Hello,
I run a 4TB WD My Cloud Home (MCH) NAS with the Plex media server app built into the WD product. I believe the NAS runs on a Linux OS - which is why I'm reaching out to this community.
WD provide 2 ways of accessing the data on the MCH. 1) use the web login (www.home.mycloud.com) and 2) using the Windows WD Discovery app. The discovery app makes the experience like you’re using Windows folders and I used this for transferring my media library to the MCH. I have around 41% of free / available space left on the MCH.
Here’s where it gets weird…
Recently my WD My Cloud Home Windows 11 app told me an update available which I carried out. I added a couple of new TV show files to the Plex media library via the WD Discovery app. Usually after around 10-15 mins, the new files get scanned and they get displayed on my Plex GUI via my Apple TV…and I can play these.
This time the files didn’t show on the Plex player app so I checked with WD Discovery app, and the files had disappeared. I tried again and had the same results - gone. I tried using the web interface. Same thing - gone after a few minutes.
So I thought I would disable the Plex server from the “Do More” section of WD Discovery app, power down the MCH and re-boot after 5 minutes, Enabled Plex media server again via the “Do More” app and reconfigured with Plex online - I found the Media library folders. Same result - the new files disappeared after a while. I thought I’d delete a few of my older folders and reconfigure the Plex libraries but noticed that Plex kept retaining the old folder structure from before I deleted / changed certain folders within the library. WTF? I thought it was caching the old file structure so thought I’d try something else…
I thought I’ll rename the Plex folder with all my media in it…disable Plex server again, reboot the MCH and enable Plex server again and see if it creates a new Plex folder and I’ll move the files from the renamed Plex folder to the Plex folder that Plex created with sub folders (My Shared Movies, My Shared TV Shows etc). NOW the MCH (or Plex) has removed the old Plex renamed folder completely so I cannot even see it…much less move my files to the new Plex folder??? It’s vanished…along with 1.2TB of TV shows and Movies.
BUT…When I see how much capacity the MCH hard drives have left - I’m thinking I would have around 90% of free / available space left on the MCH because Plex / WD MCH deleted all my files…I was surprised to see it still has 41% available…which means those files are still there…I just can’t see / access them within the WD environment.
And to prove the files are there…remember when I said the Plex web app only browsed to the original Media Library folder structure? Well… Plex player (via web or Apple TV etc) can still see and play those movies…I just can’t add anything new…especially now I can’t see that old Plex folder structure.
Is there anyone out there who has had similar issues? How can I use my Windows 11 laptop to access the Linux OS and navigate to the old Plex folder so I can rename it back to “Plex” to see my files again? Each time I disabled and reenabled Plex server…did the Plex WD app create another instance (like a ghost) folder structure?
Help - I don’t want to lose all my TV shows and Movies. I'm not familiar with Linux at all.
I run a 4TB WD My Cloud Home (MCH) NAS with the Plex media server app built into the WD product. I believe the NAS runs on a Linux OS - which is why I'm reaching out to this community.
WD provide 2 ways of accessing the data on the MCH. 1) use the web login (www.home.mycloud.com) and 2) using the Windows WD Discovery app. The discovery app makes the experience like you’re using Windows folders and I used this for transferring my media library to the MCH. I have around 41% of free / available space left on the MCH.
Here’s where it gets weird…
Recently my WD My Cloud Home Windows 11 app told me an update available which I carried out. I added a couple of new TV show files to the Plex media library via the WD Discovery app. Usually after around 10-15 mins, the new files get scanned and they get displayed on my Plex GUI via my Apple TV…and I can play these.
This time the files didn’t show on the Plex player app so I checked with WD Discovery app, and the files had disappeared. I tried again and had the same results - gone. I tried using the web interface. Same thing - gone after a few minutes.
So I thought I would disable the Plex server from the “Do More” section of WD Discovery app, power down the MCH and re-boot after 5 minutes, Enabled Plex media server again via the “Do More” app and reconfigured with Plex online - I found the Media library folders. Same result - the new files disappeared after a while. I thought I’d delete a few of my older folders and reconfigure the Plex libraries but noticed that Plex kept retaining the old folder structure from before I deleted / changed certain folders within the library. WTF? I thought it was caching the old file structure so thought I’d try something else…
I thought I’ll rename the Plex folder with all my media in it…disable Plex server again, reboot the MCH and enable Plex server again and see if it creates a new Plex folder and I’ll move the files from the renamed Plex folder to the Plex folder that Plex created with sub folders (My Shared Movies, My Shared TV Shows etc). NOW the MCH (or Plex) has removed the old Plex renamed folder completely so I cannot even see it…much less move my files to the new Plex folder??? It’s vanished…along with 1.2TB of TV shows and Movies.
BUT…When I see how much capacity the MCH hard drives have left - I’m thinking I would have around 90% of free / available space left on the MCH because Plex / WD MCH deleted all my files…I was surprised to see it still has 41% available…which means those files are still there…I just can’t see / access them within the WD environment.
And to prove the files are there…remember when I said the Plex web app only browsed to the original Media Library folder structure? Well… Plex player (via web or Apple TV etc) can still see and play those movies…I just can’t add anything new…especially now I can’t see that old Plex folder structure.
Is there anyone out there who has had similar issues? How can I use my Windows 11 laptop to access the Linux OS and navigate to the old Plex folder so I can rename it back to “Plex” to see my files again? Each time I disabled and reenabled Plex server…did the Plex WD app create another instance (like a ghost) folder structure?
Help - I don’t want to lose all my TV shows and Movies. I'm not familiar with Linux at all.
