C/ Drive running out of space

[rcsnoopdog 11]

Hello my name is Richard

I have been doing video preview thumbnail extraction & have checked Save video preview thumbnails into media folders.So i was under the impression that these bif files would be filling up my external drives & not the SSD 220GB c/ Drive where inside the metadata library folder i have found bif files.

I have 2 gb left on c/ drive & the video preview thumbnail extraction has not been finished, what should i do ?

Emby Server on windows 10 pc wired directly to the router with 10 external hdds with 29gb of media, 19gb of the 29gb are tv shows & the rest Movies

Please help Thank you

[Statick 15]

the option you've checked is to save artwork into media folders, which means downloaded artwork when scraping. there's no option to save video preview thumbnails into media folders, they just go into metadata

[rcsnoopdog 11]

19 minutes ago, Statick said:

the option you've checked is to save artwork into media folders, which means downloaded artwork when scraping. there's no option to save video preview thumbnails into media folders, they just go into metadata

No your wrong as there is 2 options & i have both checked

1. Save video preview thumbnails into media folders

2. Save artwork into media folders

also a third in a sense which i have checked also & i am aware it saves jpgs in metadata folder on C/ Drive not bif files

3. Keep a cached copy of images in the server's metadata folder

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

33 minutes ago, Statick said:

the option you've checked is to save artwork into media folders, which means downloaded artwork when scraping. there's no option to save video preview thumbnails into media folders, they just go into metadata

That is not correct there is a separate check box for that but it only appears if you enable the create option and you may have to have advanced options enabled. I do not know for sure about the advanced options.

These are the rows that show on my server:

Video Preview Thumbnails

Generate video preview thumbnails

             Never             as a scheduled task             as a scheduled task and when media is added         



Video preview thumbnails provide live updates while seeking in supported apps. Thumbnail generation may take a long time, cause high CPU usage, and consume additional disk space.

Thumbnail images interval

10 secondsChapter markers



More frequent thumbnails will result in a better experience, but will require more disk space and time to create the images.

Save video preview thumbnails into media folders

Playback

My bif files get saved into media folders just as the settings imply. 

There are possible reasons that it fails but the developers will need to see logs to know exactly why.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Gilgamesh_48
Improper formatting

[rcsnoopdog 11]

here are some logs

 

embyserver-63863310927.txt embyserver-63863316034.txt embyserver-63863337599.txt embyserver-63863338183.txt embyserver-63863338195.txt hardware_detection-63863265941.txt hardware_detection-63863287975.txt hardware_detection-63863335481.txt hardware_detection-63863338220.txt embyserver.txt

[rcsnoopdog 11]

If i run out of room on any of the external hdd's does it start saving video thumbnails in metadata folder on C/ Drive as i did find a couple of days after waking up that some hdd's were running low on space & i moved some tv shows out of them drives to make space but none of the drives were completely full maybe emby has a cut off point so to leave some space on external hdd's ?

And if so can i delete bif files in metadata folder ?

[seanbuff 1316]

@rcsnoopdogif Gilgamesh's text example wasn't clear, you only get an additional check box after you have selected '10 seconds' as the interval, tick the box that appears below for BIF files to be stored alongside their media files:

[Carlo 4561]

51 minutes ago, rcsnoopdog said:

If i run out of room on any of the external hdd's does it start saving video thumbnails in metadata folder on C/ Drive as i did find a couple of days after waking up that some hdd's were running low on space & i moved some tv shows out of them drives to make space but none of the drives were completely full maybe emby has a cut off point so to leave some space on external hdd's ?

And if so can i delete bif files in metadata folder ?

Assuming you have the save video preview checkbox enabled, Emby will save the bif files in the same folder as the main media. The is usually the best option to use IMHO because it allows you to spread out the storage of the BIF files vs saving them all to a central meta folder location which could cause the drive holding that meta data/bif files to fill up. By spreading the bif files out to the different drives holding your media you can always relocate a tv show or set of movies to a different drive to free up space on that drive.  Of course, once the bif/ index generation is done for the media on that disc it won't continue to grow due to bif files written as it's a one-time generation.

