Strategy - Easy backup and restore

[JoshFink 19]

As I'm sitting home and my family is using Emby more and more I have started thinking about what a pain it would be if the machine I have Emby on at home suddenly stopped working for whatever reason. 

I'd love some info on what people are doing to mitigate the downtime associated with setting up a new machine, backup, restore, etc. 

 

Anything slick that would make it easier?

 

I know this is kind of a vague question but I'd love to hear if there is anything that people have come up with. 

Thanks

[kanipek 230]

You can start with the backup plugin.

 

Takes care of most of the critical items.

 

look for "server configuration backup plugin"

Edited March 24, 2020 by kanipek

[JoshFink 19]

You can start with the backup plugin.

 

Takes care of most of the critical items.

 

Thanks. I have the backup plugin going. However, now that I think of it, it is backing up to the same machine that I'm worried about.I probably need to get that over to my NAS. 

[kanipek 230]

Yeah that would be best practice. At minimum a different disk.

 

There are a few things you may also want to consider making copies of on a regular basis - \Emby-Server\programdata\data\livetv and \Emby-Server\programdata\data\collections

 

These aren't part of the backup (or at least last time I checked) - livetv will not restore in the true sense of the word but you will have a way to know what you are recording and can work from there to reschedule everything, the collections are fairly simple copy them back and to a full library scan and you are good to go.

[Happy2Play 9782]

Depending on where image and metadata is stored the plugin is good if you store them with media.

 

Otherwise you would look at backing up the entire Emby-Server folder.  In theory it is portable depending on how old the original installation is, as old installs would not have path tokens.

[blade005 185]

Thanks. I have the backup plugin going. However, now that I think of it, it is backing up to the same machine that I'm worried about.I probably need to get that over to my NAS. 

 

You can configure your backup location within the plugin.

 

I have mine going to my Google Drive path that is on the same Emby machine and it is then pushed up to my Google Drive cloud location daily. I have used the Backup/Restore plugin a number of times as I have rebuilt my library and Emby configuration on the same machine and when I migrated to a newer machine. Works well and pulls over all of your critical settings (Users, Library locations, Playstate status by user, etc.) to get you going again as quickly as possible.

 

As others have posted, if you store images within media folders that is a big head start to spinning back up and periodically backing up your COLLECTIONS folder to another location is a big time saver.

Edited March 24, 2020 by blade005

[kanipek 230]

 

In theory it is portable depending on how old the original installation is, as old installs would not have path tokens.

Excellent points by @@Happy2Play ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Especially this one - Since Emby is portable I kept the entire folder before my last computer rebuild and it is still in the same location and works perfectly. I was up and running as soon as the Windows install was finished.

[JoshFink 19]

All great help! Thank you. 

 

What's the best way to determine how old my install is and whether I would have path tokens in there? I don't have a problem backing up the entire folder but I was just curious. 

[Happy2Play 9782]

All great help! Thank you. 

 

What's the best way to determine how old my install is and whether I would have path tokens in there? I don't have a problem backing up the entire folder but I was just curious. 

Only way I know of would be shut down Emby and open the library.db and go to the mediaitems table, then the Images column and see if you have "%RootFolderPath%" and "%MetadataPath%".  Emby-Server\programdata\data\library.db

 

Actually I believe all installs that are in \Emby-Server should be good.  It would apply to really old installs in \Media-Browser.

Edited March 24, 2020 by Happy2Play

[MBSki 1114]

I'm planning to do a restore soon too. Seems to be an annual thing. Windows just doesn't seem to last very long without needing a fresh start. 

I've already backed up the entire Emby-Server folder and just planning to drop that back in the same exact folder that it's in now after I re-install.

2 questions:

-can I put the Emby-Server folder somewhere else? It's in a bit of an obscure place. I'd rather put it with my Plex folder for easy backup.

-In the restore instructions it says something about copying the old files over and then setting the paths for the libraries? Isn't there a file that has the library paths somewhere so I don't have to reset the paths?

[Carlo 4561]

Yes you can install the server to a different location or you could use the portable version.

If you start moving things around have a good backup just in case you mess something up and need to revert.

If you put the files back in the same location and the media locations haven't changed there shouldn't be anything to change.  If you copy from one machine to another and have different drive letters or mount points then you would need to adjust library paths.

Hope that helps, but if not ask away any questions you might have.

[MBSki 1114]

@cayars Awesome, thanks! Does that mean I could also install under another user account with no issue? The Emby-Server folder would technically be in a different path. Would that cause an issue?

By different location, I don't mean install to a different location, just put the path to the Emby-Server in a different location. Similar to how Plex allows moving the "data directory". Can that be done?

[Carlo 4561]

If you move things properly, yes you can do this.  I'm referring to the path such as:

C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server

In the above the Administrator would be the account running Emby.

[MBSki 1114]

Yep, that's the one I'm referring to as well. So could I move the Emby-Server folder to D:\Media\Emby-Server and point the Emby install at the directory in D?

[Carlo 4561]

You should be able to yes, but that would be the install directory or program directory but not the DATA directory as mentioned previously.

The key thing is back things up before playing, just in case.

[MBSki 1114]

Got it, thanks. That's not exactly what I want to do since I just want the data directory and not the other folders. Maybe I'll just play around with it in the Windows Sandbox before doing the real install.

[Carlo 4561]

If you hit any snags or just want another set of eyes to look over what you're about to do, send me a PM.  But it sounds like you know what you're doing.

[MBSki 1114]

@cayars I just completed my testing on an old laptop and all I've got to say is WOW!!! That was incredibly easy! I ran the setup exe, closed out before configuration started, copied my Emby-Server folder to a NEW directory (D:\Media rather than under UserX\roaming), double-clicked the server exe in my Emby-Server folder, and that was it! I can't believe it worked! It was MUCH easier than a Plex re-install. Plus, the folder is a quarter of the size. Even better, when the scan completed, it didn't wipe out ANY of my metadata even though I was testing on a PC that didn't have the actual media files. 

Frankly, I'm not even sure why I ran the install as it doesn't seem to need it at all. Don't remember using the portable method, but it's possible I did. Seems like literally all I need to do is copy the Emby-Server folder anywhere I want and start the exe. I'll try that with the real thing, but let me know if you can think of any potential issues with that approach.

[Carlo 4561]

Yea, usually it is that easy if not getting into file permission issues.

Glad you got everything working.

[playloud 10]

Any potential problems when upgrading from Windows 7 to 10?  I will backup the entire folder, but not sure if anything else might cause an issue.

[Carlo 4561]

Always potential problems when doing a major OS change.

I'd seriously consider backing up the OS drive just in case.

After doing the upgrade you may need to download install latest video drivers for your GPU if you have them so HW transcoding will work.