Setting Up a ProxMox Server with Immich and a Removable SATA Drive

In this guide, I’ll walk through the complete process of setting up a Dell PowerEdge R410 as a ProxMox server with a removable SATA drive for a self-hosted Immich photo and video backup solution. This setup allows me to easily remove and back up the media disk whenever needed.

Project Overview

Here’s what we set out to accomplish:

Set up and configure a used Dell PowerEdge R410 as a ProxMox virtualization server
Configure the first 3 SAS disks as RAID-0 for ProxMox OS and VM storage
Configure the 4th SATA disk as an external media disk to be used by Immich
Install and configure an Ubuntu Server VM to run Immich
Make the media disk removable for easy backup

Hardware Setup

Server Configuration

Dell PowerEdge R410
3x SAS drives in RAID-0 for the main system
1x SATA 4TB drive as a removable media disk
PERC H700 RAID controller

Part 1: Initial ProxMox Setup

Preparing the Installation Media with Ventoy

I used Ventoy to create the bootable USB drive for ProxMox installation. Ventoy is an open-source tool that allows you to create a bootable USB drive where you can simply copy multiple ISO files to the drive and boot from any of them without needing to reformat the drive each time.

Here’s how I set it up:

Download and install Ventoy on a USB drive:
- Use VirtualBox and boot into a Linux live environment
- Connect USB drive and install Ventoy to it
- Download the ProxMox ISO and copy it to the Ventoy USB drive
- Ventoy automatically creates a boot menu with all ISOs on the drive
Boot the server with the USB drive and prepare the RAID configuration:
- Press CTRL+R during boot to access the RAID configuration utility
- Use F10 to configure BIOS settings as needed
- Create a new Virtual Disk (VD) for the 3 SAS disks (RAID-0)
- Create a new Virtual Disk (VD) for the 4th media disk (RAID-0)

Important: Wait for the new VD to be fully initialized before attempting OS installation!

Installation Gotchas

I encountered several issues during installation:

Tip: You might need to remove the 4th disk for the installation to work properly
Alternative approach: If installation fails, remove the 4th drive during installation of ProxMox, then set up ProxMox with the VM. After that, reboot the machine with the 4th disk attached and create a new VD for it.

I installed ProxMox on the RAID-0 array of the three SAS disks. After the basic installation, I had to deal with repository configuration.

Fixing Enterprise Repository Issues

After installation, I needed to switch from the enterprise repositories to the free community repositories:

Edit the enterprise repository file:

nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list

Comment out the enterprise repository by adding a # at the beginning of the line:
```
# deb https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-enterprise
```

Add the no-subscription repository:

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.list

Similarly for Ceph, edit its repository file:
```
nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.list
```

Comment out the enterprise repository and add the no-subscription one:

# deb https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-quincy bookworm enterprise
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-quincy bookworm no-subscription

Update the package lists:
```
apt update
```

This allowed me to receive updates without requiring a subscription.

Part 2: Configuring the SATA Disk

Initially, the 4th SATA disk wasn’t being detected properly. After some troubleshooting, I discovered it was showing up as a “Foreign Configuration” in the PERC H700 RAID controller.

Resolving Foreign Configuration

To resolve this, I accessed the PERC H700 BIOS during system boot by pressing Ctrl+R and found the disk listed as a foreign configuration. Since I wanted to use it as a standalone disk rather than part of an existing array, I cleared the foreign configuration:

In the PERC H700 BIOS, selected “Foreign Config” > “Clear”
This made the disk available as an unconfigured good disk
Created a new single-disk RAID-0 virtual disk with that physical disk

Repairing the GPT Partition Table

After adding the disk to ProxMox, I discovered the disk had a corrupted GPT partition table. I used gdisk to fix it:

gdisk -l /dev/sdb

This showed several problems with the GPT partition table:

Caution: Found protective or hybrid MBR and corrupt GPT. Using GPT, but disk
verification and recovery are STRONGLY recommended.

I entered recovery mode and accessed the expert menu to fix the issues:

# In gdisk
Command (? for help): r
Recovery/transformation command (? for help): x
Expert command (? for help): e

This relocated the backup data structures to the end of the disk. After verification, I wrote the changes with the w command.

