How to REALLY disable thumbnail generation, for REAL, like seriously

[schumaku]

Thanks for guessing - but I'm looking for documented procedures to this. There appear to be none.

For QNAP the thumbnails in File Station are a feature - not an option. Wrong place to complain here. -> https://helpdesk.qnap.com/ and request a feature (change).

[TimRideout]

Thanks - I'm not complaining tho - I'm looking for a solution to a "feature" that many claim to want to - and know how to - disable. No one claiming to know how to disable the thumbnails has yet been able to provide data on how to do it reliably. Weird! Not a complaint, just statement of fact...

[Spider99]

Why bang your head against a wall - asking for a solution to something thats not documented (as a lot of things are not) and refuse to understand your causing the problem by maintaining media library that has the feature of generating thumbnails all over your nas

remove all the qnap media applications e.g. video/photo stations and any other addon's you have added that are media related - turn media library off - you can even turn of media library for each shared root folder as well if you want

reboot

go into ssh and delete all your .@__thumb folders either by hand (major PIA) or run a script - lots of threads on that - only documentation on that is the forums so....

you are now free to install a third party application to handle your media needs

Will take all of 20 minutes tops - i have done this numerous times - no thumbnails for years

I no its annoying as i had my media library triple in number of files almost overnight 500k to well over a million - so as a routine on any new install one of the first things i do is uninstall/disbale video/photo/music/download stations etc and the media addons - virtually every qnap app - then i add back what i want and test (if necessary) and get a minimal install that works reliably.

Remember this is a community forum the people you shout and scream at are just like you and provide their time because they want to - ranting turns people off very quickly and can result in being ignored even when you have a a critical issue.

Have fun

[SaberBlaze]

For QNAP the thumbnails in File Station are a feature - not an option. Wrong place to complain here. -> https://helpdesk.qnap.com/ and request a feature (change).

I just want to be absolutely sure, but are you saying that there is currently positively no way to disable thumbnail creating when using QFile/File Station? I too have read many if not all threads online on how to disable thumbnails, but to no avail. I have a TS-451+ running 4.2.2. I disabled it in the three usual places, in File Station under general options (support multimedia playback and thumbnail display), under control panel/applications/multimedia management/media library (deactivate media library), removed all folders listed under "media folder" as well as trying the option under control panel/system settings/general settings (disable and hide the home/multimedia features). I have also made sure none of the shares are listed as "media folders" in their properties. I have rebooted the NAS. Thumbnail folders and thumbnails are only created when using QFile or File Station. I don't use File Station however QFile is convenient for family members to access their files.

I got this QNAP not too long ago so I haven't copied all of my data and media to it yet, just testing features etc. I have been using test folders to see if thumbnail creation has really been disabled, unfortunately it looks like it hasn't. The only thing that seems to change is that when I delete the .@__thumb folder, QFile won't recreate it when I visit that folder again. If I add any new media however, the folder is then recreated again. It is also recreated if a different user goes to that folder using QFile, if they haven't been to that folder before.

So is it my understanding that despite disabling thumbnails in all possible areas, thumbnails will always be created if using QFile/File Station, correct? There is no way around this if one wishes to use QFile?

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

I just want to be absolutely sure, but are you saying that there is currently positively no way to disable thumbnail creating when using QFile/File Station?

step 1: disable thumbnails here. there is also a storage size used yo determine how much space is used by all thumbnails generated by qnap here

media library p8.jpg

step2: make sure this is unticked in filestation under settings.

filestation p12.jpg

step3: enjoy


schuma already posted same solution here i see
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=116501#p516158

but the original ts wanted to still leave media library enabled, but not generate thumbnail. not sure that is possible. as far as i could tell, you could set it to manual scan, but i notice that thumbnail generation was occuring regardless that no task was actively running in background tasks, or that it was set to scan manual. not sure if that was a bug in 4.3 or not :X

but to disable thumbnail you can do in those 2 areas in qts mentioned.

[SaberBlaze]

Hi, thanks for you help however as I stated in my previous post I have already done those steps. To reiterate, thumbnails are only created when using either QFile or File Station. The only possible options seem to be not to use any QNAP apps or run a script every day to delete all thumbnails folder...

