plex-backup

Automated backup script for Plex Media Server, designed to run on Linux as a systemd timer. Backs up critical Plex data (preferences, plug-ins, databases), optionally stops Plex during the copy to ensure SQLite consistency, and can sync archives offsite to Backblaze B2 via rclone.

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What gets backed up

By default the script captures the following paths inside PLEX_DATA_DIR:

Path	Contents
Preferences.xml	Server settings
Plug-ins/	Installed plug-ins
Plug-in Support/Preferences/	Plug-in configuration
Plug-in Support/Databases/	Plug-in databases

The Metadata/ directory (cover art, artwork cache) is excluded by default because it is large and fully regenerable. Uncomment the relevant line in plex-backup.sh to include it.

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Requirements

• Linux with systemd
• Bash 4+
• tar, gzip (standard on any Linux distro)
• rclone — only required if offsite B2 sync is enabled

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Installation

1. Copy the script

sudo cp plex-backup.sh /usr/local/sbin/plex-backup.sh
sudo chmod 700 /usr/local/sbin/plex-backup.sh

2. Install the systemd units

sudo cp plex-backup.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo cp plex-backup.timer   /etc/systemd/system/

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now plex-backup.timer

3. Verify the timer is active

systemctl status plex-backup.timer
systemctl list-timers plex-backup.timer

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Configuration

All options are environment variables with sensible defaults. Override them by editing the Environment= lines in plex-backup.service, or export them in your shell for one-off runs.

Variable	Default	Description
PLEX_DATA_DIR	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server	Path to the Plex data directory
BACKUP_DIR	/var/backups/plex	Where local archives are written
KEEP_DAYS	14	Days of local archives to retain
STOP_PLEX	true	Stop Plex during copy for DB consistency
PLEX_SERVICE	plexmediaserver	systemd service name for Plex
COMPRESS	true	gzip the .tar archive
B2_REMOTE	(empty)	rclone remote path — enables B2 sync when set (e.g. b2:my-bucket/plex-backups)
B2_KEEP_DAYS	30	Days of archives to retain on B2

Example service override

[Service]
Environment=BACKUP_DIR=/mnt/nas/plex-backups
Environment=KEEP_DAYS=30
Environment=B2_REMOTE=b2:my-bucket/plex-backups
Environment=B2_KEEP_DAYS=60

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Schedule

The timer fires daily at 03:00 with up to 10 minutes of random jitter (RandomizedDelaySec=10min) to avoid thundering-herd issues on multi-machine setups. Persistent=true means a missed run (e.g. the machine was off) will execute on next boot.

To change the schedule, edit OnCalendar in plex-backup.timer. See man systemd.time for the calendar syntax.

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Offsite sync (Backblaze B2)

Set B2_REMOTE to an rclone remote path to upload each archive to B2 after the local backup completes. rclone must be installed and the remote pre-configured (rclone config).

# Quick test
sudo B2_REMOTE=b2:my-bucket/plex-backups /usr/local/sbin/plex-backup.sh

B2 retention is controlled independently from local retention via B2_KEEP_DAYS. Archives older than that threshold are deleted from the remote after each successful upload.

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Running manually

sudo /usr/local/sbin/plex-backup.sh

Or trigger via systemd (logs go to the journal):

sudo systemctl start plex-backup.service
journalctl -u plex-backup.service -f

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Archive format

Archives are written to BACKUP_DIR with the name:

plex-backup_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.tar.gz

Each archive contains a single plex/ directory tree mirroring the selected paths from PLEX_DATA_DIR.

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Restore

# Stop Plex
sudo systemctl stop plexmediaserver

# Extract into a temp location and inspect
sudo tar -xzf /var/backups/plex/plex-backup_20260101_030012.tar.gz -C /tmp/plex-restore

# Copy files back (adjust paths as needed)
sudo cp -a /tmp/plex-restore/plex/Preferences.xml \
    "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/"

# Restart Plex
sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver

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Logs

Output goes to the systemd journal under the identifier plex-backup.

# Follow live
journalctl -u plex-backup.service -f

# Last run
journalctl -u plex-backup.service -n 50