If you delete the bif files manually it will free up space but then you wasted CPU resources generating the files and unless you've turned off the feature, Emby will regenerate the files again since your configuration is telling it to do so.

It sounds like you have a good handle on this as you did what I would have done by moving some of the media to another disk!

Hope that helps,
Carlo

[Happy2Play 9780]

2 hours ago, rcsnoopdog said:

3. Keep a cached copy of images in the server's metadata folder

This is what is filling your C drive as you are doubling everything ie images and bif files.  So with media and Emby cache.

example

2024-09-30 01:08:18.330 Info ChapterImagesTask: Caching file from Q:\DOCUMENTARIES\War Game (2024)\War Game (2024)-320-10.bif to C:\Users\rcsno\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata\metadata\library\00\00ebc9de82832fc3a8fa2357961e04d2\thumbnailcache\War Game (2024)-320-10.bif

Edited October 1, 2024 by Happy2Play
added image

[rcsnoopdog 11]

8 hours ago, seanbuff said:

@rcsnoopdogif Gilgamesh's text example wasn't clear, you only get an additional check box after you have selected '10 seconds' as the interval, tick the box that appears below for BIF files to be stored alongside their media files:

I have all these boxes checked

1. Save video preview thumbnails into media folders

2. Save artwork into media folders

also a third in a sense which i have checked also & i am aware it saves jpgs in metadata folder on C/ Drive not bif files

3. Keep a cached copy of images in the server's metadata folder

[rcsnoopdog 11]

7 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

This is what is filling your C drive as you are doubling everything ie images and bif files.  So with media and Emby cache.

example

2024-09-30 01:08:18.330 Info ChapterImagesTask: Caching file from Q:\DOCUMENTARIES\War Game (2024)\War Game (2024)-320-10.bif to C:\Users\rcsno\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata\metadata\library\00\00ebc9de82832fc3a8fa2357961e04d2\thumbnailcache\War Game (2024)-320-10.bif

I understand that keeping a cached copy of images fills my C/ Drive which is what i want as i presume it makes it easier to scroll through when accessing remotely  but why is it doubling the bif files as i have the option checked to save in media folder was it because it ran out of room on the external hdd the media was placed in & started filling up my C/ Drive.

So i want to know is that what Emby does & if so can i just delete them and make sure the extra room is there on the external hdd's & start again

 

[rcsnoopdog 11]

8 hours ago, Carlo said:

Assuming you have the save video preview checkbox enabled, Emby will save the bif files in the same folder as the main media. The is usually the best option to use IMHO because it allows you to spread out the storage of the BIF files vs saving them all to a central meta folder location which could cause the drive holding that meta data/bif files to fill up. By spreading the bif files out to the different drives holding your media you can always relocate a tv show or set of movies to a different drive to free up space on that drive.  Of course, once the bif/ index generation is done for the media on that disc it won't continue to grow due to bif files written as it's a one-time generation.

If you delete the bif files manually it will free up space but then you wasted CPU resources generating the files and unless you've turned off the feature, Emby will regenerate the files again since your configuration is telling it to do so.

It sounds like you have a good handle on this as you did what I would have done by moving some of the media to another disk!

Hope that helps,
Carlo

Are you saying i can delete the bif files in C/ Drive and make room on my external drives & start again, if there is enough room  on external hdd's to finish bif files for all tv shows on the external hdd's then it will not revert to filling up C/ Drive.

I mean I have no choice as running out of room on C/ Drive vs  wasted CPU resources generating the files

[Luke 42078]

Hi, yes the bif files are safe to delete anytime.

[Happy2Play 9780]

The caching option will occupy both with media and in cache if the options are enabled.  Yes you can delete bif files whenever you want but per library configured options they will be regenerated.

