Using external HDD's as storage

Insight & Feedback
1

This is my first time doing something based on Linux.

I have an HP T640 thin client which I want to use as my first NAS server, to potentially move on to the real thing later.

This is my configuration:

HP T640 (AMD R1505G, 8GB DDR4, 128GB NVMe)
2x Seagate 2.5-inch HDDs in 2x Ugreen USB enclosures (RAID 1)
1x WD 4TB External HDD for Plex video

I am aware that ZimaOS cannot treat external drives as internal. However, given that the thin client has no internal storage slots, I have no other choice.

Programs I want to use:

Immich. This program works, but if I want to change the storage location, Immich won’t start anymore.

The intention is for the photos to be stored on 1TB and for the other drive to act as a fail-safe safeguard.
I understand that RAID 1 is not possible with external drives. For this, I found the backup function in ZimaOS. It seems to work. However, after every server restart, it forgets these settings.

Plex, on the 4TB HDD. With this drive, it wouldn’t be a big deal if it were to fail.

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This is the error i get after changing the directory for Immich:
Error response from daemon: Cannot restart container bb34adddcbc307c30a41c6aa642833390dda8671275280b9993d79b8d8d337dc: failed to create task for container: failed to create shim task: OCI runtime create failed: runc create failed: unable to start container process: error during container init: error mounting “/media/Photos/Immich” to rootfs at “/etc/localtime”: create mountpoint for /etc/localtime mount: cannot create subdirectories in “/var/lib/docker/overlay2/58b086265e74ddc9052881d1c9978c383fff2812f93f1a0d3bccea2cb37c0d8e/merged/usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/UTC”: not a directory: unknown: Are you trying to mount a directory onto a file (or vice-versa)? Check if the specified host path exists and is the expected type

2

You’ve got two things going on here.

First issue is the Immich error.
You’re mounting a folder onto /etc/localtime, but that path inside the container is a file, not a directory. Docker won’t allow that, so the container fails to start.

Just fix the mapping so it’s like this:

Host: /etc/localtime
Container: /etc/localtime

And keep your photos storage separate, for example:

Host: /media/Photos
Container: /usr/src/app/upload

Before starting Immich, quickly check the paths exist:

ls -ld /media/Photos
ls -l /etc/localtime

Second issue is the USB drives.

ZimaOS mounts USB drives under /media, but those mounts are not always ready when apps start. That’s why things break after reboot or settings don’t stick.

Better approach is to use a stable path under /DATA and point your apps there.

Create a stable folder:

mkdir -p /DATA/External/Photos

Bind it:

mount --bind /media/Photos /DATA/External/Photos

Then use this in Immich instead:

/DATA/External/Photos -> /usr/src/app/upload

Last bit, just so you’re aware.

RAID over USB isn’t really supported properly in ZimaOS, so using backup like you are is the right move. If it resets after reboot, it’s usually because the drive wasn’t mounted yet when the system started.

Fix the mount mismatch first, that’s what’s stopping Immich from starting.