u/snowmeow_1

I'm considering buying a new Windows laptop that has fewer USB-A ports than my current one. I have multiple Seagate external hard drives - including One Touch and Expansion models—ranging from 2TB to 5TB. They all use traditional USB-A cables, so I'm thinking about connecting one or more of them to a USB-C port using a quality USB-C to USB-A adapter (such as one from Anker).

For those of you who use Seagate external drives this way on Windows:

* Have you had any issues with the drives not being recognized or disconnecting when connected through a USB-C adapter?

* Have you noticed any difference in read/write or file transfer speeds compared to plugging the drive directly into a USB-A port?

* Have you used this setup long-term for drives that stay connected most of the time (such as for a Plex Media Server)?

I'm mainly interested in real-world experiences. Reliability is more important to me than theoretical maximum speeds.

Thanks!

I will be updating my backup of the Plex Media Server data folder (database, metadata, posters, etc.).

A few months ago I made a full backup. This time, is it safe to simply copy the current Plex Media Server folder over the existing backup and let Windows merge/replace files, or are some of the files interconnected enough that merging could cause problems? Is it better to delete the old backup and make a completely fresh copy instead?

I'm guessing around 80% of the metadata in my library has not changed since the last backup. It would be nice to save time by only copying over what's changed, but not if it compromises the integrity or reliability of the backup.

I have entire media library globally set up to display subtitles automatically if available.

I just replaced an existing dvd-ripped TV Show in my library with a blueray version. The bluray rips have pgs subtitles embedded and I trust those to be universally in sync.. But after I added the new rips, all the episodes still has external subtitles that I manually added from open subtitles as the default. Other than manually setting each individual episode to pgs as the default, is there a faster way I can set up the series to read the embedded pgs subs as the default?

Or globally delete the external subtitles that I previously added?

Im using an older laptop that cannot update to Windows 11. I've essentially "retired" my plex library and won't be adding much here now in.

I do not use the cpu for plex other than just hosting my server. I mainly use Roku or ATV to watch Plex content.

I do plan to get a new machine eventually and transfer my server over.. How long do I have roughly before Plex won't be able to run/be hosted on a Windows 10 cpu? What's the oldest Windows OS it currently supports?

I have an older ASUS gaming laptop from around 2012 with a built-in Blu-ray drive. Even though the hardware is getting up there in age, it's served me very well for ripping Blu-rays and DVDs-probably over 300 discs so far.

I also have an external DVD drive connected to an even older Linux-installed computer. I'm wondering if I could instead connect that external DVD drive to my ASUS laptop and use MakeMKV to rip from both drives at the same time. For example, could I have the internal Blu-ray drive ripping a Blu-ray or DVD while the external DVD drive is ripping a DVD simultaneously?

If that's possible, how does MakeMKV handle multiple optical drives? How does it differentiate between the two drives when selecting a source?

Also, would running two rips at once significantly reduce ripping speed, especially on older hardware?

Using two separate computers works reasonably well, but it does require some extra time to transfer the DVD rips from my Linux machine to the main storage drives connected to my ASUS laptop.

Has anyone here tried a setup like this? How well did it work?

I'm relatively new to the world of video encoding. So far, I've mainly encoded Blu-ray rips to save some space while maintaining what I consider high perceptual quality. I don't have a massive collection compared to some of the data hoarders out there -around 50 TV series, with about 20 of them ripped directly from my own discs.

Because DVD rips aren't usually that large, I had mostly left them untouched and focused on Blu-rays.

Recently, I ripped my DVDS of The Streets of San Francisco . While watching it, I noticed that Seasons 3–5 didn't look quite as good as Seasons 1–2. After checking Plex, I saw that Seasons 3–5 were identified as 480i, while the earlier seasons appeared progressive. That led me down the rabbit hole of learning about interlacing and HandBrake's deinterlacing/decomb features.

Im using an older machine (a 2012-era ASUS G75V gaming laptop), I batch encoded Seasons 3–5 to H.264 using with a Handbrake preset with Decomb enabled. After the batch encode, I do feel like I've seen an improvement. Motion appears smoother and more natural, and less "blocky" in certain movements like around character's eyes as they move.

After that, I checked the rest of my DVD collection in Plex that I ripped and found several other interlaced series:

• The Fugitive Seasons 2–4 (Season 1 appears progressive)
• Night Court (original)
• Three's Company
• WKRP in Cincinnati

I also have a handful of classic animated series that Plex reports as interlaced.

My question is: how do you decide whether a title is worth deinterlacing?

The reason I ask is that I didn't go looking for interlacing issues in the first place. I only started researching it after my own eyes noticed a quality difference between Seasons 1–2 and Seasons 3–5 of The Streets of San Francisco. After learning about interlacing and trying a deinterlaced encode, the improvement seemed noticeable to me.