[OneCD]

To reiterate, thumbnails are only created when using either QFile or File Station. The only possible options seem to be not to use any QNAP apps or run a script every day to delete all thumbnails folder...

You can also disable ffmpeg. That's what I did.

[SaberBlaze]

You can also disable ffmpeg. That's what I did.

So that's the process that generates all those thumbnails? How would I go about disabling it? I don't see it using ps command, I'm assuming it only runs briefly when generating thumbnails. That would also disable transcoding correct? Although apparently transcoding only works for the admin account unfortunately so it's not that big a sacrifice.

[SaberBlaze]

Ok, disabling ffmpeg finally did it. It is located in /usr/local/medialibrary/bin/ffmpeg

Doing

Code: Select all

chmod -x /usr/local/medialibrary/bin/ffmpeg

makes it unable to execute anymore, no more d*mn thumbnails lol. However I believe like most things it gets reset during a restart so it needs to be autorun from a script. This forum post has some more info on it:
viewtopic.php?t=83340#p404831

Pain in the b*tt, but now we know the definitive way to disable thumbnail generation once and for all. Has anyone tried if that autorun.sh survives a reboot?

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Ok, disabling ffmpeg finally did it. It is located in /usr/local/medialibrary/bin/ffmpeg

Doing

Code: Select all

chmod -x /usr/local/medialibrary/bin/ffmpeg

makes it unable to execute anymore, no more d*mn thumbnails lol. However I believe like most things it gets reset during a restart so it needs to be autorun from a script. This forum post has some more info on it:
viewtopic.php?t=83340#p404831

Pain in the b*tt, but now we know the definitive way to disable thumbnail generation once and for all. Has anyone tried if that autorun.sh survives a reboot?

just wondering, but when you disable ffmpeg this way, can it still be used for playback?

i used the ffmpeg qpkg for emby

[SaberBlaze]

just wondering, but when you disable ffmpeg this way, can it still be used for playback?

i used the ffmpeg qpkg for emby

Not sure, but I'd imagine so. You can test it out by using chmod -x, and trying out emby. If it doesn't work you restore by using chmod +x. I know for transcoding when it's non-executable QFile won't give the option to transcode. No biggie, since transcoding is only available to admin account and I'm not gonna be using that for QFile anyway. It would be better to disable whatever process or method is calling on ffmpeg to generate the thumbnails instead of disabling ffmpeg but this is the best we've got unfortunately.

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Not sure, but I'd imagine so. You can test it out by using chmod -x, and trying out emby. If it doesn't work you restore by using chmod +x. I know for transcoding when it's non-executable QFile won't give the option to transcode. No biggie, since transcoding is only available to admin account and I'm not gonna be using that for QFile anyway. It would be better to disable whatever process or method is calling on ffmpeg to generate the thumbnails instead of disabling ffmpeg but this is the best we've got unfortunately.

ty yeah i recall in emby there was some settings about creating thumbnails, but i kept it to default cause i wasn't sure where it would store those thumbnails, cause i didn't want it put in my media folder. o well now i know it does that.

[OneCD]

Ok, disabling ffmpeg finally did it. It is located in /usr/local/medialibrary/bin/ffmpeg

Doing

Code: Select all

chmod -x /usr/local/medialibrary/bin/ffmpeg

makes it unable to execute anymore, no more d*mn thumbnails lol. However I believe like most things it gets reset during a restart so it needs to be autorun from a script. This forum post has some more info on it:
viewtopic.php?t=83340#p404831

Pain in the b*tt, but now we know the definitive way to disable thumbnail generation once and for all. Has anyone tried if that autorun.sh survives a reboot?

Just got home, ready to post, then saw that you had worked it out. Bravo.

Yes, that's the way I do it. With a script that runs as part of my NAS startup.

[SaberBlaze]

One more thing, even though the .@__thumb folder is no longer created for photo folders, if there are any videos it still creates an empty .@__thumb folder with an empty transcode folder inside. I suppose 2 empty directories is better than tons of thumbnails...

Also, does the autorun script survive a firmware upgrade?

[OneCD]

Also, does the autorun script survive a firmware upgrade?

Yes.