Creating a New Partition and Filesystem

Since I wanted to use this as a fresh disk for Immich, I created a new partition table and formatted it with ext4:

# Create a new empty GPT partition table
gdisk /dev/sdb
# Type 'o' for new table
# Type 'n' for new partition
# Accept defaults for first and last sectors
# Type '0700' for basic data partition
# Type 'w' to write changes

# Format with ext4 (not exFAT as initially planned)
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb

I initially planned to use exFAT for better cross-platform compatibility, but ultimately went with ext4 as it’s the native Linux filesystem with better performance, journaling for improved data integrity, and is fully supported by default in Linux systems.

Part 3: Adding the Disk to ProxMox

Once the disk was prepared, I needed to make it accessible to ProxMox:

# Check the UUID of the disk
blkid /dev/sdb1
# Output: UUID="E7E6-D94B" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="exfat" PTTYPE="dos" PARTLABEL="Microsoft basic data" PARTUUID="88025e98-0e04-49da-b48d-0ad992798361"

Part 4: Setting Up the Ubuntu VM for Immich

I created an Ubuntu Server VM in ProxMox with the following specifications:

4GB RAM
6 CPU cores
80GB main disk

Attaching the Media Disk to the VM

I used the command line to attach the formatted disk to the VM:

# Get the VM ID
qm list
# Output showed VM ID 100 for Immich VM

# Attach the disk to the VM
qm set 100 -scsi1 /dev/sdb1

You can verify the disk was added to the VM configuration:

qm config 100

The output should show something like:

scsi1: /dev/sdb1,size=4000224099840

Part 5: Configuring the VM to Use the External Disk

After starting the VM, I needed to mount the disk and make it available to Immich.

Installing exFAT Support in the VM

First, I installed exFAT support in the Ubuntu VM:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install exfat-fuse exfat-utils

Creating a Mount Point and Mounting the Disk

# Create mount point
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/immich-media

# Mount the disk
sudo mount /dev/sdb /mnt/immich-media

# Verify the mount
df -h | grep immich-media

Making the Mount Persistent

To ensure the disk is mounted automatically on boot, I added it to /etc/fstab:

echo "/dev/sdb /mnt/immich-media ext4 defaults,nofail 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

The nofail option ensures the system boots normally even if the disk is not present.

Part 6: Setting Up Immich with Docker Compose

I installed Immich using the official Docker Compose setup, then modified it to use the external disk.

Configuring Docker Compose for the External Disk

For the Immich setup, I decided to keep the default upload location while still making the external disk available to the container. I edited the docker-compose.yml file to add the external media volume:

volumes:
  - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
  - /mnt/immich-media:/usr/src/app/external-media

This approach maintains the default /usr/src/app/upload path for the primary library storage while making the external disk available as an additional location. This provides more flexibility for managing media content and allows the default library structure to remain intact.

I could have alternatively modified the .env file to change the UPLOAD_LOCATION variable, but I found keeping the default structure more maintainable.

Setting Up Auto-Start for Docker Compose

Since Docker was installed via Snap on my system, I created a systemd service to ensure Immich starts automatically on boot:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/immich.service

With the following content:

[Unit]
Description=Immich Docker Compose Application
After=snapd.service network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/your/immich/directory
ExecStartPre=/bin/bash -c 'if ! mountpoint -q /mnt/immich-media; then mount /mnt/immich-media; fi'
ExecStart=/snap/bin/docker-compose up
ExecStop=/snap/bin/docker-compose down
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then enabled and started the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable immich.service
sudo systemctl start immich.service

Part 7: Configuring Immich to Use the External Media

Finally, I configured Immich through its web interface to use the external media directory:

Logged into the Immich web interface
Went to Administration → Library Settings
Configured the external media path as the primary upload destination

Conclusion

This setup provides a flexible solution for a self-hosted photo and video backup system using Immich on ProxMox. The key advantage is the ability to remove the media disk for offline backups while maintaining a clean separation between the system and media storage.

When I need to back up my media or add content from another system:

Shut down the Immich containers
Unmount the disk: sudo umount /mnt/immich-media
Shut down the VM
Detach the disk from the VM in ProxMox
Physically remove the disk from the server

To reconnect:

Physically install the disk
Reattach it to the VM in ProxMox
Start the VM, and the disk will be automatically mounted
The Immich service will start automatically

This modular approach offers both the convenience of a self-hosted solution with the practical ability to physically secure or transport the actual media data when needed.

