Storage Tiering / Archive / Offline functions ?

[rbjtech 5284]

I have media which is rarely played but I still wish to keep it 'catalogued' in Emby but on HDD spun down/external USB storage as opposed to current 'online' 24/7 disk.

 

I know that if Emby cannot find media, it deletes it from the catalogue during it's periodic scan, so I've been investigating various options.

 

• 'Media Stubs' - seems to be designed for this purpose but for real offline media.  ie Emby won't actually play the media - it will just prompt you to put a physical media disk etc in the player.

• Symbolic Links / Directory Junctions - If the directory .NFO files were kept on-line, but the media file itself is keep 'offline' (but via a Symbolic Link).  Question - does a scan actually poll/read the media files or does it just scan the .NFO file and file system for changes ?  I'll test this and report back..

• Exclude entire 'Libraries' in a Scan - this would also solve the problem I believe.  You'd create an 'Archive' library and scan periodically, perhaps on a schedule (say once a month).

• (WishList..  ) Automated Storage Tiering would be very cool  - if media has not been watched for say 6 months, then automatically move it to the USB external drives... 

Any other possible solutions guys ? - I just want to keep media catalogued and 'available' but keep it physically offline via a powered down USB HDD...

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

[Luke 42085]

You shouldn't need to do anything special. If the scan is deleting content then please see how to report a problem. thanks !

[rbjtech 5284]

ok thanks Luke but I feel you may have misinterpreted my question or I worded it very badly ..

 

If I move content out of a library, then I expected it to be removed - no issues there.

 

What I'm asking for is how do I keep this media 'active' without needing the media there (so doesn't 'wake' the Archive HDD during a normal scan) - so effectively behaves like a Media Stub - but plays normally should I request to play it (and of course in doing so it THEN wakes up the HDD in order to play it).

 

Thanks.

[dcook 299]

@@Luke I think what the OP is asking for is a way to keep the content in the library, but have the disk storing the media turned off.

( I suspect he has metadata stored with media which is part of the problem)

 

In my current setup all my media is stored on a NAS, my metadata and cache is on local SSD drives. 

 

If I am just browsing my library or searching my library, Emby is using the cache and/or metadata on the SSD, only once I actually click the play button does the HD's in the NAS power up.

 

I suspect the however if I were to shutdown my NAS or disconnect it from the network and run a Library Scan I would experience the same as the OP where Emby would remove all the content from my libraries thinking that it no longer exists.  However I am not willing to test this as it is too risky.

 

Storage tiering is a great idea as I also have some media that I don't want to delete but doesn't need to be powered on or included in library scan.

Edited November 6, 2017 by dcook

[rbjtech 5284]

@@Luke I think what the OP is asking for is a way to keep the content in the library, but have the disk storing the media turned off.

( I suspect he has metadata stored with media which is part of the problem)

 

In my current setup all my media is stored on a NAS, my metadata and cache is on local SSD drives. 

 

If I am just browsing my library or searching my library, Emby is using the cache and/or metadata on the SSD, only once I actually click the play button does the HD's in the NAS power up.

 

I suspect the however if I were to shutdown my NAS or disconnect it from the network and run a Library Scan I would experience the same as the OP where Emby would remove all the content from my libraries thinking that it no longer exists.  However I am not willing to test this as it is too risky.

 

Storage tiering is a great idea as I also have some media that I don't want to delete but doesn't need to be powered on or included in library scan.

 

Thanks @@dcook - exactly my situation - thanks for re-wording

 

The point you mention about the metadata is correct - I keep it with the media - but an interesting point to experiment with to see how differently it behaves if I keep it local.

[mastrmind11 722]

Thanks @@dcook - exactly my situation - thanks for re-wording

 

The point you mention about the metadata is correct - I keep it with the media - but an interesting point to experiment with to see how differently it behaves if I keep it local.

It won't spin up a disk unless you acess a disk.  Keeping metadata separate will not spin up the disks until you hit play

[dcook 299]

Which is the main reason why I always recommend not storing it with the media, its puts wear and tear on the disks for no reason and slows things down when browsing.

 

 

 

It won't spin up a disk unless you acess a disk.  Keeping metadata separate will not spin up the disks until you hit play

[Happy2Play 9783]

Which is the main reason why I always recommend not storing it with the media, its puts wear and tear on the disks for no reason and slows things down when browsing.

 

But the cache (once built) is used during browsing not folder metadata.  

[dcook 299]

@@Happy2Play that maybe true for browsing once you build the cache, but in my previous tests when I had store metadata with media, Emby was constantly causing my NAS drives to spin up even though I wasn't playing anything.

 

Now that I have it stored separate my NAS drives only spin up once I click play on something.