Written 4 Sep 2026. This is a how-to, not a product card.

Put the house folder on a USB disk

Move the house share onto a USB disk that stays plugged into the old PC so photos don't fill the system drive. You don't need a NAS for this.

Haven't made a share yet? Start with a file share. Need to see whether the system disk is already tight? See if the computer still has room. This note is the move: format one dedicated USB disk, mount it, point Samba at it, leave the stick plugged in.

Skip until the share works and you have a spare disk

If Finder or File Explorer cannot open the house folder yet, stop. That is a file share. Skip this if the system disk still has plenty of room and you are happy there. You need a USB disk you can wipe — not the tiny installer stick, not the only backup copy of the house folder. A second copy of the house folder is still a backup of the house folder. This disk is for live photos, not that backup.

What this is

The share from a file share usually lives on the same disk as the OS, often under /srv/share. Small OptiPlex SSDs fill up. This note parks that folder on a USB disk that stays in the computer. Samba keeps the same share name. Phones and laptops keep the same path. The system disk only holds the OS, Pi-hole, and a bit of room to breathe.

What you need

• SSH from the couch: SSH from the couch
• A working house share (or you are about to make one)
• A USB disk you accept wiping — 500 GB or bigger is fine for photos; a spinning USB drive is fine
• About twenty minutes, then leave the disk plugged in

1. See the USB disk

Plug the USB disk into the computer. Wait a few seconds. SSH in, then list disks:

lsblk

Find the new disk by size. Note the device name, often sdb or sdc. The first partition is often sdb1. If nothing new appears, that look is see if the USB backup disk showed up. Don't guess. Wrong device names wipe the wrong disk.

2. Wipe and format (only the USB you chose)

This erases that USB disk. Stop if you are not sure which name is the stick.

Example for sdb — swap the letter if yours is different:

sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdb

sudo parted -s /dev/sdb mklabel gpt

sudo parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext4 1MiB 100%

sudo mkfs.ext4 -L house /dev/sdb1

The label house is only a name so you can spot it later. Use another label if you want. Wait for mkfs.ext4 to finish.

3. Mount it at /srv/share

If you already have files in /srv/share on the system disk, move them aside first:

sudo systemctl stop smbd

sudo mv /srv/share /srv/share-old

Make the mount point and attach the USB partition:

sudo mkdir -p /srv/share

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /srv/share

Copy old files onto the USB if you moved them aside:

sudo rsync -aHAX --info=progress2 /srv/share-old/ /srv/share/

Check free space on the mounted disk:

df -h /srv/share

You should see the USB size, not the tiny system SSD size.

4. Make it mount after every reboot

Read the UUID so the path does not depend on sdb becoming sdc next week:

sudo blkid /dev/sdb1

Copy the UUID="…" value. Open fstab:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add one line at the bottom. Swap the UUID for yours:

UUID=PASTE-UUID-HERE /srv/share ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2

nofail lets the computer boot even if the USB is unplugged. Test without rebooting:

sudo findmnt --verify --verbose

sudo umount /srv/share

sudo mount -a

df -h /srv/share

If the size looks like the USB again, the fstab line is good. Longer looks at UUIDs and mounts: read disk labels and UUIDs, stable names by UUID, see which folders are already attached.

5. Ownership and Samba

Give the share user the folder:

sudo chown -R youruser:youruser /srv/share

Swap youruser for the Linux login Samba already uses. If Samba still points at /srv/share, you do not need to edit smb.conf. Restart it:

sudo systemctl start smbd

sudo systemctl restart smbd

If you never set the share password, that is set or change the house-share password.

6. Check from a laptop or phone

Open the same share as before. Drop a tiny text file in. Delete it. Laptop walk: open the house share from a laptop. Phone walk: open the house share from a phone.

When you are sure the files live on the USB, you can remove the old copy on the system disk:

sudo rm -rf /srv/share-old

Only after a successful open and a successful df -h /srv/share that shows the USB size.

If the share vanishes after a reboot

Check that the USB is still plugged in. Run lsblk and df -h /srv/share. If /srv/share is empty or shows the system disk size, the mount failed — fix fstab and sudo mount -a. If Samba itself stopped, that check is when the house share disappeared, check the computer.

What this is not

This is not a backup. Unplug the USB and the live share goes with it. Keep a second copy with a backup of the house folder or copy to another old computer. This is not a reason to buy a NAS on day one. It is not RAID. It is not a tiny installer stick left in the front port. Leave the disk plugged in.

What next

Use the folder. Watch room with see if the computer still has room (now it should report the USB). Prefer a cable for the computer while big copies run: a cable beats Wi-Fi for the old PC. When you want a second copy of the house folder, that is still a backup of the house folder. A dedicated file box is later: a first file box (NAS).

Skip

• Skip formatting a disk you are not sure about.
• Skip using the installer USB as the house folder.
• Skip unplugging the disk while files are copying.
• Skip treating this USB as your only copy.
• Skip buying a NAS just because the system SSD was small.
• Skip exposing SMB to the internet.