backup&restore(question)

[zlhyh 17]

Due to a hardware change (switching NAS brands), I intend to migrate to the Docker version. I would like to know the proper procedure to transfer all Emby data and metadata to the new server while preserving all settings. Please note that the directory structure on the new NAS is different.

[Luke 42310]

hi, have you taken a look at this?

Backup & Restore

[zlhyh 17]

10 hours ago, Luke said:

hi, have you taken a look at this?

Backup & Restore

yes，I use this。but:

First, I changed the media storage directory on the new server. Also, I have a lot of custom actors, movie covers, and other metadata in Emby on the old server. I wonder if I can migrate them over?

[zlhyh 17]

I also don't know what steps to follow. I want to do it this way and wonder if it will work:
Back up all data using Emby's Backup & Restore on the old server.
Install Emby (Docker) on the new server and set up the admin account.
Copy all media files (videos, TV shows, music, e-books, etc.) to the new server.
Restore the data using Backup & Restore in the new Emby (Docker) instance.
Reconfigure the media library directories accordingly.

[Luke 42310]

1 hour ago, zlhyh said:

yes，I use this。but:

First, I changed the media storage directory on the new server. Also, I have a lot of custom actors, movie covers, and other metadata in Emby on the old server. I wonder if I can migrate them over?

Hi, do you have nfo files next to your media?

[Luke 42310]

1 hour ago, zlhyh said:

I also don't know what steps to follow. I want to do it this way and wonder if it will work:
Back up all data using Emby's Backup & Restore on the old server.
Install Emby (Docker) on the new server and set up the admin account.
Copy all media files (videos, TV shows, music, e-books, etc.) to the new server.
Restore the data using Backup & Restore in the new Emby (Docker) instance.
Reconfigure the media library directories accordingly.

Hopefully the document covers all of that. If not, then @sa2000can work with you to improve it. Thanks.

[zlhyh 17]

6 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, do you have nfo files next to your media?

Yes，have .nfo

[sa2000 708]

On 15/04/2026 at 01:48, zlhyh said:

Please note that the directory structure on the new NAS is different.

 

16 hours ago, zlhyh said:

Copy all media files (videos, TV shows, music, e-books, etc.) to the new server.

 

16 hours ago, zlhyh said:

Reconfigure the media library directories accordingly.

This last step has not been tried by me and is not covered by the Backup amd Restore support article. The current documentation assumes that the new machine will have the same media files paths

See the first sentence in the document in this paragraph

Quote

• Ensure all media is in place on the new server in the same media filesystem paths as before. Any that were within the emby server program data eg the default Camera Upload folder and Live TV Recordings folders need to be copied to within the program data path for the new server.

Your proposed method may well work.

For your metadata you will need to select all the options for backing these up (See "Include Metadata subfolders in Backup)

Go through the document and taking note of the special instructions for the camera upload and live tv recordings default folders 

Let us know if changing the media root folder paths for the libraries after the restore succeeds without losing any of the media. You mentioned you .nfo's beside the media files, these would be included in your manual backup / copy of the media to the new paths

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by sa2000

[sa2000 708]

2 hours ago, sa2000 said:

Your proposed method may well work.

Actually if images are stored alongside the media then the paths to the images that are held within the database will still be referring to the old filesystem paths. So you may end up with issues for images - which may require refresh metadata for all libraries and updating images  

Do you have any custom image files stored alongside the media files ? You need to be careful not to refresh metadata with replace images option selected as they would get removed.

Let us know how it goes