I really want to get started.

I have a big library of files on a HDD. I will run it off my home computer, and it will be exclusively for my home network.

Question 1: Is it fine to run my desktop computer as a server and a client? I don’t actually know how Plex works yet, so I may be describing it wrong. Currently I watch things on my Desktop Computer. I want to continue this but through Plex instead of just using VLC. If I do add more clients, only one will be viewing at a time. I do have a Raspberry Pi available, but was hoping to use it as a client at a later time instead of a server,

Question 2: Can I scan my media folder in Plex to get started, and then later rescan my Plex library after I rename files? I haven’t reorganised all my files yet, a lot of them should be fine but I don’t have time to do it all now. Some of them I may never bother renaming or reorganising. I don’t mind Plex having to do all the posters and stuff again.

Question 3: What does Plex do for the re-encoding? I think I read that Plex encodes the video files. Does this create new files on the HHD? My drive is pretty full. I don’t have enough space for duplicates in another codec. Does this process replace the files? Will I have to have my Plex drive only contain converted videos? Is there a process to encode from my storage drive to my Plex drive without disturbing my storgate drive? Space is at a premium and I don’t want to risk Plex altering my media on my storage drive.

Thank you.

  • terribleplanEnglish
    1•1 year ago
    1. Yeah, that’s fine. Your experience on the same machine as the server will likely not be much different than that if anotherachine on your home network.
    2. That should be fine, Plex can scan on a schedule or when files change/get added/whatever. I am not 100% sure, but I think it will even still remember your watch statuses due to how it detects and matches movies with places like themoviedb.org. It is a very good idea to at least have stuff like movies/TV split up in advance so you can set up your libraries right.
    3. It re-encodes on the fly, but will need some disk to store those files temporarily. Also, depending on the media (codecs for audio/video, container, subtitles, etc) it may not have to re-encode them at all. E.g. an mp4 with h264 video and aac/mp3 audio and no subtitles should be streamable to any device without having to do anything.