I’m posting this to help other Plex users that have Western Digital OS5 NAS MyCloud Pro Devices (tested on PR2100, but should be the same for PR4100) that need to move their Plex server from one OS5 MyCloud to another without losing playlists, album art, metadata and other personal preferences. This is a step by step guide designed for newbies (like me) that I have assembled from numerous different forum posts that each contributed to finally getting it solved. I hope this helps you have less frustration in accomplishing the objective than I had by consolidating all of the steps and peculiarities you might encounter and making the transfer smooth and effective.
The first step is to fire up your new NAS and make sure you update the firmware on both your original NAS and your new NAS so that they are both running on the same version. I’d advise you to also turn off auto update while you are working on the transfer (settings>Firmware Update>Auto Update>Off) to prevent an accidental update during the transfer process. Remember to turn it back to ON when the entire process is complete if that is your preference.
Once you have both NASs on the same firmware version, I’d advise you to set up a share that contains all of your media files (music, movies, pictures, etc.) (Share +Folder). I had all of my media stored in one Share called Media in the Original NAS with folders for various media types. All I had to do was simply copy those folders from the Original NAS to the Media Share I created on the New NAS. I’ve read in some forums that you do not have to keep the same folder structure, but you would have to give me a really good reason to change the folder/file structure to risk doing so in the middle of trying to transfer Plex, so I’d advise keeping it at least until after a successful transfer.
The next thing you need to do is to copy the Plex files that are your personal customizations to Plex (i.e. playlists, album art and other metadata). This is where there is A LOT of outdated information or information that is not accurate and particular to MyCloud PRs running OS5 in various forums.
The first step is to check the version of the Plex Media Server (PMS) on the Original NAS and update it to the latest version. To check for updates, open the Original NAS UI select Apps>Plex Media Server>Configure. This opens the Plex UI. In the upper right hand corner, click the image of a wrench (settings) and then click General for your server on the left hand navigation under your Plex Server Name and select check for updates. If you are up to date, note the version # and find the bin file you used to update PMS (for example C:\downloads\PlexMediaServer-1.29.2.6364-6d72b0cf6-MyCloudPR2100_OS5.bin) . The version # from that file is important because you will need that bin file later for your New NAS.
If you do need to do an update (or you have never done one before for your MyCloud PR NAS), download the update file and instead of opening the bin file, find the download location of the file. Open the Original NAS UI, Select Apps, select Install an App Manually from the left hand link under the App Store Image.
This will then let you select the PlexMediaServer bin file you downloaded, install and let it complete. Once installed, from the Original NAS UI, select apps>Plex Media Server. It should show the new version. If not turned on, turn on PMS and check that your Plex system is working as expected. Then, return to the Apps>Plex Media Server>OFF. It is critical that you turn off PMS at this point.
Open the UI for the New NAS. If PMS is already installed and on, turn off PMS from Apps>Plex Media Server>OFF. Regardless of the PMS version you have on your new NAS, UNINSTALL it from your New NAS from Apps>Plex Media Server>Uninstall.
We are now at the point where we can copy the Plex folders we will need to maintain our preferences from the Original NAS to the New NAS. Find the IP address of the Original and New NAS. NAS UI>Settings>Network IPv4 IP Address: xx.xx.x.xxx. While in there, scroll down to Network Services and set SSH to “ON”. (IMPORTANT- Western Digital asks you to acknowledge that turning this feature on will void your warranty. I personally am a bit offended by all the ways they try to trip you up into voiding your warranty. Similarly, their shipping instructions for a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) states that it will not be honored if you do not follow all of their return and packaging instructions. One section says clearly write the RMA # on outside of the shipping box and one says to write it on three sides. Easy way to trip you up because writing it once violates one of their rules and writing it on three sides violates the other. Anyway, voiding your warranty to turn on SSH, a service that must be activated on your NAS to access the Plex folders you need to transfer or to use features they promote on the device like Remote Backups, which also requires SSH, shouldn’t violate your warranty. I get why they don’t want you messing around in their underlying file structure but they shouldn’t violate your warranty unless you do something outside of copying data files or setting up remote backups. I don’t know how seriously they enforce this, but my experience is they will use any excuse possible to evade warranty claims. If they don’t want you in there, their UI should offer a means of backing up Plex Meta Files and setting up remote backups. Anyway, back to the steps…)
Ok, where we left off we were in Settings>Network and scrolled down under Network Services to turn SSH to “ON”. A window opens up asking you to acknowledge that you are voiding your warranty which you must accept if you want your Plex Files, then you click on the “Configure>>” link.
Configure>> link window asks you to set up a new password and to verify it by re-entering. Make it a secure password, different from your admin password, because this lets someone accessing your system at potentially low level access and do some serious damage. I highly advise turning SSH back to off once you have a complete successful migration.