Troubleshooting Tips

If the disk doesn’t mount automatically after a reboot, check /etc/fstab and ensure the entry is correct
If Docker containers don’t start automatically, check the systemd service status with systemctl status immich.service
If you need to repair the disk’s filesystem after unexpected removal, you might need to use fsck.exfat /dev/sdb1

Future Improvements

Implement a more robust backup solution like rsync to an additional backup disk
Set up email notifications when the disk space reaches a certain threshold
Add monitoring for the health of the RAID arrays and the media disk

Addendum

How to Resize an ext4 Root Partition in Proxmox

If your Proxmox-based virtual machine (VM) is running out of space on its root partition and that partition is using the ext4 filesystem, you can follow the steps below to enlarge the disk and extend your ext4 partition.

Important:

Always create a snapshot or a backup of your VM prior to making changes to the disk or partitions.

These instructions assume you have a Linux VM using ext4 for the root filesystem on a standard partition (e.g., /dev/sda3) and not LVM. If you have LVM or another filesystem type (like XFS), the steps differ.

1. Increase the Virtual Disk Size in Proxmox

Shut down your VM (this is recommended for safety, though some distros support online resize).
In the Proxmox web interface, select the VM and go to the Hardware tab.
Choose the disk device (often named scsi0, virtio0, or sata0).
Click Resize Disk, then specify how much space you want to add (e.g., +10G).
Once the operation completes, boot the VM back up.

Tip: Taking a Proxmox snapshot (or other backup) before resizing is a great safety measure.

2. Confirm the New Disk Size Inside the VM

After the VM boots, check that the operating system “sees” the new total disk size. For example:

lsblk

You should see something like:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0    40G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   100M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2   8:2    0     1G  0 part [some-other-partition]
└─sda3   8:3    0    20G  0 part /

If sda is 40G while sda3 is still 20G, that’s normal. You’ve expanded the underlying virtual disk, but the partition hasn’t been resized yet.

3. Resize the Partition

You now need to make the VM’s partition (/dev/sda3 in this example) consume the extra space. Two common approaches:

Option A: Use growpart

If growpart is installed (commonly found in the cloud-guest-utils or cloud-init package on Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo growpart /dev/sda 3

This will automatically resize partition 3 to fill all available free space on the disk.

Option B: Use parted

If you don’t have growpart, you can use GNU parted:

Enter parted:

sudo parted /dev/sda

Display the current partition table:

(parted) print

Resize partition 3 to the maximum available space:

(parted) resizepart 3 100%

Quit parted:

(parted) quit

At this point, /dev/sda3 should match the full capacity of the disk (in the example, 40G).

4. Resize the ext4 Filesystem

With the partition enlarged, all that’s left is to grow the ext4 filesystem:

sudo resize2fs /dev/sda3

You can typically run resize2fs while the filesystem is mounted on modern Linux distributions. This command adjusts the filesystem so that it now spans the expanded partition.

5. Verify the Expanded Space

Finally, confirm the size change:

df -h

Look for the partition mounted at /, and you should see the increased capacity reflecting the new total size of /dev/sda3.

Devan

A repository of thoughts and notes

Setting Up a ProxMox Server with Immich and a Removable SATA Drive

Setting Up a ProxMox Server with Immich and a Removable SATA Drive

Project Overview

Hardware Setup

Server Configuration

Part 1: Initial ProxMox Setup

Preparing the Installation Media with Ventoy

Installation Gotchas

Fixing Enterprise Repository Issues

Part 2: Configuring the SATA Disk

Resolving Foreign Configuration

Repairing the GPT Partition Table

Creating a New Partition and Filesystem

Part 3: Adding the Disk to ProxMox

Part 4: Setting Up the Ubuntu VM for Immich

Attaching the Media Disk to the VM

Part 5: Configuring the VM to Use the External Disk

Installing exFAT Support in the VM

Creating a Mount Point and Mounting the Disk

Making the Mount Persistent

Part 6: Setting Up Immich with Docker Compose

Configuring Docker Compose for the External Disk

Setting Up Auto-Start for Docker Compose

Part 7: Configuring Immich to Use the External Media

Conclusion

Troubleshooting Tips

Future Improvements

Addendum

How to Resize an ext4 Root Partition in Proxmox

1. Increase the Virtual Disk Size in Proxmox

2. Confirm the New Disk Size Inside the VM

3. Resize the Partition

Option A: Use growpart

Option B: Use parted

4. Resize the ext4 Filesystem

5. Verify the Expanded Space