PLM cannot guarantee the absolute safety or non-corruption of your data. Data loss can occur due to software logic failures, unpredictable bugs, or even external factors (such as power outages or hard drive failures). The author has done his best to ensure PLM's data security.


Automatic Backup

After PLM starts, if the last backup time was more than one day ago, it will automatically back up the data. The default folder for storing backup data is "backup\##" under the installation folder, where ## is the day of the current month. For example, if the date is March 21, it will back up to "backup\21", and the backup file name will be bk.zip, retaining at most the previous two backups, bk1.zip and bk2.zip.

The main part of the backup is the *.dbt database files under the db folder. In addition, the configuration and script files under folders like config/script/scraper/language/home are also backed up. Users can edit the [Settings] section of plm.ini and set "BackupMasks=*.ini;*.json;*.xml;*.yaml;*.conf;*.cfg;*.pas;*.py;*.lua;*.js;*.htm;*.html;*.css" and "BackupDirs=db;config;language;script;home;aria2;wizard;scraper;web" to specify other extensions and folders to be backed up.

You can specify a "Double backup path" in the "System" configuration under the "Settings" menu to copy a second copy to that folder as well after each backup is completed (also generating date subfolders), to achieve the purpose of double backup.


Manual Backup

You can click the "Data" menu and select "Backup" to perform a manual backup, whose logic is the same as automatic backup. During backup, PLM will ask whether to reorder the numbering. If so, the sequence numbers of all files will be reordered according to the order of the directory where the file is located, which will appear neater, but may affect some configurations that depend on the original file ID.


Data Corruption

In case of database corruption caused by various reasons (such as power outages), PLM will detect whether the amount of data is consistent with the last use each time it starts. If it is inconsistent, it will prompt that the data is corrupted. In the best case, it will try to use the last backup file in the same directory to restore. If it fails, manual restoration is required.


Manual Restore

Users can select "Restore" from the "Data" menu to manually restore data, and select the appropriate bk*.zip to restore. The backup information will be displayed during restoration, so please use it with caution.


Read Data Back From NFO

In extreme cases, if the user loses all data but the video entity files are intact, PLM can be reinstalled and imported. PLM will attempt to load as much of the previously saved information as possible from the .nfo files.


How to Ensure Data Security as Much as Possible

  1. Install and enable appropriate security protection software to prevent viruses and ransomware. The author uses Huorong Security (for reference only, not a recommendation)
  2. Use high-quality hard drives/NAS. If storing media library files, it is strongly recommended to use mechanical hard drives. SSD hard drives/USB drives have the possibility of data loss if not powered for a long time. If using SSD, you need to use a good brand and a good reputation model from major manufacturers.
  3. Regular backup: Copy the entire PLM installation folder to another hard drive. Important media libraries should be backed up using additional hard drives/NAS. You can also consider using network (google drive/onedrive/Aliyun drive, etc.) hard drive backup.
  4. As mentioned in the automatic backup above, set up a "Double Backup" folder
  5. For important files (videos or photos), it is strongly recommended to use multiple mechanical hard drive backups. If there is a suitable and secure network drive/cloud drive, cloud backup is also recommended.
  6. NAS or local hard drive arrays use RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) function
  7. Equip a UPS so that the connected hard drives/NAS do not lose data due to a sudden power outage.