This next step I could not find in any documentation or forums but for newbies like me I was at a loss as to how to get access to the files I needed since the NAS UI hides the files. I stumbled across an excellent you tube video that clearly explained it, but I’m not going to share the link to it because the instructions were for OS3 which is different than the PMS files for OS5, which caused me to redo the attempted transfer and introduced some other problems.
You will need to install on your PC an app that allows for “sshd”. There several free and paid versions, the video that helped me figure it out suggested a free Windows app called WinSCP (WinSCP :: Official Site :: Free SFTP and FTP client for Windows). If you already have another SFTP and FTP client, feel free to use it. The files and locations described here will still be applicable.
Open your SFTP client (i.e. WinSCP). It will ask you to login to a new site. WinSCP defaults to SFTP for the File protocol, and Port 22 (you may need to enter this info in other SFTP clients). The Host Name: is the IP address of your Original NAS. The user name is sshd (ALL LOWER CASE). The password is the password you created when configuring SSH on your Original NAS.
This will bring you to a file navigation of your Original NAS exposing files and folders you cannot access from the NAS UI. You need to click up to the level where a folder called mnt is located. Double click on the mnt folder to open it, then HD/HD_a2/Nas_Prog. I’d suggest you set up a folder on your PC for PlexMigration (a good place to store the PMS bin file used to upgrade your PMS too). Once in mnt/HD/HD_a2/Nas_Prog, find the folder named plexmediaserver. Copy this file to your local PC (i.e. store in your PC’s PlexMigration folder). It took me about 10-15 minutes to copy this file. I would not interrupt it if it takes longer…just be patient. In OS3, that is the only file you needed for a Plex Migration. That is not true in OS5. Much of the WD & Plex Forums only mention this file which if you attempt an OS5 migration with just this file, it will fail. Trust me, I tried it.
For OS5, then navigate to the plex_conf file so that you are at: mnt/HD/HD_a2/Nas_Prog/plex_conf. Copy the folder Plex Media Server to your PC’s PlexMigration folder. This file will likely take a long time to copy. It took me over an hour for this file.
You might want to copy both of these files as backups occasionally in case you ever need to restore your Plex on another OS5 NAS. (Same holds true for the OS3 plexmediaserver file if restoring to another OS3. I don’t know if or how to migrate from OS3 to OS5 without upgrading original to OS5. I read quite a few people had problems with that upgrade but I didn’t and I’d suggest getting off of OS3 if you can due to waning support. I had to do that because of a factory reset of my New NAS and it required a couple of upgrade steps, but I didn’t have any problems once I found the upgrade files on the WD download site.)
Ok, so now your PC has copies of the PMS files you need to keep your playlist, art, metadata, etc. for your New NAS PMS. Open the UI on your New NAS. Go to Settings>Network and turn on SSH, acknowledge voiding another warranty, and configure another new secure password for your New NAS, again different than both admin and the Original NAS SSH password.
Next, on the New NAS, navigate to Apps and click on Install an App Manually. Navigate to the PMS bin file we used to upgrade PMS on the Original PMS. DO NOT install the PMS from the App Store on your New NAS and upgrade it. Just use the bin file by Install and App Manually link. It will install successfully, PMS will probably be turned ON. If not, turn it ON, click Configure, which opens a new browser tab for Plex. Let it complete opening. You may need to login in. Then return to the New NAS UI and turn off Plex by selecting Apps>Plex Media Server> OFF.
Now, open your WinSCP (or whatever SFTP Client you use). Login to a New Site, with SFTP as File protocol, port 22, Your New NAS IP address as Host name, sshd as user name (case sensitive) and the SSH password you created for your New NAS. Navigate to: mnt/HD/HD_a2/Nas_Prog.
Copy the back-up copy of plexmediaserver saved to your PC to the Nas_Prog folder. It will take some time. Next, navigate to: mnt/HD/HD_a2/Nas_Prog/plex_conf If there is no plex_conf folder, create one so you can navigate to it. Copy the back up folder Plex Media Server from your PC to the plex_conf folder. This will take some time. Mine took 1.5 hours.
Once complete, open New NAS UI>Apps>Plex Media Server>ON. Then click configure which should open a new browser tab with the PMS UI. You should be able to login and see your libraries and playlists, etc.
It is a good idea to confirm library file locations and settings for each library and do a scan of libraries. Now, that isn’t what happened for me. When I hit configure for Plex Media Server after copying the files, I got a File Not Found on this Server error. No Plex UI. Fortunately I found the solution to that in the WD Forum from TylerV76. He said:
“If you can’t access Plex after the update, then turn off Plex, Uninstall it in the WD app section, ssh in again and delete both Plex folders. Now install the Plex bin file, open the config page then turn off plex again.
Now load your back up folders and files. You will need to rebuild your libraries but will retain your settings.”
I did this and it worked. I didn’t need to rebuild my libraries either and all my playlists worked.
Good luck and I hope this helped someone.
