Root Folder Problem

Help & Support
#1

Version 3.0.10.1567
Package Version 3.0.10 by Team Sonarr
Mono Version 6.12.0.200
AppData directory /var/lib/sonarr
Startup directory /usr/lib/sonarr/bin
Mode Console

debug logfile: Ubuntu Pastebin

I was looking around and found that I was downloading to a root folder. Sonar, for me, is running just right but this is wrong.

I checked sabnzbd.ini and found my root folder (/media/3tb/Sonarr) in:
[[tv]]
name = tv
order = 0
pp = “”
script = Default
dir = /media/3tb/Sonarr

I also found it in the tv category in sabnzbd+

All that, being the case, either one, or both of these things are wrong. I need to know which needs to be fixed.

Thank you…

#2

I am happy to help but require a bit of clarification of what you mean by root folder in this context. Obviously, the OS defines the root folder as “/” and the root user home as “/root” which is not what I assume you are referencing. SabNZBD has categories which have associated folder paths which I think is what you are referencing with the “tv” section you copied from your ini file. Sonarr itself has the idea of a root folder which references the root of the filesystem structure where Sonarr will move media it is managing.

When you define the download client in Sonarr (in your case your download client is SabNZBD) you also tell Sonarr what category to use when it sends media over to the download client or when it monitors downloads in the download client. I actually use sonarr for my category so that means I also have to have a SabNZBD category called sonarr. Did you use “tv” for the category in the download client definition inside Sonarr? When Sonarr sees downloads that are completed for the category you told it to monitor it will copy them to the Sonarr root folder you assigned to the series appended by the series name and season number typically. You can define the exact behaviour you want in settings/media management/episode naming in Sonarr. This will look like…

{Sonarr Root Folder}/{Series}/{Season}

In my system, SabNZBD’s sonarr category uses this folder…
/home/bergang/sonarr_stage

Sonarr uses two different root folders for media…
/home/bergang/tv_gh & /home/bergang/tvnbk_gh

So Sonarr moves media from /home/bergang/sonarr_stage to one of its two root folders depending on the series.

Would you be able to ask your question within the context of an OS folder vs SabNZBD category folder and a Sonarr root folder?

P.S. also please specify the undesirable behaviour you are seeing (i.e. Sonarr is not retrieving media from download client etc.)

#3

the other question is - how do you know they are wrong? ie what issue are you having that made you go looking to try and find a fix for it? there doesnt seem to be anything obvious in the logs youve linked

i presume sonarr may have spat out a warning that it was importing from a root folder? that is something you need to fix but its not hard - presuming that is the issue.

#4

I have been running for years with sabnzbd downloading to what Sonarr considers to be a root folder with absolutely no issues at all other than the nag message. Not to say that you should keep doing that but no problem in my Windows environment.

#5

sure you can survive for ages but depending on various config options you are constantly running the risk that sab will clean up a folder that has more in it than what was just downloaded.

considering its a very simple “fix” to ensure that sab can never delete your post downloaded stuff, why wouldn’t you make sure that can never happen?

#6

So I should change z:\Usenet Shows to Z:\ in Sonarr?

#7

probably not. we’d need to see the two folders you have setup first to confirm, and then suggest an alternative.

typically if z:\tv is your sonarr root path then you dont have your download client setup to also save to z:\tv. they can have the same parent (if you want moves to work), but if so then they should be different subfolders, eg z:\tv and z:\downloads

#8

Z:\ is the network share drive for my Synology Array. It has multiple subdirectories that sabnzbd categories point to for various download types. Four for movies, 1 for tv and 1 for music.

Sonarr thinks Z:\Usenet Shows is it’s root directory.

Radarr has four root folders:
Z:\Usenet Movies
Z:\Hallmark Movies
Z:\comedy
Z:\christmas movies

All five of those root folders are sabnzbd category destination folders.

The SAB temporary and completed download folders are both linked off the C drive.

#9

I think the way most people have their download clients set up is that they would have one category for Sonarr and one category for Radarr (each category pointing to a single category destination folder) and then use the media management functions of Sonarr and Radarr to move media into your unique media library locations. As @rhom has suggested usually the folder your download client uses is a peer to the root folder for Sonarr or Radarr to facilitate moves but still isolate any potential undesirable behaviour that the download client could have on your media library folders.

#10

could you confirm your sab categories? it will also show the completed folder path (which is from the folders tab).

image
image1433×572 73 KB

i just want to check if youre downloading directly into the sonarr/radarr folders or not.

realistically you want your download client to download it somewhere temporary, and then sonarr/radarr moves it to its final destination.

if this is the case then you should not be getting warnings about importing from a root folder, not for sab downloads anyway.

is that the only root folder you have set?

#11

Screenshot 2023-11-16 at 08-02-56 SABnzbd Config - Categories
Screenshot 2023-11-16 at 08-02-56 SABnzbd Config - Categories1890×930 139 KB

#12

so sab is putting all completed downloads for sonarr into the z:\usenet shows folder, which is where all your shows are correct?

so all it takes is for one download to contain a folder with the same name as one of your shows and when sab cleans up it deletes all the files for that show. its something you never want to happen, so you make sure it cant by moving that completed download folder outside of the sonarr root folder. especially as sonarr is going to move the file into the correct location anyway.

do you have a reason to keep the temporary download files on the c: drive and have sab move them to the z: drive when complete?

ie could you set your temporary download folder to z:\downloads\sabnzbd\temp instead?

if you could then it would be better as then the data wouldnt need to move from c to z, but its not absolutely necessary.

if you can, then start here

  • create a z:\downloads\sabnzbd\temp folder
  • in sab, on the folders tab, set your temporary download folder to z:\downloads\sabnzbd\ready
  • do the next bit as well

if you cant, then start here

  • create a z:\downloads\sabnzbd\ready folder
  • in sab, on the folders tab, set your completed download folder to z:\downloads\sab\ready
  • in sab change the folder/path for the tv category from z:\usenet shows to tv - this will mean sab will move completed (tv category) downloads to z:\downloads\sabnzbd\ready\tv for sonarr to pick up from there.

you can do the other categories the same way as well, as radarr does basically the same thing as sonarr and will move the files to the correct location, although with radarr i just set a single category of movies with a path of movies (so sab puts them in z:\downloads\sabnzbd\ready\movies) and set the root folder for each movie when i add them and radarr moves them there once theyre downloaded. theres no real reason for sab to know there are multiple types of movies if radarr is whats doing the moving…

the manual category would be slightly different, nothing is going to touch that category so any files would stay in the z:\downloads\sabnzbd\ready\manual folder until you moved them to where they should be, but i would think thats a bit more normal than having all your manual downloads going into your movies folder (unless you never manually download a tv show?). its also handy because you can get sonar or radarr to manually import from that manual folder when you need them to

#13

There is currently no special reason to keep the temporary folder on the C drive and I see your point about the extra overhead needed to “copy” instead of “move”. Considering that the whole goal of these tools is to automate the download process, I do a lot of manual intervention, partly to get as many shows and movies with subtitles as possible. I’m retired so I have plenty of time to play with it. :slight_smile:

I use a single nzb indexer for 90% of my manual downloads so the only time I use Radarr is when that indexer does not have a suitable version of the movie and I don’t want to bother checking the others manually.

#14

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