Ubuntu - USB as Media Source (changing USB-Sticks)

[CVXDEV 2]

Dear all,

 

I have a question related to Linux(Ubuntu), mounting USB-drives and Emby using it as a media source.

Is it possible to use a folder (e.g. /user/media/usb) as a "standard" mounting location for various USB drives, and whatever is on the USB, Emby searches the drive and shows the content on the media library?

Goal:
I plug any USB drive into the same USB-slot, it gets auto-mounted to /user/media/usb and any media content on the USB is visible in my Library.

Basically, if I have guests and they bring different USB-drives with media that i can just plug & play them through emby, without much configuration in Linux (which I am fairly inexperienced) and my media server is headless.

I guess it is more a question of Linux mounting than emby library, but maybe someone here configured something similar...

 

I tried to dig up some information on USB-mounting in Linux, User/emby folder permissions, ... but haven't found really the answer.

(I found the following thread (https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/55874-linux-noob-needs-help-path-for-external-drive/), but it's not answering all my questions, therefore it would be great if you could guide me in the right direction - thanks.)

[Luke 37253]

Hi, yes it should work fine, did you try adding the usb drive path as an emby library? You will need to run a library scan if you swap the drive though.

[CVXDEV 2]

Hey Luke,
thanks for your quick response!

I added the drive path in emby as a library, but it didn't find any content. If the media could be either audio or video, i guess the best is to select mixed content, right?

For the library scan i would set-up a automatic task, to refresh it every 15min (which i believe is the shortest interval).

 

Then it looks like I need to further dig into the Linux permissions / mounting as indicated in the above link - but glad to hear that it should be possible.

[Luke 37253]

Mixed content would be your best bet, yes. Is content still not showing up? If nothing is showing up, permissions are a likely culprit. 

[CVXDEV 2]

After a while of research i made it work, for all as reference:

- on Ubuntu you can install "usbmount", but the normal way via apt-get seems to be not working 100%, so best is to follow instruction here:

https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/04/automatically-mount-usb-drives-on.html

 

- after installing, you need to configure  "/etc/usbmount/usbmount.conf"

ENABLED=1
MOUNTPOINTS="/home/user1/USB"
FILESYSTEMS="vfat ntfs fuseblk  ext2 ext3 ext4 hfsplus"
MOUNTOPTIONS="sync,noexec,nodev,noatime,nodiratime"
FS_MOUNTOPTIONS="-fstype=vfat,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=0007,fmask=0177"
VERBOSE=no

This should enable the automount on Ubuntu, and you can then refer to your mounted folder in Emby-Server ("/home/user1/USB"). After scanning the Library, all folders of the USB should appear in the Emby-Library.

I have to highlight, this currently works only with FAT-formatted USBs, NTFS I couldn't make work (yet).

 

I think the problem was the right permissions for the automount, that's why emby wasn't able to access the data, which now works with the FS_MOUNTOPTIONS configuration.

[Luke 37253]

Thanks for the feedback !