>
> \# Don't cripple the community for the sake of a commercial agenda!
>
> Umbrel was… built by the community, is maintained by the community, and thrives because of the community. Developers, contributors, and users actively port, test, and improve apps, debug issues, enhance security, and optimize performance—all without paywalls or restrictions.
>
> One of the most discussed and requested features in the community has been seamless external storage support for non-technical users. And yet, \*\*you decided to disable it?!\*\* Are you serious?
>
> If you truly intend to block external storage for non-Umbrel hardware, at least \*\*do it properly\*\* instead of making a lazy change like this:
>
> \`\`\`ts
> async isExternalDriveConnectedOnNonUmbrelHome() {
> const isHome = await isUmbrelHome(); // Just hardcode this to \`true\`
> const { disks } = await getDisksAndPartitions();
>
> // Exclude any external disks that include the current data directory.
> // This prevents USB storage-based Raspberry Pi setups from detecting
> // their primary storage as an external drive.
> const df = await $\`df ${this.#umbreld.dataDirectory} --output=source\`;
> const dataDirDisk = df.stdout.split('\\n').pop()?.split('/').pop()?.replace(/\\d+$/, '');
> const externalDisks = disks.filter((disk) =\> disk.id !== dataDirDisk);
>
> return !isHome && externalDisks.length \> 0;
> }
> \`\`\`
> !\[I\_Dare\_YOU\](https://tenor.com/pt-BR/view/dare-i-dare-you-i-double-dare-you-samuel-l-jackson-pulp-fiction-gif-12102973.gif)
>
> This move alienates the very people who helped make Umbrel what it is today. If there’s a valid technical reason behind this change, \*\*communicate it transparently\*\*. Otherwise, it just looks like an anti-community decision disguised as an “update.”
>
> Think about the long-term impact before taking away a feature that \*\*many\*\* in the community rely on.
>
>
> https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613
---
### Author:  [@Nirvana](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Nirvana)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/2 "2025-02-28T17:35:18Z")
Yeah, since umbrel 1.1… vibes are going down.
---
### Author:  [@skidmore298](https://community.umbrel.com/u/skidmore298)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 7:16pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/3 "2025-02-28T19:16:06Z")
> [@sabbajohn](#):
>
> [Fix external drive connection check to always return true by sabbajohn · Pull Request #1993 · getumbrel/umbrel · GitHub](https://github.com/getumbrel/umbrel/pull/1993)
Couldn’t agree more. Might return my Home in protest.
---
### Author:  [@denny](https://community.umbrel.com/u/denny)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/4 "2025-02-28T20:08:07Z")
Hey everyone,
I can understand some of the frustration here, but if you look at it from a pragmatic perspective, Umbrel’s decision makes sense. External storage devices have often caused issues in the past - whether due to incompatible USB adapters, weak power supplies, or other hardware-related problems. If Umbrel aims to provide a stable system, it’s not unreasonable for them to eliminate such a common source of issues.
Of course, one could speculate that this decision also has financial motives. And yes, Umbrel is a startup, they need to make money to sustain themselves in the long run. It’s not wrong if they try to promote their own hardware ecosystem because, in the end, they have employees to pay.
That being said, more transparency would be welcome. If Umbrel communicated more clearly about the reasons behind this decision, it could prevent misunderstandings and frustration within the community. Maybe there’s a way to allow external storage as an optional feature along with a clear warning that it may lead to stability issues.
---
### Author:  [@Pinipon88](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Pinipon88)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/5 "2025-02-28T20:56:35Z")
I guess the Umbrel devs don’t care much about this community forum anyway, let’s hope they see your github topic
There’re some still waiting for https (?)
It’s like an Apple’s vision, one OS for one device, theirs.
---
### Author:  [@sabbajohn](https://community.umbrel.com/u/sabbajohn)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 11:24pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/6 "2025-02-28T23:24:11Z")
Hi, guys!
I am aware that Umbrel is a startup and that there is indeed a need for economic returns—after all, jobs need to be sustained. However, this can be achieved through the development of a fully functional and high-performance application while upholding what they have always stood for: data protection and privacy!
Umbrel has an incredible opportunity to take both the technical and non-technical communities to the next level—toward a decentralized, secure, and censorship-free internet. Disabling features that had already been implemented and restricting them to a select group with deep pockets is almost a sign of disrespect to the community.
It cost a lot of money in Brazil. A lot!
Who remembers what UmbrelOS was a year ago? Just a simple Docker container, built on the shoulders of platforms like Caprover and CasaOS, and strongly driven by an active community.
You know a feature that Umbrel could implement to generate revenue? A reverse proxy, allowing users to expose their services to the internet when port forwarding is blocked by their ISP. Not an internal storage system. This is public knowledge, something that had already been shared in the Umbrel community forum.
You know another feature I wouldn’t even bother with? Internal storage expansion by combining two disks. It’s public knowledge, but technically a bit more complex—yet still incredibly useful! Just like formatting, disk repair… and countless other possibilities. But preventing someone from plugging in a storage device just to copy files? Now, that’s too low. Even EA Sports would be surprised!
