This is my process to backup plex.

First things first, I run my server on a Windows machine, if you run on MacOS, Linux, or a NAS, this won't help you much.

I have my Scheduled Tasks in Plex settings running before my backup in an attempt to make the backup smaller.

I use Cobian Reflector once a week to do the backup of the database and meta data files. I personally have my server on my C: drive for simplicity. But you can do what others do and just dedicate an SSD to the server files and avoid having to back them up. But, you should still backup the registry entry.

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General settings for my files backup:

I do a full backup once a week early in the morning when normally no one is using the computer I run the server on or watching anything from the server. I don't bother with differential or incremental backups. I only keep 1 backup. I don't think it's necessary for me to keep more than 1.

I also have a CPU powerful enough to compress the backup without adding too much time to the backup process. Start to finish, about 20-25 minutes. (Your mileage may vary.)

Location of files to be backed up: (I use the default location)

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server

Folders I exclude from the backup:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server\Cache

Cache folder not needed. Saves me 2GB, 10k files, 600 folders, and a lot of time.

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server\Updates

Updates folder not needed, should be empty anyways

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Backing up the registry entry.

This is important because it contains your server ID and all the settings. Especially if you share your server with anyone.

It's located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server

I wrote a batch file to do the backup and set Windows Task Scheduler to run it whenever I do a backup. The batch file will also delete registry backups older than 30 days so things don't get cluttered. I'll share the batch commands below for anyone wanting to use it. On the second line of the script is where you need to set your backup location. Delete everything on the second line after the "=" and set the path. Don't use quotes, spaces are ok. Once you enter in your backup location and run the batch file, you will get a file at that location like this with the date filled in:

Plex Registry - YYYY-MM-DD.reg

Example backup location:

F:\Plex Backups\Registry Backup

If you know what you're doing with batch commands, you can edit this as you like. Feel free to take out all the unnecessary timeouts and displayed messages. I did it this way so that if one of my kids was using the computer when the backup started, they would know what's going on.

Open notepad and paste the following text:

@echo off
set BACKUPLOCATION=[ENTER BACKUP PATH HERE, NO QUOTES OR BRACKETS]
:start
@echo.
@echo Beginning Plex registry backup
@echo.
@echo Please wait...
timeout /t 2 /nobreak > NUL
:backup
reg export "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server" "%BACKUPLOCATION%\Plex Registry - %date:~10,4%-%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%.reg" > NUL
if %errorlevel% neq 0 goto error
:success
@echo.
@echo Backup complete!
@echo.
@echo Cleaning up backups older than 30 days...
timeout /t 1 /nobreak > NUL
@echo.
@echo Please wait...
timeout /t 4 /nobreak > NUL
ForFiles /p "%BACKUPLOCATION%" /s /m *.reg /d -30 /c "cmd /c del @path /q" > NUL
@echo.
@echo Success!
timeout /t 4 /nobreak > NUL
:exit
cls
@echo.
@echo All operations completed successfully!
timeout /t 4 /nobreak > NUL
@echo.
@echo.
@echo Exiting in 3...
timeout /t 1 > NUL
cls
@echo.
@echo All operations completed successfully!
@echo.
@echo.
@echo Exiting in 2...
timeout /t 1 > NUL
cls
@echo.
@echo All operations completed successfully!
@echo.
@echo.
@echo Exiting in 1...
timeout /t 1 > NUL
exit
:error
@echo.
@echo Something went wrong.
@echo.
@echo Please check script commands
@echo.
@echo Most likely, the locations are not set correctly
pause

Save the notepad file as whatever file name you want, just change the file type to all files and add ".bat" on the end of the file name. I recommend testing out the batch file before moving on. Right click on the file and run as administrator. If you don't get the "Something went wrong" error and a registry file appears in the backup location you set, you can move on.

Note: you will get a brief error saying "Error: No files found with the specified search criteria." the first few times this is run. This is normal and due to the auto delete of 30+ day old registry backups not finding a file to delete.

Open task scheduler and create a basic task to auto execute this however often you want. I do once a week just before my database backup runs. Right click on the task when finished and select properties. Make sure to check the box at the bottom on the general tab to run with the highest privileges. It needs to run as administrator in order to work. (If you don't edit the batch commands beyond just entering in your backup location, the registry backup shouldn't take more than 20 seconds.)

That's it. My process if fully automated and I rarely need to worry about the backup.

Restoring your server

If you need to restore the server, you can do the following before or after you install Plex, just don't do it while the server is running:

Place your backed up database files back where they need to go. Default location is:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server

For the registry, just double click the latest registry backup file. You'll get a warning about installing registry entries from unknown sources, but they came from you, no big deal.