How to run Umbrel apps from an external disk

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Are you experiencing sluggish performance on your Umbrel? I encountered a similar issue with my ASUS VC60, equipped with 8GB of RAM and an early-generation i7 processor. Although the OS (Ubuntu 22) was running smoothly and quickly on my NVME drive (adapted to SATA 2.5 with an adapter), the problem arose when I realized my 1TB external disk was a mechanical drive rather than an SSD. Its sluggish speed made it impossible to access the Umbrel node from other devices, especially during blockchain synchronization. It seemed to be overwhelming the system.

To address this, I decided to install Umbrel on the main NVME disk and redirect the apps to the secondary disk, resulting in a significantly faster and lighter performance.

To accomplish this, follow these steps:

  1. Move the existing “app-data” directory to the new location using the following command:

sudo mv ~/umbrel/app-data /mnt/hdd1tb/

  1. Create a symbolic link to ensure Umbrel can locate the “app-data” directory in the new location. Use the following command:

sudo ln -s /mnt/hdd1tb/app-data ~/umbrel/

By installing Umbrel on the main disk and running the apps from the secondary disk, you can enjoy improved speed and responsiveness. Feel free to share your experience and any further tips or suggestions in this thread.

Note: Remember to adjust the paths and commands according to your specific setup, and ensure that the secondary disk is properly mounted before executing the commands.

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Great, concise guide. Thanks for sharing

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I know this is noob question. But would you advice how to permanently mount drive to work with your guide?

Threre is yet another elegant solution (not working now for me) from pjjp user.

I assume that I only need to create folder /usb in /mnt.
But as I wrote there - capacity of storage is the same after adding lines to /etc/fstab.