Immich•7mo ago

Why is it not recommended to mount upload/ and library/ as separate bind mounts?

See immich docs: https://immich.app/docs/guides/custom-locations/

In the note at the bottom of the page it says

Because of the underlying properties of docker bind mounts, it is not recommended to mount the upload/ and library/ folders as separate bind mounts if they are on the same device. For this reason, we mount the HDD or the network storage (NAS) to /usr/src/app/upload and then mount the folders we want to access under that folder.

I'm trying to save my thumbs to a faster SSD storage and my photo collection to a slower but cheaper SFTP mounted storage box. However I'm running into the same issue that's mentioned here: https://github.com/immich-app/immich/discussions/11944

In the above discussion there wasn't really a good solution but I do still want to go for this as I'd like to have fast thumbs loading from a local disk instead of an sftp mounted disk on an other server location.

So, my question. Why, in that note, it says that it is not recommended to have

upload/

upload/

and

library/

library/

on separate bind mounts? I think this could solve my problem if I could do it that way; I'd have 5 different bind mounts:

backups

backups

encoded-video

encoded-video

library

library

profile

profile

thumbs

thumbs

and

upload

upload

.

I do know some things about docker (we also work with it a lot in my day job) but I can't find any online info on why this would be a bad idea.

Immich•6/7/25, 2:00 PM

:wave: Hey @Puddingvlaai,

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Immich•6/7/25, 2:00 PM

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bo0tzz•6/7/25, 2:01 PM

On upload files go into upload/ first and are then moved to library/ after processing. If those are the same filesystem/mount then that move is instant (just a hardlink), if they're not then it needs a slow full copy

bo0tzz•6/7/25, 2:01 PM

(this is if you have storage template enabled)

Daniel•6/7/25, 2:02 PM

Either way you can mount your thumbs elsewhere though. Just not the entire

UPLOAD_LOCATION

UPLOAD_LOCATION

Bbo0tzz On upload files go into upload/ first and are then moved to library/ after proce...

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 2:02 PM

Ah okay! If that's the only reason why it's not recommended, I can live with that.

DDaniel Either way you can mount your thumbs elsewhere though. Just not the entire `UPLO...

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 2:03 PM

Yup, but I have tried to follow all recommendations on that page, but then I get hit by the issue in the github discussion: for some reason after a couple of hours there goes something wrong with the thumbs and they get lost; it seems the thumbs bind mount is lost or something.

Daniel•6/7/25, 2:04 PM

Oh that sounds like an issue with your host though

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 2:05 PM

What do you mean? Which host? I'm just running standard ubuntu

bo0tzz•6/7/25, 2:09 PM

That issue is a complete enigma but I think there's no possible way it's caused by anything Immich

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 2:55 PM

Yup, I know it can't really be immich thats causing it

Bbo0tzz On upload files go into upload/ first and are then moved to library/ after proce...

CJPeckover•6/7/25, 2:57 PM

For what it's worth, I have library in a separate mount to a different device and haven't experienced any performance issues

CCJPeckover For what it's worth, I have library in a separate mount to a different device an...

bo0tzz•6/7/25, 3:01 PM

It's not something you're likely to feel, also because it's async in the background

bo0tzz•6/7/25, 3:01 PM

But it's just unnecessary IO/wasteful

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 3:03 PM

Putting thumbs on network storage is also pretty wasteful though

Original files are accessed not that often

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 3:04 PM

So I guess I'll take the shortcut and mount everything with separate bind mounts

PPuddingvlaai Putting thumbs on network storage is also pretty wasteful though 😬 Original fil...

Daniel•6/7/25, 3:05 PM

Again, we're not talking about thumbs

Daniel•6/7/25, 3:05 PM

We're talking about the upload dir and library dir

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 3:21 PM

Yes, I know. Having upload and library on the same docker volume means mounting

/usr/src/app/upload

/usr/src/app/upload

in a docker volume. But if I want to move my thumbs to a separate device I also need a mount on

/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs

/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs

. The latter is what is not working correctly and what the initial GitHub discussion is about. Hence my question why it is recommended to have upload and library under the same docker mount

Daniel•6/7/25, 3:50 PM

Have you debugged this? Does it just fail the mount after x time? Or after a reboot? Or ...?

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 5:26 PM

I have no clue how to start debugging this. After some time immich just cannot find thumbs anymore even though they just exist. Docker inspect also just shows the correct volumes

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 5:27 PM

A restart of the docker container fixes it, but then it breaks again after some hours

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/7/25, 5:32 PM

I have a feeling it is because the connection to the external sftp or cifs could be unstable. If it disconnects for a short moment I suppose the docker volume may also be unmounted for a moment and then immich reads and writes from the outer mount

PPuddingvlaai I have a feeling it is because the connection to the external sftp or cifs could...

Daniel•6/7/25, 5:53 PM

Yes absolutely

Daniel•6/7/25, 5:53 PM

If a mount point is lost once docker won't pick it up again until a restart

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/8/25, 10:54 AM

I've just resorted for now to storing everything on the slower sftp mounted storage. Thanks anyway all for the tips!

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/8/25, 10:54 AM

That's until I finally get myself to order a NUC or mini pc or something

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/8/25, 10:57 AM

And thanks to you for contributing. I'd like to contribute too, but I don't have much time for that. If I can find some time I'd like to work on some bugs or small changes though. I do see outside contributors are very much welcome so that's nice to see

PPuddingvlaai I've just resorted for now to storing everything on the slower sftp mounted stor...

Daniel•6/8/25, 10:59 AM

Please tell me "everything" does not include the DB though

PuddingvlaaiOP•6/8/25, 10:59 AM

No of course not!

Daniel•6/8/25, 10:59 AM

:Saved:

Why is it not recommended to mount upload/ and library/ as separate bind mounts?

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