Change to "Save artwork into media folders"

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

I am running under Windows 10.

 

Initially, when I set up Emby I did not choose "Save artwork into media folders." I am considering changing that but I have a question.

 

If I check that box now will Emby move the existing data to the videos' locations or will everything be recreated or will only new videos have the data stored in the same location as the videos?

 

I still have some thinking to do about the advantages/disadvantages about making this change but an answer to this question will help.

 

Thanks.

[d00zah 149]

Only new videos have the data stored in the same location as the videos.

 

Went through this exercise recently & the initial scan time is / misidentified titles are dramatically reduced once the metadata is stored with the media. Fortunately (?!), a few stable releases ago, my database would occasionally self-destruct / rebuild itself, so I made the change & was able to see the benefit following the 2nd rebuild.

[Luke 42079]

Emby won't move anything. It will continue to use existing artwork. New artwork that is downloaded will be saved based on your settings. Thanks.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

Emby won't move anything. It will continue to use existing artwork. New artwork that is downloaded will be saved based on your settings. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the answer. Can I move the data manually and is it easy to identify what can be moved?

[Luke 42079]

Unfortunately that will not be easy because the images are saved in folders using the database id's as the folder name.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

Unfortunately that will not be easy because the images are saved in folders using the database id's as the folder name.

 

I currently have over 30000 TV episodes and about 3000 movies and 1000 or so additional videos. Do I gain anything by changing the storage location at this point. Space is not an issue on either the drive where Emby resides or the location where the media is stored.

 

Also if I create a new library pointing to the same data directories will the current "identifying" of the media be used but the images etc get stored with the media?

[Luke 42079]

It's really meant to be a personal preference. You have access to the full feature set either way.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

It's really meant to be a personal preference. You have access to the full feature set either way.

 

Thank you!

[mbc0 68]

Hi @Gilgamesh_48

 

What was your decision in the end? 

 

I keep all my artwork on my unRAID cache drive because it is a 1TB Samsung NVME so I did this for speed as if a user is browsing the library the hard disks they would have to spin up and cause a delay.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

Hi @Gilgamesh_48

 

What was your decision in the end? 

 

I keep all my artwork on my unRAID cache drive because it is a 1TB Samsung NVME so I did this for speed as if a user is browsing the library the hard disks they would have to spin up and cause a delay.

 

I decided that it really did not matter at all where my "artwork" lives. It is small and mostly unimportant for my usage of Emby. I use Emby to watch media and what I see as I look for something to watch matters not at all.

 

I do keep the "bif" files with the media as thahos file are pretty big and Emby seems to like it a LOT more when the "bif" file are with the media.

 

BTW: I have never, except when something is broken, see any slowness in the Emby interface. Artwork and media info and everything else loads quickly enough and I have no solid state drives at all. I just do not see the need for the extra expense with little or no gain.

[blade005 185]

I currently have over 30000 TV episodes and about 3000 movies and 1000 or so additional videos. Do I gain anything by changing the storage location at this point. Space is not an issue on either the drive where Emby resides or the location where the media is stored.

 

Also if I create a new library pointing to the same data directories will the current "identifying" of the media be used but the images etc get stored with the media?

 

One advantage of storing metadata and images locally with media files is the portability. If you choose to rebuild your Emby Server library database in the future (i.e. hardware change), having the metadata and images stored locally will make your rebuild process less manually intensive. If you went through the effort to customize images and information in metadata files a rebuild of the database will pull in your locally stored metadata and images as before.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

One advantage of storing metadata and images locally with media files is the portability. If you choose to rebuild your Emby Server library database in the future (i.e. hardware change), having the metadata and images stored locally will make your rebuild process less manually intensive. If you went through the effort to customize images and information in metadata files a rebuild of the database will pull in your locally stored metadata and images as before.

 

But, except for those very few cases where Emby fails to find a suitable image (usually TV specials or mini-series that I want as movies) I never customize any images. I just see no need.  It in no way helps me find media to watch. For me custom artwork is nothing but a complete waste of time and I have MUCH better things to waste my time on.

 

Emby does a good enough job for me.

 

The only thing I need is that watched status can be backed up and restored and Trakt TV takes care of that.

[blade005 185]

But, except for those very few cases where Emby fails to find a suitable image (usually TV specials or mini-series that I want as movies) I never customize any images. I just see no need.  It in no way helps me find media to watch. For me custom artwork is nothing but a complete waste of time and I have MUCH better things to waste my time on.

 

Emby does a good enough job for me.

 

The only thing I need is that watched status can be backed up and restored and Trakt TV takes care of that.

 

Makes sense. If images and metadata are not something you customize, then it matters a lot less where it is stored.

 

FYI. With SERVER CONFIGURATION BACKUP plugin you can back up and restore watched status for yourself and any other users you may have set up on your system. Did this recently with a complete rebuild and it was very convenient to have all Server Configuration, Library Structure, Users and Playstates all restored on the new fresh install.

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Backup