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Clean up and rebuild without completely starting over?


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Posted

I've been using Emby for years. And over that time, I've made a pretty good mess by moving folders around and renaming and replacing media. So I would like to do a massive clean up/update. What I basically want to do is clean up the entire library and installation to get rid of any orphaned media files and all outdated or incorrect media information and then rebuild a clean library from scratch.

 

But I can't seem to find any post with a clearly explained "clean out and rebuilt" process. I'm happy to do the work to get this done. And I'm good with computers in general and am very comfortable working at a command line level if needed. I just can't find a straight-forward explanation of what I would need to do to clean everything up and then rebuild the library from scratch.

 

My folder structure is currently as follows. I'd be happy to change it if it would make Emby work better. But I just can't seem to find and answer to "if you've created a mess, here's how you clean it up and then rebuild/refresh it".

 

-[Movies]

-- Movie One (year)

-- Movie Two (year)

-- etc...

 

-[TV Shows]

--[series One Name]

--- S1E01 Episode name

--- S1E02 Episode name

--- etc...

--[series Two Name]

--- S1E01 Episode name

--- S1E02 Episode name

--- etc...

 

 

Posted

Hi. I'm not sure exactly what you want to "clean up" but you could always shut down the server and rename/move the library.db file and then re-start the server and wait for it to re-build.

 

You will lose play state and other user data so you will probably want to use the configuration backup plug-in to backup and restore that.

Posted (edited)

I'm not concerned with play state data or records of what I've watched so those are not an issue for me. But is there a list of what I would lose by renaming the library.db file I can review before doing that?

 

As for clean up, primarily I mean things like orphaned artwork files and outdated info files with previous names that no longer match the media file as it is currently named or re-encoded or when the media file was moved other directories. And I've also had a few cases when I've seen the same movie or tv show listed twice and one of them is a dead link from a file that was previously renamed or moved.

Edited by Loondawg
legallink
Posted (edited)

Your experience sounds odd, but who knows.  It sounds like deleting library.db (or moving it and renaming it) and then installing the new 4.0 is the smart move.  Moving/Deleting the library.db file will not delete any media files (including artwork, etc.).  What it will do is rebuild your library from scratch.  User profiles and watched status will also disappear, but you can "import" them by using the backup and restore plugin.

 

Random orphaned artwork and outdated info files, as far as I'm aware, will also not be deleted.  The only thing that will happen is that relevant files will be created.

 

Your folder structure looks fine.  Have you checked the Emby naming guide to make sure it complies?  If it is already showing up correctly, you don't have to do anything different with your files.  But cleanup/deletion Emby will not do, and you'll have to find and change/move/delete those files.

 

Does that help?

Edited by legallink
Posted (edited)

I appreciate the answer. To fix this, I guess could write a script to find all valid media files and then delete all files that don't match those names. That would be pretty easy. And then I could just delete the library and let it rebuild to fix this.

 

(Had a long rant here. But I deleted it as I'm now realizing most of my problems are based almost completely in Kodi.)

Edited by Loondawg
  • 1 year later...
Rozell365
Posted

How do I completely start over.

I just started on Emby and I was on my laptop and now I am on my desktop.

But I can't find my localhost 9680 on my desktop.

So I want to completely remove both accounts and start over.

 

When I switch from laptop to desktop it made me start a new account on my desktop.

 

Instead of http://localhost8096

The desktop only shows

app.emby.media/startup...

window.

I can't find my new server on Theater or no over pc or mobile.

Posted

How do I completely start over.

I just started on Emby and I was on my laptop and now I am on my desktop.

But I can't find my localhost 9680 on my desktop.

So I want to completely remove both accounts and start over.

 

When I switch from laptop to desktop it made me start a new account on my desktop.

 

Instead of http://localhost8096

The desktop only shows

app.emby.media/startup...

window.

I can't find my new server on Theater or no over pc or mobile.

 

Hi, we'll help you in your existing topic:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/86419-2-servers/

 

Thanks.

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