Emby server migrated from intel Mac to M1 - now occasional SQL issues

[Mendocinotim 22]

Hey there..

Well, today I migrated (using Apple's Migration Assistant) from my 2012 iMac, running MacOS 10.15.7, over to my new M1 MacMini.

On the older iMac, my Emby server was v4.9.1.9 (macOS 10.14+ X64) beta.
After migrating, I replaced that with 4.9.1.9 (macOS 10.14+ ARM64 (M1, M2)) beta.

My library seems okay on the new M1 MacMini at first glance, and I seem to be able to play my TV shows, and movies (sometimes). But there's some real strange inconsistencies going on here.
For example..

• Clicking on a movie poster will sometimes take you to the detail page, and sometimes not.
• Clicking on the play icon, in the center of the movie poster, will usually start the movie.
• Clicking on a TV show poster behaves in the same way.

The error I get is:
"Exception of type 'SQLitePCL.pretty.SQLiteException' was thrown.".

Also, when back in the admin settings area - in the library section..
And when I select my Movies library, sometimes the path to the library is displayed (as it should), but other times it is absent.

And, if I try to tell it where the library is, it throws the SQL exception (and fails).

I included a 3:46 long screen capture movie to demonstrate this odd behavior.
(Sorry for the length - but it's worth it to watch the entire thing - you'll see what I just described above)

I'm also including a couple of logs.

Any help would be greatly appreciated here.
Thank you

embyserver.txt embyserver-2.txt

[Luke 42077]

Hi, for starters, the server is unable to write to the custom cache folder you configured:

2025-07-25 17:47:53.001 Error FfmpegManager: Error updating ffmpeg validator cache
	*** Error Report ***
	Version: 4.9.1.9
	Command line: /Applications/EmbyServer.app/Contents/MacOS/EmbyServer.dll
	Operating system: Darwin 24.5.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.5.0: Tue Apr 22 19:48:46 PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.121.6~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103
	OS/Process: arm64/arm64
	Framework: .NET 6.0.36
	Runtime: Applications/EmbyServer.app/Contents/MacOS/System.Private.CoreLib.dll
	Processor count: 8
	Data path: /Users/w3/.config/emby-server
	Application path: /Applications/EmbyServer.app/Contents/MacOS
	System.UnauthorizedAccessException: System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path '/Volumes/Drobo/Emby cache/cache/ffmpeg' is denied.
	 ---> System.IO.IOException: Permission denied
	   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
	   at System.IO.FileSystem.CreateDirectory(String fullPath)
	   at System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(String path)
	   at Emby.Server.Implementations.IO.ManagedFileSystem.CreateDirectory(String path)
	   at Emby.Server.MediaEncoding.Unified.Ffmpeg.Capabilities.FfmpegValidator.GetCapabilities(String option, CapabilityParserBase parser, FfmpegCapabilities caps, Boolean skipCache, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
	Source: System.Private.CoreLib
	TargetSite: Void CreateDirectory(System.String)
	InnerException: System.IO.IOException: Permission denied
	Source: 
	TargetSite: 

So first I would fix that and then restart the server. It is probably not related to your database errors, but it's worth taking the time just in case that helps.

Was all of this done using apple backup software?

[Mendocinotim 22]

I would do that, only after restarting the machine, I now get the error shown in the next screenshot.
 

I am using a drobo as my RAID for all the movies and shows.
For some reason that I have not yet figured out, that RAID is now not writeable.
Presumably that is causing some of these behaviors.

I have made a posting about that on the Reddit\Drobo subreddit, and am waiting to see if anyone has a recommendation.

My next step, which I hope will resolve all this, is to terminal in and see if the OS will allow me to adjust the Drobo's permissions.
I'll report back tomorrow.

[Mendocinotim 22]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that even when the server was running, the mac's top menubar icon for the server would never appear there.

[Luke 42077]

7 minutes ago, Mendocinotim said:

I would do that, only after restarting the machine, I now get the error shown in the next screenshot.
 

I am using a drobo as my RAID for all the movies and shows.
For some reason that I have not yet figured out, that RAID is now not writeable.
Presumably that is causing some of these behaviors.

I have made a posting about that on the Reddit\Drobo subreddit, and am waiting to see if anyone has a recommendation.

My next step, which I hope will resolve all this, is to terminal in and see if the OS will allow me to adjust the Drobo's permissions.
I'll report back tomorrow.

For now I would just blank out the cache path option to reset to default.

[Luke 42077]

6 minutes ago, Mendocinotim said:

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that even when the server was running, the mac's top menubar icon for the server would never appear there.

It hasn't been added yet to the arm64 build. It is on our to do list.

[Mendocinotim 22]

16 hours ago, Luke said:

It hasn't been added yet to the arm64 build. It is on our to do list.

Ahh - okay. Good to know.

 

16 hours ago, Luke said:

For now I would just blank out the cache path option to reset to default.

Okay..  You mean to do that from the Emby back end, right?
To do that I need to be able to get past the startup screen for Emby, but as I pointed out earlier, that, (right now), is not working.

My suspicions are that the Drobo issue - where it is currently blocked from being written to, by MacOS Sequoia - because it is not recognizing the Drobo fully, could be behind our issue.
However, I have been researching the issue, and the Drobo community (on Reddit) describes an issue from MacOS Sequoia, but apparently MacOS 11 "Big Sur" does not have it; and according to the community, Drobo should be able to function normally under Big Sur.

So, right now, I am in the process of downgrading the MacMini from Sequoia to Big Sur.
Once done, and presuming Drobo works normally under that OS, I will be able to see if all these issues magically vanish, or not.

I will report back here, once I know.
Thanks for you continued attention.
- Tim

[Mendocinotim 22]

After downgrading from Sequoia to Big Sur - the drobo was still not letting me write to it.

So, I decided to go back to the older iMac server, running Catalina.
No more SQL errors! Whew..!

Unfortunately, the Drobo is no longer writable - DAMN
Hindsight tells me I should have never attempted the migration - the Drobo is now only readable.
Period.  There's nothing I can do about it.

Well, I will figure something out.
I have to.. now.

Anyway, I said I would get back to you.
Emby problem SOLVED (at least).

[Luke 42077]

Thanks for following up.