# Share and external drive over the network

**URL:** <https://community.umbrel.com/t/share-and-external-drive-over-the-network/24222>\
**Category:** Support and Troubleshooting\
**Created:** [November 11, 2025, 8:59am UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/share-and-external-drive-over-the-network/24222 "2025-11-11T08:59:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![patrickloonstra](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.umbrel.com/patrickloonstra/32/7761_2.png) [@patrickloonstra](https://community.umbrel.com/u/patrickloonstra)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 8:59am UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/share-and-external-drive-over-the-network/24222/1 "2025-11-11T08:59:45Z")

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Great news that we can add an external drive since 1.5.

It works like a charm on my NUC, but no, it seems impossible to access it through the network or installed apps.

Having a big external drive will be a great way to store files, videos, and photos. And to use with Time Machine to back up my MacBook.

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**Author:** ![kevingzc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@kevingzc](https://community.umbrel.com/u/kevingzc)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/share-and-external-drive-over-the-network/24222/2 "2025-11-16T16:29:07Z")

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Yes it seems a very common request why it doesn’t work ? This is to avoid people to use another service than umbrel backup ?

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**Author:** ![RodB](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.umbrel.com/rodb/32/7818_2.png) [@RodB](https://community.umbrel.com/u/RodB)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/share-and-external-drive-over-the-network/24222/4 "2025-12-02T14:48:53Z")

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It is possible … just mount the drive under the folder you want it to show up in Umbrel’s Filesystem.

IE:

$ df -h  
/dev/sda1 477G 332G 146G 70% /home/umbrel/umbrel/home/Videos/SSD-Mount

I have my Videos on a External SSD Enclosure and Emby using it to stream them.

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**Author:** ![Fuzzy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.umbrel.com/fuzzy/32/7817_2.png) [@Fuzzy](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Fuzzy)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/share-and-external-drive-over-the-network/24222/5 "2025-12-02T16:19:23Z")

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But you still must be logged in as umbrel. Which means I’d have to give my granddaughters the primary password for my UmbrelOS server.

🙀 Not happening! It’d be nice if you could install the Samba app and create smbusers connected to the drive with various permission levels on different folders.