Are there specific scenarios where deinterlacing is particularly beneficial? For example:

• Film-based shows vs. videotape-based shows
• Live-action vs. animation
• Shows that were originally shot on film but transferred to DVD as interlaced video
• Any situations where deinterlacing could actually make things worse

I'm not particularly concerned about compression or saving space with DVD sourced material.. My main goal is getting the best viewing experience. My Streets of San Francisco deinterlaced encodes ended up roughly 40% smaller than the raw DVD rips even though I used H.264 rather than H.265. A good bonus but I mainly did it to see if I can improve on how it plays on modern TVs.

I'd appreciate any guidance from people who have more experience with interlaced DVD content and how they decide whether a title is worth deinterlacing or leaving as-is.

If I drag a file or batch files into Handbrake it changes the file name slightly. Example:

"Tv Show Name S1E01" changes to "Tv Show Name S1e01"

The capital E (for "episode") changes to a lower case e.

Not a super big concern but how do I set up Handbrake to use the exact same filename as the source filename?

Edit. Thanks to darmanfi8015 for the answer!

A Google search seems to display news articles from a year ago all saying it hasn't been renewed yet. If that's still the case one year later, that may not bode well for its future.

Is there any word yet? If memory serves correctly, it had strong viewing numbers.

Have encoded considerably and have not encountered any issues. It may be many months before I eyeball all the media I've encoded, and original rips will be long gone by then.

Just from your own experience, how often does it occur ( assuming the original source rip is clean from errors). If it does happen, is it a momentary " hiccup" or frame skip? Any difference between DVD, bluray, and 4k in terms of proneness of errors?

I realize Plex takes submissions for new features to be added. This one seems like no brainier, and it's one I have submitted for before.

Add a Lock icon in the poster option just like locking meta data so we can freeze the poster art so it does not invariably change on us! I've this seen request before by other Plex users. I'm certain there's enough demand for it

In one of my recent library scans ( when i added a new show), it changed all the posters art for my 40 plus seasons of Looney tunes. It was neatly sorted by year and all were replaced by a generic poster for every single year/season. So. I'm having to click on each one separately to change it back, save it... and on to the next one. I took a break between 1937 and 1938 to vent a little here. Is there a technical challenge for Plex that's preventing them from adding this (seemingly straightforward) feature?

https://preview.redd.it/hu9ujh67jl3h1.png?width=1493&format=png&auto=webp&s=b81f6fe50f1a4704d406ead6aee263337472cb6f

I think the likely answer here is that I’m out of luck, spend some money but or live with an incomplete collection but I wanted to check with more experienced Plex / MakeMKV users in case I’m missing something.

I just finished backing up my Blu-ray collection of Murdoch Mysteries Season 1- 18, which I own on blu ray (a Canadian murder mystery series). Out of 312 episodes, I successfully ripped 308. I’m missing 5 episodes total - one from Season 5, two from Season 9, one from Season 10, and one from Season 14.

All of the affected discs have minor scratches. They still play fine in a Blu-ray player, but those specific episodes consistently fail to rip in MakeMKV. DVDFab HD Decrypter also fails on them. MakeMKV also fails to back up those discs

So I have a mostly complete Plex library of the show, but 5 episodes are missing across multiple seasons.

I’m trying to figure out realistic options to fill those gaps without overpaying.

So far, I’ve considered:

*Re-buying the affected seasons on bluray.

This would cost me around $150 CAD for seasons I already own, just to replace a handful of episodes.

• Selling my full physical collection (Seasons 1–18) and rebuying only what I need

The problem is, the series isn’t really in high demand outside Canada, so I’m not confident I’d be able to recover much of the cost. On top of that, it would feel a bit off to end up with a digital copy of something I no longer physically own.

*Buying the missing episodes on Apple TV/iTunes ($2.99 each)

This would be about $15 CAD total to buy those individual episodes. My only concern is DRM removal tools to integrate them into Plex. I tried a trial of one tool that worked (DrMare mv4 converter), but I’ve seen mixed reviews and don’t really want to risk sketchy software or entering credit card info for something like that. They dont even accept PayPal. Would be looking at around 20.00 USD for a month subscription

*Torrents / sourcing elsewhere

I’ve looked, but this show is pretty niche. I can only find newer seasons, not the specific episodes or seasons I’m missing.

*Screen recording as a last resort

Not ideal in terms of quality or reliability, so I’d prefer to avoid it.

I also know the show is available for free with ads on CBC Gem, but I’d still prefer a personal backup of my own purchased collection.

At this point I’m wondering if I’m just stuck with missing episodes, or if there’s a better way people handle situations like this.

Im posting this both on Plex and MakeMKV reddits in case either community can suggest some ideas..

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Edit:

I received a couple of DMs and was able to find a solution

Just curious how many people here are backing up their Plex libraries and what methods you’re using.

My Plex library is currently approaching 9TB spread across two 5TB drives. The chances of drive corruption are probably low, but just to be safe, I cloned both drives to another pair of 5TB drives that I found pretty cheap locally on Facebook Marketplace.

That way, if one drive ever fails or becomes corrupted, I can just swap in the cloned backup immediately with minimal downtime, then replace the failed drive and re-clone it later.

Before anyone asks why I’m not using a NAS or larger-capacity drives - I may eventually go that route. Most of my library is older catalog content.l, animation and TV shows, and although I keep adding more than I thought I would, I’m finally getting close to completing my Plex collection. Adding new content will be rather infrequent moving forward.

