Rescan Speed

[simoncn]

I would like to improve the performance of rescanning a single file or folder. This is not as simple as it might seem because of the way MinimServer rescanning works.

A rescan requires the server to restart and rebuild its internal metadata for the entire library. Even if only one file is changed or added, all the internal metadata is rebuilt. There are some technical reasons for why it is done this way but I won't go into these here.

For a small or medium-sized library, this doesn't matter too much. The worst case is a large library with a very small number of changed files.

If it takes 3 minutes to do the rescan, this is about the same time as it takes to play a song. You can start a song and then start the rescan. The song will continue to play while the rescan is happening. By the time the song has finished, your new playlist should be available.