Volume corruption, data restore, and Emby migration

[cptbrainia 3]

Well, not what I wanted to deal with this this morning, but overnight, one of my RAID volumes…quit being a RAID volume.  It was RAID 0 and all data on it was lost.  What I'm trying to do is to figure out how to restore that data in a way that makes the most sense long-term.

In short, I have a Windows server running Emby.  The Windows server and Emby server are both up and running right now without issue.  The Emby server hosted the following data:

• E: drive (local RAID 0 volume that failed):  Movies and TV Shows [Part A]
• X: drive (Synology NAS): Movies and TV Shows [Part B]

Essentially, I had Emby up and running on the Windows server with all of the movies and TV shows being stored on the E: drive.  I then went out and got a Synology NAS and started storing everything "new" on that.  This split both my MOVIES and TV SHOWS libraries up across those two drives (old stuff on local RAID volume, new stuff on Synology NAS).

My ultimate goal was to migrate the Part A data to the Synology, and hopefully, move the Emby server itself from Windows to the Synology.  I can't do hardware transcoding on the Windows server so I was hoping to take advantage of the Synology DS920+'s capability for this. 

What's the best way to restore the data?  Ideally, I'd like to restore directly to the Synology NAS, but I think Emby would see all of the restored titles as new titles and I would essentially have to manually rebuild my database (collections and all).

I can stand up another E: volume and perform a restore there, and I think Emby would continue working without a hiccup, but then I'm still left with my data separated across devices.  I'd like everything on the Synology due to redundancy I have setup on it.  I would also like to migrate the Emby server app from the Windows server to the Synology.

Any ideas on the best way to handle this?  It's thousands of movies and TV shows so I'm really looking for the easiest way possible.

Thank you for your help and I'm happy to answer any questions about configuration, etc.

[ebr 16184]

8 minutes ago, cptbrainia said:

What's the best way to restore the data?

Hi.  Did you have a backup of the data?  Where are you restoring from?

[cptbrainia 3]

I have a backup on an external USB hard drive.  I can restore to/from wherever needed (workstation, Windows server, Synology NAS)

 

[Luke 42079]

What is the backup of?

[cptbrainia 3]

It's a backup of the directory structure where the "Part A" media was stored (on the local E: drive of the server).

I had several directories on the E: drive:

E:\TV Shows
E:\Movies

I have a straight file-copy backup of both of those directories.  The backup is a little bit dated so there are a couple of movies that maybe were deleted (and added to the Part B dataset), or possibly a movie poster change, but for the most part, it seems to be a 1:1 backup of the lost data.

Edited July 11, 2023 by cptbrainia

[Luke 42079]

OK so this is a backup of your media. Regarding Emby Server, please take a look at our backup guide and let us know if you have questions:

Configuration Backup

Thanks.

[cptbrainia 3]

Yes, it's a backup of the media.  My Emby server configuration is up and running without issue and those backups are handled by "full server" backups.

What I'm trying to figure out is how to restore my media with minimal disruptions to my library (i.e. database).  Ideally, I would like to restore my data to the X: drive (synology), but I'm worried about it F'ing up my library (duplicates, messed up collections, etc.).

So it's a bit of a restore AND a migration of data.  But the Emby server app is up and running same as always (it was not stored on the logical array that crashed).

[Luke 42079]

Do you have nfo metadata files next to your videos?

[cptbrainia 3]

I have it configured so that the artwork is stored with the media files as well as the metadata NFO files.

I believe it does this "retroactively" so it's not just when the media is added, but whenever the media is scanned.  If that's the case, then that applies to all my media.  If it only occurs when the media is initially added, then I'm not so certain; I would have to look through my backups to see how prevalent that was with my "older" media that resided on that volume.

[ebr 16184]

29 minutes ago, cptbrainia said:

I believe it does this "retroactively" so it's not just when the media is added, but whenever the media is scanned

It would only save an NFO if something were changed and saved - not just on a scan.

[cptbrainia 3]

In that case, the media directories in my backups exist exactly as they did on the file system - a mix of some files with metadata NFO and some without.

Edited July 12, 2023 by cptbrainia

[ebr 16184]

The ones that have NFO files should maintain all their metadata, including added dates.  The ones without will appear new and need to retrieve new metadata.

[cptbrainia 3]

If I'm replacing the files 

On 7/12/2023 at 6:10 AM, ebr said:

The ones that have NFO files should maintain all their metadata, including added dates.  The ones without will appear new and need to retrieve new metadata.

This should only be the case if the data is restored to a new/different location, no?

For example, if Part A of my data resides on the E: drive (wherever it may be hosted), and I'm able to restore that data to an E: drive (same volume share name, etc.), does Emby even recognize the difference?  Or is there a mechanism where Emby is examining the underlying storage specifics to determine that it's a different E: drive?

My plan at this point is to get the E: drive stood back up and the data restored to exactly as it was before the volume crashed.  Is there any reason to think that this wouldn't work and that the data would still need to be added back in manually?

[ebr 16184]

2 hours ago, cptbrainia said:

My plan at this point is to get the E: drive stood back up and the data restored to exactly as it was before the volume crashed.  Is there any reason to think that this wouldn't work and that the data would still need to be added back in manually?

If you still have your Emby library database intact, then, yes.  I was under the assumption that you were rebuilding from scratch.

[cptbrainia 3]

Restoring the data files worked as planned and there was no data/functionality loss.

With that being said, how can I "force" Emby to create the NFO files with metadata for all titles in a directory?

Also, once every file has updated NFO files, can I simply move them to a new directory and nothing within Emby (playlists, collections, custom photos, etc.) changes?

[tedfroop 34]

21 hours ago, cptbrainia said:

With that being said, how can I "force" Emby to create the NFO files with metadata for all titles in a directory?

You need to change something in each files meta.  Like changing a date, adding a tag, changing a title or original title.  Any change in Meta YOU add or change will trigger writing an NFO.

For me though - adjusting file names etc to match meta sources for most media so it matches easily for my "commercial" movies TV shows etc. Simply put if it doesn't match correctly - look up the movie/show in a meta source, and adjust the naming so it matches correctly without intervention.  If you back it up it will match if you have problems again.

Anything outside that, (home video, other video) where meta isn't available is where I worry about NFO's as it means I can create rich and searchable meta where none is available.

[cptbrainia 3]

Quote

For me though - adjusting file names etc to match meta sources for most media so it matches easily for my "commercial" movies TV shows etc. Simply put if it doesn't match correctly - look up the movie/show in a meta source, and adjust the naming so it matches correctly without intervention.  If you back it up it will match if you have problems again.

I use Filebot to accomplish this.  It works well most of the time, but there is some media that is problematic.  I would say probably >97% of my library would match without intervention.  Collections are a different story.