Files Custom Locations

docs/docs/guides/custom-locations.md

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+# Files Custom Locations
+
+When using Immich you may want to select a specific location for thumbnails or transcoded videos in order to save disk space.
+In this guide you will understand how you can define custom locations for the different types of files in Immich.
+
+Some users may find this useful for higher system performance where the thumbnails images are on SSD and the original images are stored on HDD.
+
+:::note Backup
+It is important to remember after following the guide to update the backup settings to back up the new backup paths if using automatic backup tools.
+:::
+In our `.env` file we will define variables, they will help us in the future when we want to move to a more advanced server in the future
+
+```diff title=".env"
+# You can find documentation for all the supported env variables at https://immich.app/docs/install/environment-variables
+
+# Custom location where your uploaded,thumbnails and transcoded videos files are stored
+- {UPLOAD_LOCATION}./
++ {UPLOAD_LOCATION}=/custom/location/on/your/system/
++ {THUMB_LOCATION}=/custom/location/on/your/system/
++ {ENCODED_VIDEO_LOCATION}=/custom/location/on/your/system/
+...
+```
+
+After we have defined the locations for these files, we will edit the `docker-compose.yml` file accordingly, and add the new vars to the immich-server, immich-microservices containers.
+
+```diff title="docker-compose.yml"
+services:
+  immich-server:
+    container_name: immich_server
+    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:${IMMICH_VERSION:-release}
+    command: ['start.sh', 'immich']
+    volumes:
+      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
++     - ${THUMB_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs
++     - ${ENCODED_VIDEO_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload/encoded-video
+      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
+    env_file:
+      - .env
+    ports:
+      - 2283:3001
+    depends_on:
+      - redis
+      - database
+    restart: always
+
+  immich-microservices:
+    container_name: immich_microservices
+    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:${IMMICH_VERSION:-release}
+    # extends: # uncomment this section for hardware acceleration - see https://immich.app/docs/features/hardware-transcoding
+    #   file: hwaccel.transcoding.yml
+    #   service: cpu # set to one of [nvenc, quicksync, rkmpp, vaapi, vaapi-wsl] for accelerated transcoding
+    command: ['start.sh', 'microservices']
+    volumes:
+      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
++     - ${THUMB_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs
++     - ${ENCODED_VIDEO_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload/encoded-video
+      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
+    env_file:
+      - .env
+    depends_on:
+      - redis
+      - database
+    restart: always
+```
+
+Restart Immich.
+
+```
+docker compose down
+docker compose up -d
+```
+
+This guide shows only some of the customization options that can be applied, you can also set the following variables accordingly:
+
+- /usr/src/app/upload - root directory for all immich content.
+- /usr/src/app/upload/thumbs - thumbnails are written here.
+- /usr/src/app/upload/encoded-video - transcoded videos are written here.
+- /usr/src/app/upload/profile - profile picture is saved here.
+- /usr/src/app/upload/upload - on upload, files are written here.
+- /usr/src/app/upload/library - after storage template is applied they get moved here (Storage template is [off by default](/docs/administration/backup-and-restore#asset-types-and-storage-locations)).
+
+You can configure all or just some of the volumes, as needed. Variables should only be needed (in addition to UPLOAD_LOCATION) if you are trying to move specific sub-folders to another drive location, otherwise they'll show up inside of UPLOAD_LOCATION.
+
+Thanks to [Jrasm91](https://github.com/immich-app/immich/discussions/2110#discussioncomment-5477767) for writing the guide.