---
### Author:  [@sabbajohn](https://community.umbrel.com/u/sabbajohn)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/7 "2025-02-28T23:28:26Z")
I have some implementation for HTTPS here, but it’s not ready yet. To be honest, it’s not working properly. It’s a side project I started based on[Deployarr](https://github.com/SimpleHomelab/deployarr), but I haven’t finished it yet. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with work lately. However, as soon as I finish it, I’ll definitely share it with you.
> **[GitHub - SimpleHomelab/deployarr: Deployarr automates Homelab setup using Docker and...](https://github.com/SimpleHomelab/deployarr)**
>
> Deployarr automates Homelab setup using Docker and Docker Compose. Below you will find more information its features and what it can/cannot do.
---
### Author:  [@ackerland](https://community.umbrel.com/u/ackerland)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2025, 11:34am UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/8 "2025-03-01T11:34:11Z")
Instead of using an external storage why don’t you run your Pi directly from a SSD which is many ways more preferable than relying on USB storage.
---
### Author:  [@Kenji](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Kenji)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2025, 5:20am UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/9 "2025-03-03T05:20:29Z")
I’ve just created an account explicitly to ask if you ever returned it!! Please keep me updated with that 👀
---
### Author:  [@Nirvana](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Nirvana)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/10 "2025-03-03T14:11:20Z")
Umbrel lost its purpose with the community since 1 year ago, i joined it because it was an awesome community supported thing, Since they made their own OS… i make your words mine. Possibly moving back to CasaOS soon, because at least it works with my machine.
---
### Author:  [@Brcly](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Brcly)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/11 "2025-03-03T16:36:30Z")
Based on Umbrel’s GitHub source, they are somewhat testing HTTPs functionality, just haven’t implemented it as a feature, likely cause they’re still working on it, I’m hoping a workaround won’t be needed indefinitely.
There’s a PR for an app on the store that requires it, which as been labelled as “pending feature” which gives me hope for HTTPs
---
### Author:  [@Pinipon88](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Pinipon88)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2025, 10:12am UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/12 "2025-03-04T10:12:34Z")
It’s been like that for at least 3-4 years
Anyway, this topic is about something else
---
### Author:  [@Mffff4](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Mffff4)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2025, 9:52am UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/13 "2025-04-15T09:52:40Z")
Hey everyone!
While exploring discussions about external storage on UmbrelOS, I created something that might be useful. If you’re curious, feel free to check it out!
[GitHub](https://github.com/Mffff4/UmbrelPatch) | [Bitbucket](https://bitbucket.org/mffff4/umbrelpatch)
Remember: what started as open source should stay open source. Let’s keep the spirit of community and freedom alive!
---
### Author:  [@skidmore298](https://community.umbrel.com/u/skidmore298)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/14 "2025-04-15T18:25:33Z")
Looks promising! Thanks for providing what looks like a really easy workaround.
---
### Author:  [@Devilfish](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Devilfish)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 7:26pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/15 "2025-06-16T19:26:53Z")
Hello, thank you for the work. Unfortunately, the patch doesn’t work properly. It has broken my Bitcoin node. The Raspberry Pi 5 randomly freezes after applying the patch. The operating system just stops, and nothing works anymore. It doesn’t matter what’s connected. Even with nothing connected, it might work fine for two hours or two days. The fact is, the system crashes.
I specifically signed up to tell the Umbrel team how frustrating I find these restrictions! Everyone should be able to do what they want. Honestly, I think they’re just trying to sell their own hardware. That’s outrageous, absolutely pathetic, and completely unacceptable!
---
### Author:  [@sabbajohn](https://community.umbrel.com/u/sabbajohn)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2025, 1:07am UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/16 "2025-06-17T01:07:59Z")
So I found a similar issue on the Rpi4. It was related to the usb 3.0 Management of mine case. I tried I few tricks but at the end of the day I needed to use the 2.0 ports. Raspberry Pi has a few known issues with energy and ports management that can cause this freezes. That kills the ssh and kernel responses. If you use usb hub with power supply the problem is gone
---
### Author:  [@Orville](https://community.umbrel.com/u/Orville)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2025, 2:03pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/17 "2025-06-21T14:03:16Z")
I am running Umbrel on a Raspi with a 2TB SSD in an External Disk Enclosure. Works fine.
---
### Author:  [@sabbajohn](https://community.umbrel.com/u/sabbajohn)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/why-did-umbrel-disabled-external-devices-storage-for-raspberry-devices/21613/18 "2025-06-21T14:29:31Z")
yeah it happens when we are using nvme hats, like the Argon M2 Case. That can cause 3 known issues, Power shortage, conflicts on SATA/USB Bus and in my case was an issue on ASmedia firmware.
1. Use an external Disk enclosure with its own power source, to reinforce my poor english, it has a cable for energy and one for data.
2. You can update the setting on /boot/config.txt to limit the USB speed to avoid incompatibilities(dtoverlay=dwc2,dr\_mode=host) on USB3.0 and/or move the BUS (dtoverlay=disable-bt)
3. In this case You can update the ASMedia Firmware if you know how to do it. If you don’t know, don’t fu\*k do it. Just use a 2.0 USB port.
Remember that you car have more than one of these cases, let me know if you are facing any issues.
You can reach me out on Discord **sabbajohn (Sabbá#1526)** [https://discordapp.com/users/sabbajohn](https://discordapp.com/users/sabbajohn)