Emby Backup - correct backup data?

[tmysik 9]

Hello,

I am Emby Premiere user, therefore I am allowed to use Emby Backup plugin. I tried to check the backup data, but I am really not sure whether they are correct, I mean especially the library one. Could anyone, please, confirm that its content is as expected? Please, find its file structure in the attachment (I did not want to attach the data themselves here since I am not sure whether it cannot contain some sensitive data).

Note: The directory names are localized, so "Filmy" means "Movies", "Kolekce" means "Collections" and "TV seriály" means "TV Shows".

Thank you.

emby-backup.txt

[GrimReaper 3269]

Yep, that backup seems OK, what is worrying you?

Keep in mind that that plugin backups only library definitions, not actual content/metadata/artwork.

[tmysik 9]

Thank you for your confirmation.

So, if I define a collection of 2 movies named "MyMovies1", will such a definition be part of this backup or not? I am trying to understand it, because if I try to grep the whole backup directory for my collection name "MyMovies1", it is not found. In other words, if my Emby installation is somehow corrupted (or I will buy a new NAS, for example), what exactly will be restored from this data? I hoped that my library metadata would be restored - I mean, my custom movie collections, paths to custom posters (not the posters themselves), for example.

And, a related question - what is the best way to back up my custom movie posters, etc.? Back up directly e.g. EmbyServer/programdata/data (or any other?) directory?

Thank you for your patience with me 

[GrimReaper 3269]

 

I would suggest that first you have a read here:

Emby Backup : Emby

23 minutes ago, tmysik said:

So, if I define a collection of 2 movies named "MyMovies1", will such a definition be part of this backup or not? I am trying to understand it, because if I try to grep the whole backup directory for my collection name "MyMovies1", it is not found.

Collections are not backed-up per se, rather <set> info is read from item-that-is-a-part-of-collection NFO (if you store NFOs with your media) or collection info is scraped anew (according your library settings); for custom collections, NFOs with media is the only way to preserve/restore them (that also goes for any other custom metadata).

23 minutes ago, tmysik said:

In other words, if my Emby installation is somehow corrupted (or I will buy a new NAS, for example), what exactly will be restored from this data?

I you keep the paths same, definitions will be restored. If not, it'll be partial restore save libraries.

23 minutes ago, tmysik said:

I hoped that my library metadata would be restored

As per above KB article:

Quote

This will not backup library contents and metadata. To keep a permanent copy of metadata, we suggest enabling saving of local metadata to media folders.

23 minutes ago, tmysik said:

And, a related question - what is the best way to back up my custom movie posters, etc.? Back up directly e.g. EmbyServer/programdata/data (or any other?) directory?

Store NFOs and artwork with your media, i.e. in media folders. Alternatively, you can create a backup of complete install-dir/programdata folder as per above KB article Manual backup procedure.

Edited March 10, 2022 by GrimReaper

[tmysik 9]

Thanks a lot, will go through all the resources you sent me. Have a nice day!

 

[Happy2Play 8241]

Ideally you want to manually backup most of the /metadata folder as it contains collection, genre, studio, people, ect.

To truly have a back of Emby it would be the entire data path location listed in a server log.  Windows would be C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata

But the plugin gives you the basic for a NEW Install/clean start, so it depends on what you are trying to do.  But any cross platform restoring will be problematic as paths in database will change so you basically are starting over.