If your drives are local preemptive caching is somewhat useless.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Happy2Play

[rcsnoopdog 11]

20 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

The caching option will occupy both with media and in cache if the options are enabled.  Yes you can delete bif files whenever you want but per library configured options they will be regenerated.

If your drives are local preemptive caching is somewhat useless.

But just for images not video preview bif files if i have enough room on external Drives to hold them 

I have all these boxes checked

1. Save video preview thumbnails into media folders

2. Save artwork into media folders

3. Keep a cached copy of images in the server's metadata folder ( I am aware it saves jpgs in metadata folder on C/ Drive which is what i want not bif files 

So when i delete bif files from metadata folder C/ Drive & i have enough room on external hdd's to hold all bif files required for media on that drive, then the bif files should not show up in metadata folder C/ Drive Correct.

[Happy2Play 9780]

Bif are cached also for all those network media user that want the best of both worlds.  So if you save with media it will save with cache also.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Happy2Play

[Happy2Play 9780]

I guess if you want to get technical bif files are used for display also as your Chapter image do come from that bif file if you write them.  So that can be just as important as a normal jpg.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Happy2Play

[Neminem 1519]

@Happy2Play is right.

I would hate it if my diskes started to spin, if users browsing into a movie to see details.

And here is where BIF files are shown, as chapters.

If understand this correctly ?

Edited October 1, 2024 by Neminem

[rcsnoopdog 11]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Hi, yes the bif files are safe to delete anytime.

And they won't return if i have enough room on external hdd's to hold all bif files required for media on that drive, is this correct

[rcsnoopdog 11]

28 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

I guess if you want to get technical bif files are used for display also as your Chapter image do come from that bif file if you write them.  So that can be just as important as a normal jpg.

Would there be extra video preview 10 second bif files in metadata C/ Drive if if one of my external hdd's ( call it hard drive X ) was to full on a scheduled task when i am sleeping & keeps on creating the left over video preview 10 second bif files for media residing on hard drive X  in  metadata C/ Drive

[Neminem 1519]

I don't think its about free media hd space only.

Its about you cache selection.

If you can not fit the bif files on your metadata / appdata drive, do not enable this feature.

Or upgrade your drive size to fit the files.

[Luke 42078]

45 minutes ago, Neminem said:

I don't think its about free media hd space only.

Its about you cache selection.

If you can not fit the bif files on your metadata / appdata drive, do not enable this feature.

Or upgrade your drive size to fit the files.

Yes enabling this option will also consume more space.

[Luke 42078]

1 hour ago, rcsnoopdog said:

And they won't return if i have enough room on external hdd's to hold all bif files required for media on that drive, is this correct

You would need to refresh metadata on them to get them to return. This could also happen automatically at some point later depending on settings. So rule of thumb, I wouldn't enable it unless you have space for all of them.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

This thread has brought up something I have thought about for a while. It would be a good thing, at least I think it would be, if there was an option for a single file or for a small group of files could have their bif files deleted and recreated without refreshing the remainder of the meta data. On occasion, and I am not sure why, a bif file will be created badly  with various bad frames or even a large part of the file and it needs to be recreated. Now I have to manually delete the offending bif file (from the OS level) and then refresh the meta data manually. I would like an option that says something like "Delete the bif file and recreate it." You can do that for all the metadata but the bif file will only get recreated if you manually delete it first. This could be, I believe, made a lot easier. 

Clearly there would have to be some precautions but, since what I am asking for only affects bif files, it would not be a particularly dangerous action.

Thanks.

[rcsnoopdog 11]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

You would need to refresh metadata on them to get them to return. This could also happen automatically at some point later depending on settings. So rule of thumb, I wouldn't enable it unless you have space for all of them.

So is this a yes or a no 

to this question

And the bif files won't return after i delete them from metadata C/ Drive & have enough room on external hdd's to hold all bif files required for media on that drive ?

Edited October 1, 2024 by rcsnoopdog