Advice/Opinions Required On Moving Metadata/Artwork From Media Folders

[bryde4 0]

Hi,

Due to several issues I would like to move all the artwork from my media folders to an unassigned device in unraid (NVME)

I am aware I cannot physically move the files so I am thinking of moving the emby installation on unraid from my cache drive to an unassigned NVME, disabling the option to store metadata in media folders and then force refresh one library at a time.  I would however like to keep the nfo file in the media folder is this possible?

Just looking for advice/pointers before taking on this task.

Thank you!

@cayars

[Carlo 4561]

Not sure why you would want to do this but here is a way you can do it likely without having to move Emby.

From you Dashboard if you scroll down you will see a couple of paths listed.  One is MetaData and one is Cache.

The MetaData folder will be where this information is permanently stored when it's not stored in the media folders.  So you can point this to any location you want including network drives.  But if this isn't on the local machine it can slow things down.  This is where the Cache comes in.  This too can be changed.

To change the Cache path click on the Settings menu and scroll down to the field "Cache Path"

To change the MetaData path click on the Library menu then click on ADVANCED up top then scroll down to "MetaData Path:"

As you mention you will need to change each library options to not store the MetaData in the media folders. Then you will need to rescan each library.

Let me know if this helps or if you need more info.

[mbc0 68]

Hi, thanks for the reply, I am the OP but incorrectly posted using the wrong account and could not find a way to delete the post.

There are 3 reasons for doing this,

1, When radarr upgrades a Movie it removes everything from the movie folder including artwork leaving a movie with no art.

2, Speed, it makes more sense to have all my artwork on an unassigned NVME drive on my unraid server so not to spin up mechanical drives to load the metadata.

3, To move emby from my unraid cache disk to my unassigned NVME drive so that when the unraid mover is running it will not impact on Emby

Is it possible to keep all the art on the unassigned NVME drive where Emby is installed but still keep the nfo file in the media folder so just in case I need to reinstall down the line then media identification would be a lot better.

Thanks again for your response.

[ebr 16184]

My advice, like Cayars, is NOT to do this.  The advantages you get by saving this data with the media outweighs what you are trying to solve IMO.

[mbc0 68]

23 minutes ago, ebr said:

My advice, like Cayars, is NOT to do this.  The advantages you get by saving this data with the media outweighs what you are trying to solve IMO.

Thanks for the input ebr, annoying to get radarr support saying one thing and unraid support saying another,  I have already made the changes, below in red is what was told to me by the radarr support channel.  Can I ask for a bit more detail in why you say this is not a good idea please?

"downloads/backups go on cache drive and get's moved to array
appdata = on unassigned drive what's also a ssd and never gets moved to array

do what i suggested,
it's the way most people do with unraid btw.
cache = only downloads/initial backups
unassigned drive = appdata/docker image/vm's
this way your cache can move everything to array when needed and doesn't slow down you appdata/dockers"

and you covers etc are on a ssd so they are faster then on the array
and i do nightly backups of my appdata
but you can keep the .nfo files with the media"

 

 

[ebr 16184]

Any time you either move the media or re-setup your server you will have to re-gather all that metadata which will take a long time and hammer the free providers we use unnecessarily.

The few times that some other system causes one item to have to be re-fetched would be far less than a complete re-build of your system.

[mbc0 68]

14 minutes ago, ebr said:

Any time you either move the media or re-setup your server you will have to re-gather all that metadata which will take a long time and hammer the free providers we use unnecessarily.

The few times that some other system causes one item to have to be re-fetched would be far less than a complete re-build of your system.

The reason I opted for images/metadata in the media folders in the first place was due to "in case of rebuild" 

The only reason I ended up on this path btw is because when radarr upgrades a movie it deletes everything in the media folder so all my nfo, art, subs leaving me with a blank/missing movie poster in Emby.

[Carlo 4561]

But who cares if the graphics get left and only the media is replaced?  Emby will use the existing graphics, will update the NFO or will fetch anything that's missing during a scan.

The only thing you DON'T want to do is download directly to your media areas setup in Emby.

[mbc0 68]

2 minutes ago, cayars said:

But who cares if the graphics get left and only the media is replaced?  Emby will use the existing graphics, will update the NFO or will fetch anything that's missing during a scan.

The only thing you DON'T want to do is download directly to your media areas setup in Emby.

When radarr upgrades a movie, ALL the files get deleted in that folder, I just get left with the new movie file, Emby then detects this as a "new" movie and downloads some art but never a poster?

[Carlo 4561]

It should download the box cover.  Are these movies showing up in your library without a proper box cover?

[mbc0 68]

Yes, I had hundreds like that, all movies upgraded by radarr had no movie poster.  I am not in a position to show you an example at the moment as my library is rebuilding using the new format, It is quite close to finishing and I will upgrade a movie with radarr to see the outcome before I switch back to using metadata in the media folders and let you know.