Moving Plex from Synology to TomSparkBox

Posted by BiltmoreLaker

Folks, I have a TomSparkBox "adjacent" question I need help with. I am switching from running Plex on a Synology NAS (directly installed - NOT via Docker) to Plex on a UGreen hosted SparkBox (which IS a Plex Docker implementation). I have a Plex Pass. My goal is to migrate the entire implementation over without losing any metadata (including retaining watch status, series identification-including watch-next status, etc.) I've copied the media over (using rsync with both implementations shut down). Now I need to copy/adjust the meta data, which I think is in a sqlite database plus need to know where they are on both systems so I can copy the relevant files over.. Tom AI says that the database contains explicit file location names that need to be altered to conform to the new media locations. But some online "guides" seem to say scanning will update that info automatically. Has anyone done this successfully and can guide me to the right way to do it? I just want to migrate the whole setup, not keep them in sync. And there is currently only one user. Thanks in advance.

4 replies

Chris wrote:

Got it — great thinking through metadata migration upfront. For Plex on SparkBox, the database files live at /opt/sparkbox/state/plex/ (or your SBDATADIR). Plex metadata is in the config directory. For your migration: 1. Stop both Plex instances (Synology and SparkBox) so they do not write during copy. 2. Backup your SparkBox Plex state directory first. 3. Copy the Plex config from Synology into SparkBox Plex state folder. 4. Restart SparkBox Plex: sparkbox restart plex. Plex will scan media; if paths changed, it will prompt you to re-map or rescan. Plex handles location changes well automatically. Since you have one user, no multi-user sync risk. Watch history and series metadata are in the database. Let me know how the migration goes — if you hit path conflicts or library won't scan, we can troubleshoot.

BiltmoreLaker wrote:

I need a bit more detail. First, there is no plex directory, on UGreen. Do I need to first run Plex, and do a scan, first before that directory is created? Then, would I turn off Plex and copy the files from Synology to Plex? The files with metadata that I need to move are at /Volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/ on Synology, I believe. Is this correct? Then, do I copy everything in that directory to /opt/sparkbox/state/plex/ then restart Plex and scan again?

Chris wrote:

Great questions — the directory path is a bit confusing on a fresh install, so let me clarify the exact steps: 1. Run Plex first on SparkBox to create its directories: - Start SparkBox's Plex app from the dashboard (Settings → Apps → Plex → Start). - Let it fully boot and initialize. Plex will create /opt/sparkbox/state/plex/ and its subdirectories on first run. - Once the web interface is reachable, stop Plex. 2. Copy Synology Plex metadata: - Your Synology path is correct: /Volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/ - Copy the entire contents of that folder to /opt/sparkbox/state/plex/ - This includes Plug-ins, Metadata, Preferences.xml, Library/Application Support/, and the databases. 3. Restart and rescan: - Restart Plex on SparkBox. - Plex will scan the media you've already copied over and update its library database with the new file paths. - Since paths changed, Plex may prompt you to confirm or re-scan sections — that's normal and safe. One note: if you run into path conflicts (like Plex expecting /Volume1/media but your UGreen path is different), you can manually edit Preferences.xml to update the media library paths before restart, but most people find Plex's automatic path remapping works fine. Let me know once you've copied things over and restarted — if libraries don't show up, we can check the logs.

Chris wrote:

BiltmoreLaker - checking in: did those steps get you to the point where Plex can see the media folder? Let me know if you hit any snags.