diff --git a/scripts/media-apply.py b/scripts/media-apply.py
index cf7fe65..88fe766 100755
--- a/scripts/media-apply.py
+++ b/scripts/media-apply.py
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ cross a filesystem (rename cannot do it and a silent copy at 24 TB would not).
 --force relaxes only the guards that are opinion (journal already rolled back,
 paths outside --root); it never allows overwriting a file.
 
+--metadata-view names the overlay the media servers read their library through
+(default /var/lib/media-meta/view). The sidecar follow-up printed after an apply
+or rollback is conditioned on that path being a mountpoint: where no view is
+mounted the servers bind the array itself, the sidecars moved with the media,
+and a reap order would point at a directory that is not there.
+
 The journal defaults to `media-relayout.jsonl` BESIDE the library root, never
 inside it: a log inside the library is a file Jellyfin will index.
 """
@@ -114,13 +120,24 @@ def read_plan(path, root, force):
     return mkdirs, keeps, moves
 
 
-# A relayout moves bytes on the raw array; the sidecars the media servers wrote
-# live in the SSD overlay and stay at the old coordinates. Naming the follow-up
-# here is the point of use for that fact — see the Media Metadata View page.
+# The media servers may read the library through the SSD overlay view
+# (scripts/media-view.sh). A relayout moves bytes on the raw array, so sidecars
+# the servers wrote through that view stay at the old coordinates — naming the
+# follow-up here is the point of use for that fact, but only where the view
+# exists: where it is not mounted the servers bind the array itself, the
+# sidecars moved with the media, and a reap order points at a directory that
+# is not there. See the Media Metadata View page for the host's state.
+METADATA_VIEW = "/var/lib/media-meta/view"
 METADATA_HINT = ("note: sidecars written through the metadata view did not follow"
                  " these moves — next: scripts/media-view.sh reap")
 
 
+def metadata_note(args):
+    """Print the sidecar follow-up only when the overlay is really mounted."""
+    if os.path.ismount(args.metadata_view):
+        print(METADATA_HINT)
+
+
 def do_apply(args, root, journal, mkdirs, keeps, moves):
     """Preflight everything, then folders, then renames. Never a partial start."""
     problems = []
@@ -202,7 +219,7 @@ def do_apply(args, root, journal, mkdirs, keeps, moves):
           f" {dirs_new} folders created, {len(keeps)} files stayed put")
     print(f"journal: {journal.path} — undo with: media-apply.py rollback"
           f" --journal {journal.path} --root {root} --apply")
-    print(METADATA_HINT)
+    metadata_note(args)
     return 0
 
 
@@ -386,7 +403,7 @@ def do_rollback(args, root, journal):
                    t=datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc).isoformat())
     print(f"rolled back: {undone} files back where the census found them,"
           f" {dirs_gone} empty folders removed, {recreated} swept folders recreated")
-    print(METADATA_HINT)
+    metadata_note(args)
     return 0
 
 
@@ -398,6 +415,9 @@ def main():
     ap.add_argument("--journal")
     ap.add_argument("--apply", action="store_true", help="actually change the library")
     ap.add_argument("--force", action="store_true", help="relax the opinion guards")
+    ap.add_argument("--metadata-view", default=METADATA_VIEW,
+                    help="overlay the media servers read through; the sidecar"
+                         " note prints only when this path is a mountpoint")
     args = ap.parse_args()
 
     root = os.path.abspath(args.root)
diff --git a/tests/media_relayout.bats b/tests/media_relayout.bats
index b6afef0..3884a90 100755
--- a/tests/media_relayout.bats
+++ b/tests/media_relayout.bats
@@ -374,7 +374,10 @@ PY
 # apply_plan — plan, then apply for real; the journal goes in the tmpdir.
 apply_plan() {
     JOURNAL="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/journal.jsonl"
-    run python3 "$APPLY" apply --plan "$OUT" --root "$LIB" --journal "$JOURNAL" --apply
+    # `/` is always a mountpoint, so the overlay note behaves as it does on a
+    # host that runs the metadata view.
+    run python3 "$APPLY" apply --plan "$OUT" --root "$LIB" \
+        --journal "$JOURNAL" --metadata-view / --apply
 }
 
 @test "a run without --apply says what it would do and touches nothing" {
@@ -409,6 +412,32 @@ print(sum(1 for l in open(sys.argv[1]) if json.loads(l).get("op") == "move"))' "
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 }
 
+# The overlay note is only true where the metadata view is really mounted. On a
+# host whose media servers bind the array directly (dankserver today: both
+# quadlets mount /mnt/entropy, /var/lib/media-meta does not exist) the sidecars
+# moved with the media, and "next: run reap" is an order that cannot be carried
+# out. --metadata-view is how the caller names that path; the default is the
+# host's view path, and the note rides only when it is a mountpoint.
+@test "an apply with no mounted metadata view does not order a reap" {
+    plan
+    JOURNAL="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/journal.jsonl"
+    run python3 "$APPLY" apply --plan "$OUT" --root "$LIB" --journal "$JOURNAL" --apply
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"moved"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" != *"media-view.sh reap"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "a rollback with no mounted metadata view does not order a reap" {
+    plan
+    JOURNAL="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/journal.jsonl"
+    run python3 "$APPLY" apply --plan "$OUT" --root "$LIB" --journal "$JOURNAL" --apply
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    run python3 "$APPLY" rollback --journal "$JOURNAL" --root "$LIB" --apply
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"rolled back"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" != *"media-view.sh reap"* ]]
+}
+
 @test "a target already holding a different file stops the whole run" {
     plan
     JOURNAL="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/journal.jsonl"