Films and series you already have

Coming from an old Jellyfin, or a drive of films? Use them where they are — nothing is moved.

If you already have films or series — in an old Jellyfin's folders, on a drive — the server uses them where they are. Nothing is moved, copied, renamed or deleted. It points Jellyfin at the folder, and Radarr and Sonarr too, so nothing you have is downloaded again.

Find the folder

In your old Jellyfin, open Dashboard → Libraries: each library shows the folder it reads. Your films and series are there. Jellyfin's own settings folder holds only its database, not the films.

Give the folder that holds a folder for each film or series, named the way Jellyfin names them:

Films/
  Inception (2010)/Inception (2010).mkv
  The Matrix (1999)/The Matrix (1999).mkv
Series/
  Breaking Bad/Season 01/Breaking Bad - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv

To copy a folder's path: on a Mac, select it in Finder and press ⌥⌘C; on Linux, cd into it in a terminal and run pwd.

While setting up

When the install command asks which drive or folder the server may use, give the one your media is in — /mnt/nvme/files, say. Setting up does not ask about the folders inside it: the server makes its own beside them — movies, tv, music and the rest, or movies-2 where movies is taken — and new films, episodes and albums go into those. Your own folders are added once it is set up.

Adding a folder

On the dashboard, open Media folders. Under Add a folder, choose what it holds — Films, Series, Music, Audiobooks or Podcasts — give the Folder, which suggests the folders there as you type, and press Add. Add as many as you like, of each kind.

Media folders lists every kind with its folders: the server's own first — Radarr saves here, say, or new ones go here — then the ones you added.

What happens to each folder

• Jellyfin — or Emby, or Plex — adds it to its Films or Series library, beside the server's own folder, and from there it is in Mediagg. Navidrome plays a music folder, and Audiobookshelf an audiobooks or podcasts one.
• Radarr or Sonarr looks up each film or series in it. A name with its year, Inception (2010), or with an id, Inception (2010) [tmdbid-27205], matches surely; anything less certain is left for you rather than guessed. The progress card says how many were recognised and names the rest — finish those in Radarr → Movies → Library Import, or Sonarr → Series → Library Import.
• A folder you add is played as it is. Radarr and Sonarr know what is in it, so nothing there is downloaded again, but they never look for anything missing there or download into it — new films and episodes go into the server's own folder. A music folder is played by Navidrome and not given to Lidarr at all.
• Bazarr, if you have it, can add subtitles to them.

Repair everything, under Settings, looks at the folder again and adds anything new, without adding anything twice.

Stopping

Stop using, beside the folder, takes its films or series out of the library. The files stay where they are, as they were before.

If a folder is on a drive that is unplugged, the dashboard says A folder of your films or series is not there, and the services that use it stop until it is back — plug it in and press Repair everything, or stop using it.

What does not come across

Your old Jellyfin's watch history, played marks and users. The files come across; this Jellyfin starts fresh.

In Mediagg, forget the old server so it does not show twice: Media servers → Manage servers → its menu → Forget this server. Then pair your phone and TV with the server, as in Your phone and TV.