A lot of my collection also includes custom edits like encoding ripped media via Handbrake, MkvtoolNix fixes and adds, adding audio commentaries, alternate audio tracks, and other edits. Also special features from different sources. So, a substantial portion of it would be hard (or impossible) to reliably re-download or recreate if it was lost.

I’m mainly curious how others here handle backups. Do most people keep cloned drives like this, use RAID/NAS setups, or something else entirely?

I’d imagine cloud backups for 9TB would get pretty expensive and take forever to upload, but maybe I’m underestimating how practical that has become these days. Or do some of you just throw caution to the wind and not keep full backups at all?

The Specials folder is great for series wide/longer length features, but one feature I really wish Plex had is episode-specific extras, similar to what it offers for movies. In a perfect setup, each episode could have its own:

Behind-the-scenes content

Trailers

Deleted scenes

Right now, the Specials folder is more for general, series-wide extras, which works—but it can get tedious jumping back and forth just to find something like a deleted scene tied to a specific episode.

I’ve come up with a few workarounds using Plex’s current limitations and wanted to share them—and see if anyone has better ideas.

1. “Extra Episodes” Method (Deleted Scenes in Season Folder)

For deleted scenes(and short episode specific interviews ) I usually add them directly into the season folder.

Example:

If a season has 26 episodes and 5 deleted scenes from that season, I’ll name them:

S01E27, S01E28, etc.

Then I label them clearly in metadata as deleted scenes.

To make it easier to find:

I add a note in the actual episode descriptions saying something like: “Deleted scenes available at the end of the season.”

Drawback:

Plex treats these as real episodes, so they show up in watch progress and “Up Next.”

Personally, I don’t mind this for older shows, but I can see why others would.

2. “Fake Season” Method (Organized Extras)

Another approach I’ve used is creating entirely new “seasons” for extras.

Example:

A show with 5 seasons → I create a Season 6

Then rename it in Plex to something like:

“Deleted Scenes”

“TV Movies”

“Audio Commentaries" ( if its not in the actual episode itself as a track)

This lets me organize extras more cleanly than dumping everything into Specials.

I’ve found this especially useful for cartoons and for shows where i have many categories of types of extras. .

For example, with The Real Ghostbusters, I created a separate “season” for the Slimer! segments, added custom artwork and metadata, and it works really well as a clean sub-library.

3. Playlists for Episode-Specific Content

For episode promos, one idea is to create playlists like:

Promo → Episode → Next Promo → Next Episode

But realistically, building that for a full series (100+ episodes) is pretty tedious.

4. Metadata Notes

Lately, I’ve been adding notes directly into episode descriptions, like:

“Has audio commentaries

“Deleted scenes available in folder X ”

Not ideal, but it helps surface what exists without digging.

Question

Has anyone come up with better ways to handle episode-specific extras in Plex?

Feels like there should be a cleaner system, but I haven’t found one yet.

Im nearing the end of a month cycle for Proton. Im using it primarily with qtorrent. I plan to cancel for a while as I plan to take a break from torrenting for few months. So i plan to do an occasional reup when I need VPN to be used. Similar to coming and going from subscription streamers like Netflix.

I have one remaining in- progress torrent. Its a slow one that could take a few days to download

Question: if I cancel my subscription and go back to free plan , how would it affect it - factoring in its not exactly downloading with crazy speeds anyway.

When I researched the difference between free and monthly,I mainly see that speeds are slower on Free.

On free, would my torrent continue to be bound to Proton or using that a paid subscription feature?

Also, would be interested in hearing any general feedback to those that have used paid Proton on spot duty, off and on and if theres any drawbacks to it

First, I do indeed bind my VPN to qtorrent. In my case, with Proton.

I have tested it to ensure its working properly and my torrents do indeed stall/stop whenever VPN is disrupted.

On occasion, after being on a VPN connection for about 2 days straight, Im getting a VPN/network driver issue (IRQL bugcheck), causing my cpu to crash and restart. Since my VPN is bond to Proton, I should be ok with protection. Im using an older computer running on Windows 10.

In order to prevent a system crash on an overnight torrent session, I sometimes restart my VPN on occasion, which seems to minimize/prevent a crash from happening.

What I do:

If im in the middle of downloading or seeding ( or both) , I stop all torrents, restart my vpn/switch connection, and quickly unbind and then rebind qtorrent back to Proton and then resume downloading/seeding. For whatever reason I * always* need to do this ( rebind) before downloads successfully resume again or able to add new torrents.

Am I ok?

Essentially, Im asking if all torrents are stopped or paused, am I safe to temporarily disconnect/ reconnect my vpn/ re-bind my vpn and still be protected? Is there any residual 'trace' that can still leak or be detected during that transition? Including websites that may still be on a minimized window on my browser

My torrent journey is likely temporary. Have been torrenting for about a month, and I don't anticipate to be doing it for much more than another month with thos older computer. .

And as a newbie, I am trying my best to do my part in seeding as much as I download.