diff --git a/2025-01-15_Plex-Database-Repair.md b/2025-01-15_Plex-Database-Repair.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..44498c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/2025-01-15_Plex-Database-Repair.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +date: 2025-01-15 +title: Plex Database Repair +tags: + - homelab + - plex + - troubleshooting +--- + +About a year ago, my Plex container stopped working after updating to a newer image. I was able to work around the issue +by pinning the container version to the last working image prior to the breaking update. Over the course of this past +year, I've occasionally spent some time reading through forum posts, trying to upgrade to different newer versions, and +doing my best to glean something useful from the generic database errors that I could find in the container logs. This +week I changed up my search terms and found a solution. + +## The Problem +Somehow, I ended up in a state where I had a working Plex instance, but upgrading the container to a newer image would +fail. Either the server would fail to start outright, or it would start with all of my libraries showing up empty. +Rolling back to the older image always gave me a working instance, so it was never a particularly high priority for me +to diagnose and fix the issue (tbh, I was hoping Jellyfin would address music transcoding with Android Auto and I could +finally just migrate to that). Eventually, I figured out that the issue was coming from a database operation as part of +a migration that happens during container init. + +## The Solution +Once I realized this was a database issue, I was able to find +[this Plex support article](https://support.plex.tv/articles/repair-a-corrupted-database/) that discusses repairing a +database. I ended up rebuilding the database using the process towards the end of that article, and then I was able to +pull the latest Docker image which started right up (after running that database migration). As far as I can tell, all +of my libraries, watch history, playlists, etc. are still there. + +## Closing Thoughts +I have no idea what happened to cause my database to become corrupted, but I believe it is the same database I started +with when I was running Plex on Windows, over 10 years ago. I do wish Plex had friendlier tools for database +import/export and migration; the documented process of just copying the application data isn't particularly friendly for +capturing backups and I have no idea how to work with that to efficiently scale out a Plex container for high +availability. + +In any case, I have Plex back up and running without any major issues :tada: . I still plan on moving to Jellyfin, but +it doesn't currently let me play my music library in my car (Android Auto only does direct playback), so I'm sticking +with Plex for the time being. \ No newline at end of file