Question about saving metadata in folders

[BigGoose62 71]

New to MB3, but I'm really loving it with MBT. Anyway, I'm curious about the option of saving metadata within media folders. It's a check-box under the metadata settings. I noticed when it's checked, a ton of images are saved in the folders. What I want to know is if this is beneficial or not. I temporarily unchecked the box, and haven't noticed any changed except the obvious lack of metadata files being saved in my folders. What's the purpose of saving this metadata in folders? Where does it save otherwise?

 

Thanks!

[Tikuf 663]

Unchecked it will just save directly into the database. Saving it into the folders means if you ever have to rebuild your system the data is obtained much quicker as it doesn't all have to be re-downloaded.

[BigGoose62 71]

Thank you for your reply!

[ebr 16169]

Also, if you move your media to some other location, the metadata can go with it and not have to be re-retrieved.  The free providers we use like tmdb and tvdb really appreciate the local saving to reduce unnecessary load on their servers.