techguyone]

I don't think it did, but it did mean I only had to rematch and re-poster only a few titles, the process was pretty painless (I learnt this when the last time I updated I had to rebuild the whole freaking lot from scratch)

 

[Scott]

I don't know if this is the exact one that I used but the guide I used was definitely something like this.

Move Viewstate/Ratings from One Install to Another

The watched/unwatched, view progress, and ratings are stored in an install-independent fashion that makes them easy to move between installations...

support.plex.tv

See how it goes in Hyper V

 

[SpyderTracks]

So I'm just embarking on upgrading my main server to windows 11 now that 22H2 is out.

The process of migrating the database is incredibly easy.

1/. Disable Emptying of Trash. On your source Plex Media Server, you’ll want to disable the Empty trash automatically after every scan preference for the Server.

2/. Quit Plex Media Server on the existing server

3/. Plex Media Server Data Directory: Back up the following location (worth archiving it as it will be very large, mine is 163Gb).
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server

4/. Server Configuration Settings: Export the following Registry location to a .reg file ready to copy across onto the new system
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\

That's it!

Install Plex Media Server on the new system
Then restore the data and registry on the new system, replace any existing files/keys
Reboot

Edit Your Libraries​

In order to update the content location for your media, you’ll need to Edit a library and then add the appropriate folder for where your content is located on the destination system. Leave the existing/previous folder location in there for now.

You’ll need to do this for each of your libraries, but you should complete the full process here for a single library before proceeding to do the process for the next library.

Scan the Library​

After adding the new content folder, a scan for the library should start. If not, simply do a normal Scan Library Files.

Then it's worth going through the normal emptying the trash etc, but that should be everything completed.

 

[JediMonsoon]

Is your plex server on your main machine or do you have something else. I’m interested in setting one up but don’t really know how to start .

 

[SpyderTracks]

Is your plex server on your main machine or do you have something else. I’m interested in setting one up but don’t really know how to start .

It's on my main PC which I use as a gaming machine, NAS server and Plex Server.

It's incredibly easy to set up, there's very little you need to do other than name series files in a recognised format when you're adding them to the database

 

[SpyderTracks]

It's on my main PC which I use as a gaming machine, NAS server and Plex Server.

It's incredibly easy to set up, there's very little you need to do other than name series files in a recognised format when you're adding them to the database

Sorry, had to rush out for an appointment first thing on a Sunday!

Firstly, decide where you want the Plex server to be.

If it's a PC, then there are 2 components:

1/. Plex Media Server: This is a service that runs on the host 24/7 to "serve" all the endpoints.

2/. Plex For Windows: Windows application to view content from Plex, this is installed on any endpoint.

The Plex apps are here: https://www.plex.tv/en-ca/media-server-downloads/

Basically, install the program. Once installed it will ask you where your content is stored, and you can import them as libraries. So for instance on my setup, I have 1 HDD called Movies, another called Movies 2, then Series, and Series 2, then eMusic (MP3 stuff) and a final called FLAC (High res audio).

I've created 4 libraries called Movies (where I've linked to Movies and Movies 2), Series (Where I've linked to Series and Series 2) and eMusic and lastly FLAC.

If you want to access the library from outside over the web on a mobile or something, then you need to setup port forwarding on your network from the router to the Plex Server, depending on your network config, this is pretty straightforward. You may also need to pay for a Plex Pass for this which is around £30 a year or £100 for a lifetime pass (they may well have made this free by now)

The most important thing with Plex assigning correct naming is with series, you really need to upload each episode with the following naming convention: Friends.S01E10.XXX.mkv

So this is SeriesName.SeasonNumber01EpisodeNumber10.AnyEpisodeTitle.mkv

That will then recognise the episode and pull down all the actors and any episode information automatically.

If you need any help, let me know, I can talk you through stuff over PM if you like.

 

[JediMonsoon]

Thank you. This is brilliant information. I need to decide how I’m going to have do it. I’m considering a dedicated machine as a home server for everything tucked away with my router . I’m finding it surprisingly difficult to find somewhere that provides info to spec something like that out.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you. This is brilliant information. I need to decide how I’m going to have do it. I’m considering a dedicated machine as a home server for everything tucked away with my router . I’m finding it surprisingly difficult to find somewhere that provides info to spec something like that out.

It's a bit of a minefield.

If you're doing something like a NAS drive, it needs to be quite powerful, a basic one won't do it as it requires quite a beefy CPU to transcode.

If you're doing a dedicated mini PC or something, then in PC terms, you don't need much power really.

For some perspective, mine runs absolutely find streaming 1080p transcodes to about 8 - 10 clients over the internet and internally, that's on my PC specs in my signature. I do have hardware acceleration set on the GPU, but it doesn't really require it. CPU under big load would probably hit about 50%. I would say you want an i5 or Ryzen 5 for this.

Obviously, if you're gonna be doing 4k transcoding, that's quite a hungry job and requires a lot more power. I would say decent i7 as a minimum or Ryzen 7

If you were building something dedicated new, I would say Ryzen 3000 or perhaps 10th Gen Intel, don't go further back than that IMHO.

Plex is rapidly changing, I really think they have aspirations of taking on people like Netflix but with a sustainable business model. They now have their own streaming content, I'm not sure how they handle licensing, if it's only available to Plex Pass subscribers which is quite possible. But you can also capture live DVR content (terrestrial channels) if you have the hardware connected to the PC. It's an amazing piece of software.

The Step-by-Step Guide to Plex 4K Streaming (2024) — RapidSeedbox

For a smooth 4K Plex streaming, you'll need to take care of the following: compatability and network speed. Check our guide to know more...

www.rapidseedbox.com

 

[Scott]

Plex is seriously growing. It's absolutely fantastic but I think the reason for the development and growth is they realise they are on borrowed time with the current model.

Plex is absolutely the best I have seen for an in-home streaming library. These are on the way out though as more and more streaming content becomes available to us, and in slicker operation styles such as Netflix. I rarely use Plex now, but still appreciate how good and powerful it is.

With regards to the server to run it. I wouldn't bother with standalone to be honest. I considered it a few times and came to the conclusion that I would need to build a PC...... which I have anyway..... so why not just make that the server (which is what I did). I have WOL all configured and functioning beautifully, even when outside the home, so never any worries about not being able to reach my content etc.

NAS - Not good enough for transcoding, I don't think there even is a viable option for 4K right now.
Stand Alone Server - Needs to be a beefy system to transcode 4K, still needs to be reasonable for 1080p.
Current PC - Typically the resources required are fairly minimal. The only down-side would be gaming & transcoding at the same time as something may take a hit here. I've not landed on that particular shortcoming yet (it's just me and the kids and they prefer Netflix) so depends how important that scenario would be for you.

 

[JediMonsoon]

Thanks for all this information it is very helpful. A lot for me to digest.

 

[JediMonsoon]

I’m looking to archive my DVD/Blu ray collection so I can then easily access them through plex. What drive have you got to do this and what software would you recommend for backup.