8 hours ago
Hi all! New here and may just need something obvious pointed out to me - I've gone through the forum, done all the quick fixes, and done a fair bit of other research and couldn't find anyone else who was having the same problem I'm having so coming here for guidance. I suspect it might be a Windows issue rather than a Jellyfin one, but hoping someone here may have some insight. TL;DR Jellyfin Windows install has issues playing - but not displaying - content from one specific external hard drive.
Been playing around with Jellyfin for the past month for personal use, really enjoying it and endlessly appreciate all the hard work from the devs and community that keep it running; Have had some ups and downs but had everything working fairly consistently - simple set up on windows 11 with tailscale. Problem started when I got a SeaGate 5TB external HDD and consolidated the shows from a few different drives onto it, completely remapped the libraries' folders to better fit my use. The new drive isn't working in a very specific way. When I scanned to add all the new media I'd moved to the drive, all the media shows up without issue, but won't play, just has an endlessly spinning buffer wheel and doesn't open the media.
Some of this was media new to the Jellyfin server so I don't think it's an issue with the changed file path (which I've encountered and resolved before). Both new and old shows are having the same issue. The external drives haven't changed letters (E: and F: ) since setup, and remain connected the entire time the server is running. To troubleshoot, I deleted the "Shows" library, shutdown the server, changed the drive to "S:", rebooted the server, and added the drive as a folder under the new filepath. Same exact issue.
I thought maybe it was an issue with external HDD - but the drive with my movies on is able to play those files fine
I thought it could be an issue with the files themselves if they got corrupted, but they play locally on VLC without issue.
I thought it was an issue with the browser - I've replicated the issue on three devices, including the one the server is running on - it's not a network problem.
I considered maybe it was an issue with TV shows or the media format specifically, but I have TV episodes in a different library whose files are stored on an internal HDD D: and they played fine.
I thought maybe they were "ghost shows," that somehow the metadata and file structure had been saved but the content hadn't, but I deleted and rebuilt the library and everything pulled in again, still couldn't play.
I've rescanned, deleted cache, removed plugins, deleted the library and built it again, tried changing the problem drive to a different letter, and haven't been able to sort this out.
I know sometimes NTFS drives can cause issues with Linux builds, but I'm running on a pretty simple windows setup. Forum user jdesat had a similar issue, but just had the drive at the wrong location and didn't realize it - I don't believe that's what's happening here. I can't think of any (simple) reason for this issue other than something drive specific with this new external HDD, would really appreciate if someone could point out something obvious I'm missing.
I now have Movies in F: on a 2TB ext hard drive, Shows in S: on the new problem drive, and a combination locally in internal HDD D: with it's own "purgatory" library. All libraries are mapped correctly. "Shows" is the only one experiencing this issue. On Windows 11, running 10.11.3. Not sure if related, but I somehow have Jellyfin ServerData in both AppData and ProgramData - I uninstalled and reinstalled with the .exe and after a week found full Jellyfin folders in both locations. I try to consistently use the Windows tray to launch to avoid issues but I suspect this is causing some problems in the background - I'll make a separate post about this but wanted to mention as it's the only abnormality in my setup I cant think of.
The problem drive is model #STKM5000400, SeaGate "Expansion portable hard drive 5TB." My little 2TB WD Passport isn't having the same issue, nor is any content stored locally. My suspicion is some formatting or security component on the drive not enabling some access to Jellyfin, but not sure how to fix this. Tried to find it on the forum page but if logs are needed please provide specific directions
Truly thanks for your time and apologies for over/underexplaining!
Been playing around with Jellyfin for the past month for personal use, really enjoying it and endlessly appreciate all the hard work from the devs and community that keep it running; Have had some ups and downs but had everything working fairly consistently - simple set up on windows 11 with tailscale. Problem started when I got a SeaGate 5TB external HDD and consolidated the shows from a few different drives onto it, completely remapped the libraries' folders to better fit my use. The new drive isn't working in a very specific way. When I scanned to add all the new media I'd moved to the drive, all the media shows up without issue, but won't play, just has an endlessly spinning buffer wheel and doesn't open the media.
Some of this was media new to the Jellyfin server so I don't think it's an issue with the changed file path (which I've encountered and resolved before). Both new and old shows are having the same issue. The external drives haven't changed letters (E: and F: ) since setup, and remain connected the entire time the server is running. To troubleshoot, I deleted the "Shows" library, shutdown the server, changed the drive to "S:", rebooted the server, and added the drive as a folder under the new filepath. Same exact issue.
I thought maybe it was an issue with external HDD - but the drive with my movies on is able to play those files fine
I thought it could be an issue with the files themselves if they got corrupted, but they play locally on VLC without issue.
I thought it was an issue with the browser - I've replicated the issue on three devices, including the one the server is running on - it's not a network problem.
I considered maybe it was an issue with TV shows or the media format specifically, but I have TV episodes in a different library whose files are stored on an internal HDD D: and they played fine.
I thought maybe they were "ghost shows," that somehow the metadata and file structure had been saved but the content hadn't, but I deleted and rebuilt the library and everything pulled in again, still couldn't play.
I've rescanned, deleted cache, removed plugins, deleted the library and built it again, tried changing the problem drive to a different letter, and haven't been able to sort this out.
I know sometimes NTFS drives can cause issues with Linux builds, but I'm running on a pretty simple windows setup. Forum user jdesat had a similar issue, but just had the drive at the wrong location and didn't realize it - I don't believe that's what's happening here. I can't think of any (simple) reason for this issue other than something drive specific with this new external HDD, would really appreciate if someone could point out something obvious I'm missing.
I now have Movies in F: on a 2TB ext hard drive, Shows in S: on the new problem drive, and a combination locally in internal HDD D: with it's own "purgatory" library. All libraries are mapped correctly. "Shows" is the only one experiencing this issue. On Windows 11, running 10.11.3. Not sure if related, but I somehow have Jellyfin ServerData in both AppData and ProgramData - I uninstalled and reinstalled with the .exe and after a week found full Jellyfin folders in both locations. I try to consistently use the Windows tray to launch to avoid issues but I suspect this is causing some problems in the background - I'll make a separate post about this but wanted to mention as it's the only abnormality in my setup I cant think of.
The problem drive is model #STKM5000400, SeaGate "Expansion portable hard drive 5TB." My little 2TB WD Passport isn't having the same issue, nor is any content stored locally. My suspicion is some formatting or security component on the drive not enabling some access to Jellyfin, but not sure how to fix this. Tried to find it on the forum page but if logs are needed please provide specific directions
Truly thanks for your time and apologies for over/underexplaining!
