Migrating from one PC to another - what will I lose?

[tompw]

My JF server is a very old PC that causes me all kinds of grief (for non-JF reasons), so I'm planning on getting a new PC.

All my media is on an external hard drive.  My plan is to connect that to my new PC, install JF, and point it at the relevant folders.

My question is: what data / things / stuff will I lose by doing this?

Things I know I will have lose (and have to re-create):
* Collections
* User profiles
* Playlists
* Watch history

Things I will know will remain (right?):
* Album / song metadata
* Custom thumbnails for media

Things I am unsure about:
* Artist/author images?
* ... what else?

[fontmasterflex]

I'm fairly new but if your media is on an external... and jellyfin web interface is on the web... why would you lose any of that?

[tompw]

I'm fairly new but if your media is on an external... and jellyfin web interface is on the web... why would you lose any of that?

Great question!

The answer is the Jellyfin server database is *not* stored in the same place as the media; it's wherever you installed the serve software.

So in my case, the server database sits on the internal hard drive of my computer, and that won't be copied to my new computer. I'm essentially asking what info is stored in the database.

[TheDreadPirate]

What OS is the server running?

Backup the folder that applies to your OS/install type and restore it on the new server.

Windows - C:\ProgramData\Jellyfin
Linux - /etc/jellyfin /var/lib/jellyfin /var/cache/jellyfin

[theguymadmax]

If you're moving between the same OS (I'm assuming Windows to Windows), then backing up and restoring shouldn't be an issue. You just need to ensure the media is in the same path.

For example:

• If your media is stored at:
  
  D:\media\
  
  
• When you set up the new computer, as long as the media is in the same path and you copy the backup over, everything should work just fine.
  

However, if the media paths differ, it won't work. For example:

• If your old media path is:
  
  C:\Users\Maximus\Documents\Media
  
  
• But your new path is:
  
  C:\Users\Max\Documents\Media
  
  

That won't work—it needs to be exactly the same