Metadata and artwork deletion.

[pgriffith 88]

Hi all

I've been going through my library and gradually replacing older 480p content with 720p or 1080p content. All artwork is stored in the media folder.

I have been replacing the video file with the new file identically named. Delete old, then copy new, which takes as long as the new file takes to copy in. The only thing that may be different is the file extension (AVI, MKV, MP4 etc)

The problem is, at some point after that Emby deletes ALL files in that folder apart from the video file. I then have to find which movies this has happened to and use the Identify function on them. This doesn't happen to all movies, maybe a third to a quarter of them every time I do a batch of files.

My question is, why does this happen and is there anything I can do to stop it happening?

[Luke 42083]

HI, why do you think Emby is deleting the files? Can you please provide an example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks.

[pgriffith 88]

Because the files were there when I replaced the movie file, typically each folder contains:

Up to 9 Backdrop or Fan Art images, along with ....

banner, clearart, disc, folder, landscape, and logo images.

Plus the NFO file and audio theme file (if available)

When I notice that the movie in Emby is not showing any folder artwork, I browse to its folder and all files apart from the video file are gone.

Emby is the only thing interacting with my library, thus it can only be Emby deleting the files.

I'm not sure how you want me to provide an example ? Screenshots attached. I upgraded it from a 480p file to 1080p.

How it looks in the library, how it looks when selected, and how the folder looks.

The folder was completely populated when I did it, now it's empty.

And to be clear it doesn't happen everytime I do it, seems completely random.

Server log attached, there are quite a few references to the Absentia movie in it

embyserver (2).txt

Edited September 5, 2023 by pgriffith

[Luke 42083]

The only way the server would delete anything is if you used the delete feature. This log contains one delete request but it was for another movie so I think it's unrelated. What I do see is this though:

2023-09-05 07:44:27.559 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:27.653 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:27.654 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:27.699 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:27.714 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:27.762 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:27.778 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:27.778 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:28.011 Info LibraryMonitor: Absolutely Anything (2015) (\\NAS\RAID5\Media\Movies\Absolutely Anything (2015)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:28.059 Info LibraryMonitor: Absolutely Anything (2015) (\\NAS\RAID5\Media\Movies\Absolutely Anything (2015)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:28.074 Info LibraryMonitor: Absolutely Anything (2015) (\\NAS\RAID5\Media\Movies\Absolutely Anything (2015)) will be refreshed.
2023-09-05 07:44:28.130 Info LibraryMonitor: Absentia (2011) (\\MEDIACENTER\Media1\Movies\Absentia (2011)) will be refreshed.

This is the realtime monitor reacting to file changes that occurred outside of Emby, so that's what it looks like to me. The files were deleted outside of Emby, and the server realized it and became aware of the changes, but it wasn't responsible for the original deletion.

[pgriffith 88]

Well after leaving it overnight, another 55 movies have had all their content deleted. I'm guessing it happens after the scheduled Scan Media Library task, as the ones I replaced yesterday were fine for the whole day after the fact.

There is definitely no other outside process that has any ability to modify files apart from Emby. I do use Radarr, but it doesn't write or modify anything, it only monitors the collection.

I'll do some testing, I'll replace a couple of files then do a Scan Library immediately after and see what happens.

 

[Neminem 1523]

Ok if you use Radarr that might be what's deleting your images.

Posters are deleted · Issue #4650 · Radarr/Radarr (github.com)

[pgriffith 88]

Sonofabitch!! 

Thanks jaycedk, sorry to have bothered you Luke.

[Luke 42083]

Thanks for following up.