How to Move Emby Server Files???

[MarcusJ 18]

I am not very technical, so I apologize in advance for what is likely a pretty silly question, but is there an easy way to move all of my Emby Server files off of my C: drive and onto my NAS?  Ideally, I'd like to reduce my dependence on this computer to purely processing, and move ALL file storage to the faster and much safer NAS. My C: drive is old and will inevitably fail one day, and I do not want to have to recreate my emby environment.

 

I'm running my emby server on a Windows 10 tower and have a high-speed NAS attached to my network. Currently, all of my movies, music, photos, etc... are all located on the NAS.  My question is not about these media files but rather about the server files located in AppData>Roaming>Emby-InstallLogs and AppData>Roaming>Emby-Server.  I assume that the majority of the files in these folders are metadata, is that correct?  The Emby-Server folder currently has over 260,000 files consuming about 9.4GB.

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

[ebr 16172]

You can select the option to store metadata and images with the media and then also create a metadata folder on your NAS and point the "Metadata Location" to that so that things like people information are also stored there (that is likely what is taking up all the space now - people data).

[MarcusJ 18]

Thank you ebr!

 

I already had the metadata and images being stored with the media, but I have now added a NAS folder called "Metadata", and configured emby to see it (Server>Library>Advanced>Metadata Path).

 

I also created a few other NAS folders for other files to be offloaded to the NAS and used the UI to change the associated file paths. Specifically:

• A new NAS folder for "cache" (Server>Settings>Advanced>Cache Path)
• New NAS folder for "ffmpeg" (Server>Playback>Transcoding>FFmpeg path)
• New NAS folder for "temp working files" (Server>Sync>Settings>Temporary File Path)
• New NAS folder for "temp transcoding files" (Server>Playback>Transcoding>Temporary File Path)

Would you mind commenting on these changes, please? I hope they will reduce my dependence on the C: drive while hopefully also reducing network (LAN) traffic.

 

 

I have a couple very simple follow-up questions...

1. Do I now need to copy any or all of the existing Emby files/folders over to the new NAS locations?
2. When can I safely delete the existing files on the C: drive (C:>Users>Myname>appdata>Roaming>Emby-Server)?
   • Can I delete the entire "Emby-Server" folder (C:>Users>Myname>appdata>Roaming>Emby-Server) or will it continue to serve a purpose?
3. Is there any way in the Emby server to move (change the file path for) the "Emby-InstallLogs" folder to the NAS?

Thanks again!

Edited August 18, 2016 by MarcusJ

[dcook 299]

You will reduce dependency on your C: drive, but you have now increased LAN traffic, not reduced it.

 

Best way is to install a SSD in your EMBY server and use that for all metadata

 

 

 

I hope they will reduce my dependence on the C: drive while hopefully also reducing network (LAN) traffic.

[ebr 16172]

I personally wouldn't put the cache on a remote drive.  The whole point of that location is for fast access and I don't care how fast your NAS is, talking to it over a network is much slower than any sata connection.

[MarcusJ 18]

dcook and ebr: Thank you both for the info.

 

Do I need to copy the existing Emby-Server files over to the new NAS location?

[ebr 16172]

I would copy your people folder over.  That will save you a lot of re-building time.

[Happy2Play 9780]

Almost sounds like you want portable Emby Server.

 

You say you have a nas, is it one you are able to install one of the nas server versions?

[dimitrik 14]

I would copy your people folder over. That will save you a lot of re-building time.

Hi ebr,

 

I'm dealing with an near identical problem, i.e. Trying to copy the people folder from a hard drive to a NAS. The rest of my metada is inside the media folders which are already on the NAS.

 

Could you please tell me how to do it? Specifically:

 

1) where should I copy the people folder, i.e. What folder structure to create?

2) I have some other folders like "artists", "studios" etc. what about those? Right now they are all in the same location in my Emby-server directory. Should I copy them too?

3) how do I point the server to the new location for people?

4) bearing in mind that the movie metadata is saved within the individual movie folders, will that cause any problems?

 

Thanks and sorry for bombarding you!

Edited August 20, 2016 by dimitrik

[Happy2Play 9780]

You want to create a folder on your nas and move the entire metadata folder to that location and set the folder path you created in Dashboard-Library-Advanced-Metadata path.

[dimitrik 14]

You want to create a folder on your nas and move the entire metadata folder to that location and set the folder path you created in Dashboard-Library-Advanced-Metadata path.

Thanks!

 

So not just the people folder but the entire metadata folder, with everything underneath it.

 

And then there will be no problems with the per-movie metadata which is saved in the individual movie folders, right?

[Happy2Play 9780]

Correct, this has no effect on metadata saved with media.

[dimitrik 14]

Awesome, thank you so much for your help!

[apienaar 0]

The above is a bit confusing to a novice (and does not seem complete). Can somebody please help with complete and simple instructions on how to move the Emby data from one location (ie C drive) to another (eg D drive, NAS etc)?

Your help will be much appreciated.

Thank you

[Luke 42077]

@@apienaar are you trying to migrate your emby server installation or are you simply looking to customize a few paths?

[apienaar 0]

@@apienaar are you trying to migrate your emby server installation or are you simply looking to customize a few paths?

 

Hi Luke

I ran out of space on my C-drive and would like to move the emby data to the D-drive.

Thanks

[ebr 16172]

You can simply customize the paths that take up a lot of space like cache, metadata and transcoding temp.

 

So I would shut down the server and copy those items to a new location. Then re-start the server and customize the settings to point to the new locations.  Re-start one more time and then you can delete the old locations.

[apienaar 0]

You can simply customize the paths that take up a lot of space like cache, metadata and transcoding temp.

 

So I would shut down the server and copy those items to a new location. Then re-start the server and customize the settings to point to the new locations.  Re-start one more time and then you can delete the old locations.

 

Thank you ebr. Where do I find the data files and where in Emby do I change the locations?

[ebr 16172]

These paths are displayed on the front page of the server dashboard and can be changed in their respective areas (e.g. "Transcoding" for the transcode path, "Settings->Advanced" for cache path, etc.)

[apienaar 0]

These paths are displayed on the front page of the server dashboard and can be changed in their respective areas (e.g. "Transcoding" for the transcode path, "Settings->Advanced" for cache path, etc.)

 

Thanks again ebr. Can you be a little more specific please (for a novice) ie where to find the current files and exactly where to change the locations in Emby (ie I could get the Transcoding path as described above but do not see the Cache path as described). Also are there other files/folders that could be moved and where do you set it up in Enby?

[Luke 42077]

@@apienaar were you able to open the emby server dashboard to view the existing paths?

[apienaar 0]

@@apienaar were you able to open the emby server dashboard to view the existing paths?

 

Yes Luke with the help of ebr I have been able to find the dashboard settings for Transcoding and Cache. These are however blank (as they are using defaults) and I can thus not establish the current folders used. The first question is where are the default data kept and secondly are there other data that can also be moved over and above those for Transcoding and Cache. Your help with this will be appreciated.

[Happy2Play 9780]

On the dashboard near the bottom you will see the word Path with a drop down arrow.  You can see your complete pathes there.

 

As mentioned previously in this topic, you can customize paths for Metadata, Transcoding, and Cache.  You have to manually move content from any of these locations, or delete old locations and the server will rebuild the information.  But recommend manual move to save time and not hammering metadata providers to rebuild.

[apienaar 0]

Thank you Luke , ebr and  Happy2Play I found everything I needed. I really appreciate yor assistance. Regards

[Luke 42077]

Thanks for the feedback.