I've my NAS to Plex and added my content, but the libraries are empty... help!

[slobdiddy]

Hi there, I tried following a youtube tutorial to set up plex. All was exactly per the tutorial until I agreed to the offer to go premium. So then I needed to work out how to link my NAS (which I have done) and then to add libraries (which I have done). My media folders (for example, the folder movies) contains other folders inside, with
the movie files inside these folders. I am wondering if I have skipped an essential setting somewhere along the way.

 

[fredbert]

Has Plex scanned the media folders for each library? Has it remembered the folders you assigned to each library?

 

[slobdiddy]

Thanks for the reply and yes it has scanned and found nothing. I have just gone back into DSM and made sure that my permissions allow plex to access my various folders. I have not dragged everything into the Plex library folder in DSM file station - is this necessary?

 

[slobdiddy]

I think I may have shouted for help a little early. Actually Fredbert you helped... after enabling the permissions in DSM I hit scan again and now the libraries are updating.... hope I'm now on track!

 

[Striker]

You dont need to drag files to Plex folder. Just add your folders to library.
You need to allow Plex to have read/write permissions for added folders also. Only read is not enough.

 

[Telos]

I have not dragged everything into the Plex library folder in DSM file station - is this necessary?

You dont need to drag files to Plex folder. Just add your folders to library.

You must never add media (or anything else for that matter) to the Plex shared folder. This folder is for Plex alone. Do not mess with it or change its default permissions.

Library folders should be "ro" to Plex, except for the folder you set aside for "optimized" versions which Plex creates. That folder must be "rw".

 

[slobdiddy]

Library folders should be "ro" to Plex, except for the folder you set aside for "optimized" versions which Plex creates. That folder must be "rw".

I'm a little confused as to the folder I should give rw access to? I didn't set aside a folder for Plex. Plex has created a folder called "Plex" and the access rights are custom.

 

[Rusty]

I'm a little confused as to the folder I should give rw access to? I didn't set aside a folder for Plex. Plex has created a folder called "Plex" and the access rights are custom.

plex folder and your media folder are 2 separate things. Try not to mess with the plex folder regarding permissions or you will cause problems for your whole plex setup

 

[Telos]

I'm a little confused as to the folder I should give rw access to? I didn't set aside a folder for Plex. Plex has created a folder called "Plex" and the access rights are custom.

Ignore the Plex folder. Your media can reside where you like. For example, most of my media resides in the shared folder "video" that was created by Video Station (before I moved to Plex). If you don't have that folder, you could create a new shared folder "media" and add subfolders for TV Shows, Movies, Music, etc.

In my case, I added a TV library within Plex ... /video/tv shows. Within that, I created subfolders for each individual TV series (according to Plex's recommended naming structure). I recommend that Plex has read-only access to your media files, as I see little reason for Plex to edit or delete those files.

For 2 tv series, I have Plex pre-transcode the next 3 unwatched episodes (Plex calls this "optimize" IIRC). I created a separate shared folder for this optimized content (I named it "optimized"). For this folder, I gave Plex read-write access.

The shared folder "Plex" is not to be used for anything. Plex doesn't make that real clear, but if you SSH into that folder, you will see "stay out" messages from Plex.

Let me know if I missed anything, or added to your questions.

 

[slobdiddy]

For 2 tv series, I have Plex pre-transcode the next 3 unwatched episodes (Plex calls this "optimize" IIRC). I created a separate shared folder for this optimized content (I named it "optimized"). For this folder, I gave Plex read-write access.

SO for now I don't need any rw access. Seems super quick to play what I have downloaded so far. Perhaps I will work out optimising once everything is up and running and I have all my backup solutions properly configured and all the kids' access properly sorted.

 

[Telos]

Perhaps I will work out optimising once everything is up and running

Hopefully there may be no need for this. I have a stubborn transcode issue on a series involving subtitles that causes stuttering. Otherwise, I probably would have no need for this.

FWIW, here is the Plex naming convention for tv series and movies. This can help the accuracy of your metadata retrieval.

 

[slobdiddy]

Seem to be ok with my TV Series and Movies as I previously had this all set up for Kodi. The only stubborn one is UFC which was also a problem on Kodi as the UFC has gone to great lengths to protect these from being put on servers. If necessary I will treat these as a home movies.