What happens if you change storage location for support files?

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

I have some libraries that are currently configured to not store support files with the media and others that are set to store support files with the media. I was wonder a few things and i want to double check a few others that I think I know the behavior. Please keep it simple but do elaborate where needed:

1. If there are files already with the media I believe that those files will be used regardless of the settings?
2. If a file does not exist with the media it will be created and stored according to the library settings even if the settings disagree with where the files are currently stored?
3. Files will not get moved even if the settings get changed?
4. It usually faster for files to be stored with the media that not?
5. Other that being able to easily find and maintain them there is no real advantage to having files stored with the media.
6. Server performance is not much impacted by either choice?
7. Any other questions/answers that can be gleaned from the above.

I have some support files stored with the media and some that are not. And I do NOT intend to change much but I do want to understand what the effects are from the possible support file placement.

Thanks.

[Happy2Play 9780]

8 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

1. If there are files already with the media I believe that those files will be used regardless of the settings?
2. If a file does not exist with the media it will be created and stored according to the library settings even if the settings disagree with where the files are currently stored?
3. Files will not get moved even if the settings get changed?

Yes, Yes, and Yes

9 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

4. It usually faster for files to be stored with the media that not?

Sort of the same as 6 see below.

9 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

5. Other that being able to easily find and maintain them there is no real advantage to having files stored with the media.

Rebuilding server is easier when they are with media.

9 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

6. Server performance is not much impacted by either choice?

Really depends on one's setup, same machine vs network shares or sleeping drives as could cause images to not be available if only with media or forced to spin-up sleeping drives to get the images.

 

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

5 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

Yes, Yes, and Yes

Sort of the same as 6 see below.

Rebuilding server is easier when they are with media.

Really depends on one's setup, same machine vs network shares or sleeping drives as could cause images to not be available if only with media or forced to spin-up sleeping drives to get the images.

 

Thank you. That was pretty much what I thought but it is good to have confirmation.

One additional question: If the needed support files exist both with the media and in the metadata server directory the one with the media is the one that gets used? Also are there exceptions to that?

[Happy2Play 9780]

3 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

One additional question: If the needed support files exist both with the media and in the metadata server directory the one with the media is the one that gets used? Also are there exceptions to that?

Dev will have to answer this as with the new option to cache images I would think the metadata image would be used.

Keep a cached copy of images in the server's metadata folder
If your media and images are stored on another machine, keeping a cached copy of images in the server metadata folder will reduce network access and may improve performance. The cost of creating this cache is that library scans will be slower and the server metadata folder will consume significantly more disk space.

 

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

5 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

Dev will have to answer this as with the new option to cache images I would think the metadata image would be used.

Keep a cached copy of images in the server's metadata folder
If your media and images are stored on another machine, keeping a cached copy of images in the server metadata folder will reduce network access and may improve performance. The cost of creating this cache is that library scans will be slower and the server metadata folder will consume significantly more disk space.

 

Thank you. I just want to understand what I am doing and, hopefully, what Emby is doing when I adjust some of the settings. 

BTW: What would happen if i have some/most support files stored with the media and some that are not and I change all settings to have the support files not stored with the media and I delete everything off my server that is metadata stored with the media. That is: what happens if suddenly all metadata files stored with the media just goes away? Would Emby just do a library scan and recreate/create the needed support files or would I have to do something manually to make that happen?

[Luke 42079]

11 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

Thank you. I just want to understand what I am doing and, hopefully, what Emby is doing when I adjust some of the settings. 

BTW: What would happen if i have some/most support files stored with the media and some that are not and I change all settings to have the support files not stored with the media and I delete everything off my server that is metadata stored with the media. That is: what happens if suddenly all metadata files stored with the media just goes away? Would Emby just do a library scan and recreate/create the needed support files or would I have to do something manually to make that happen?

The next library scan would make Emby aware of what you've done, however if you want to refetch you will need to refresh metadata.