# ? - HOW TO store notes and settings on an external drive under LINUX

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [9 September 2025 16:52 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243 "2025-09-09T16:52:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Steph](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/steph/32/17080_2.png) [@Steph](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Steph)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2025 16:52 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/1 "2025-09-09T16:52:29Z")

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§ We are a lot in need of space on our laptops. So at some point it’s impossible to have the joplin’s database growing more and more on our local disks.

§ The path to notes and settings is shown here in Joplin’s options :

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/d/e/deb7170579fe68607928165b6156be6090f4dcac.png)

§ A solution would be to have the opportunity to select where we put our data from Joplin and to put it, for example, in an USB external hard drive or in an internal M.2 card, with enough space.

§ There’s two ways to organize that :

1. Joplin is installed on the local disk and data is on another (external or internal) disk.

2. Joplin is installed on another disk than the local one, with data too.

§ Under windows it’s already possible to have the second organization with the « portable » version of Joplin. I used it during many months. It’s slower than a local installation but it works.

> **On Windows** , you may also use the [Portable version](https://objects.joplinusercontent.com/v3.4.10/JoplinPortable.exe?source=JoplinWebsite&type=New). The [portable application](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_application) allows installing the software on a portable device such as a USB key. Simply copy the file JoplinPortable.exe in any directory on that USB key ; the application will then create a directory called "JoplinProfile" next to the executable file.
> 
> ReF : [Installation | Joplin](https://joplinapp.org/help/install/)

It would be great to have the same opportunity under Linux.

§ I already ask if someone has a trick for that ([https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/do-you-use-a-joplin-under-linux-appimage-with-the-database-in-an-external-drive/45739](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/do-you-use-a-joplin-under-linux-appimage-with-the-database-in-an-external-drive/45739 "https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/do-you-use-a-joplin-under-linux-appimage-with-the-database-in-an-external-drive/45739") ) with no success.

§ I tried many things with no success until now. With your help II would like to create here  
a « howto » step by step (first : joplin local, data external) for everyone interested too...

Any idea ?

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**Author:** ![zblesk](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/zblesk/32/11_2.png) [@zblesk](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/zblesk)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2025 19:07 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/3 "2025-09-09T19:07:19Z")

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I've never tried, but maybe (hard?)linking the joplin-desktop location to your external drive could work?

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**Author:** ![mrjo118](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrjo118/32/23404_2.png) [@mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2025 19:35 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/4 "2025-09-09T19:35:52Z")

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On Windows you can launch Joplin with the profile flag to use a profile specific dir. Maybe that works on Linux too?

```auto
Joplin.exe --profile Z:/some-other-dir

```

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**Author:** ![Steph](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/steph/32/17080_2.png) [@Steph](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Steph)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2025 21:19 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/5 "2025-09-09T21:19:12Z")

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@[mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)

Very Interesting to know under windows !

Under KUBUNTU (Linux) if I try to start a appimage version of joplin located on the external hard drive, with double click I have this message: “your appimage is on a distant files sytem. For security reason, it will not be started”.

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/d/6/d6ed2e18b42733942eaec0c1eade0a70008a480c.png)

Maybe the solution is to change the file system on the drive, like they say here, but I can’t accept that… :

> the filesystem was the issue as I can now successfully use the AppImage with localized data. Ventoy defaults to exFAT but supports ext4 if desired with the caveat that using Ventoy to boot isos will fail if you are trying to boot Windows or an OS that does not support ext4.
> 
> ReF : [Current Best Practices for Using Portable AppImage on Linux?](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/current-best-practices-for-using-portable-appimage-on-linux/33810)

With Konsole even without parameter it’s a “command not found”…

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/2/f/2fd293585b518a64f366ef7350542ca428a4e5b6.png)

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**Author:** ![Steph](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/steph/32/17080_2.png) [@Steph](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Steph)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2025 21:43 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/6 "2025-09-09T21:43:24Z")

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@Zblesk

Thanks for the answer. Yes maybe. But how to do that ?

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**Author:** ![Steph](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/steph/32/17080_2.png) [@Steph](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Steph)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2025 21:52 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/7 "2025-09-09T21:52:17Z")

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Some ideas there, but… :

§ [Portable Joplin Appimage](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/portable-joplin-appimage/6937)

§ [Current Best Practices for Using Portable AppImage on Linux?](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/current-best-practices-for-using-portable-appimage-on-linux/33810)

§ [Joplin on Windows and Linux - #10 by mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/joplin-on-windows-and-linux/45090/10)

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**Author:** ![dpoulton](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/dpoulton/32/29723_2.png) [@dpoulton](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/dpoulton)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2025 23:08 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/8 "2025-09-09T23:08:21Z")

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> [@Steph](#):
>
> Yes maybe. But how to do that ?

The `ln` command lets you create hard or soft links to files or directories. You can "map" `~/.config/joplin-desktop` to a different folder on a different drive that actually contains your Joplin data. Joplin however thinks it is looking at `~/.config/joplin-desktop`. I believe that you may need to use a soft link as hard links cannot cross file systems, which is what you would be doing if you wanted `~/.config/joplin-desktop` on another drive.

I had a Linux Mint VM that had Joplin on it. Joplin had been used and `~/.config/joplin-desktop` contained app data. I added a second drive (ext4) to the VM. The second drive was mounted at `/media/vbox/Second_Drive/`. After fully quitting Joplin I _ **moved** _ the entire `~/.config/joplin-desktop` folder to `/media/vbox/Second_Drive/`. So the Joplin data was now stored at `/media/vbox/Second_Drive/joplin-desktop` and `~/.config` did **not** contain a `joplin-desktop` folder. I then made a link back to `~/.config/` using the `ln` command.

`ln -s /media/vbox/Second_Drive/joplin-desktop/ /home/vbox/.config/`

This created a `joplin-desktop` link in `~/.config/`.When Joplin was run it opened using the data on the other drive.

If `~/.config/joplin-desktop` was ever deleted the data would still be there at `/media/vbox/Second_Drive/` as just _the link_ gets deleted. You can see the link and link properties in the screenshot.

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/d/0/d07783b2e801d1b9c7cf0202ddcaa9c6fc0bdec8.png)

This is the first time I have tried this and I only did it as I was interested to see if it would actually work. I do not intend to use this myself as disk space is not a problem for me. Also I would have to give it some serious testing before relying on it. I am not sure that it would be such a good idea to use a removable drive as I think things could go a bit wrong if you started Joplin when the drive was not attached. I stupidly killed my VM before realising that this was something that needed testing. You may want to try.

As I am far from an expert on this I am happy to be corrected by anyone else here on the forum.

Basically all I am saying that this is a way to do it. If you do try this you should do some serious testing first with non-critical data until **you** are happy that it works and is reliable 🙂

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**Author:** ![horvat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/97f17d/32.png) [@horvat](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/horvat)\
**Post date:** [10 September 2025 06:46 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/9 "2025-09-10T06:46:19Z")

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There is also an option of installing Joplin from .deb package. Then you should have no issues with passing command line arguments.

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**Author:** ![Steph](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/steph/32/17080_2.png) [@Steph](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Steph)\
**Post date:** [15 July 2026 12:47 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-store-notes-and-settings-on-an-external-drive-under-linux/47243/11 "2026-07-15T12:47:43Z")

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Thank you for these very interesting explanations. I did not reply earlier because I had some personal issues. Two weeks ago, I managed to get Joplin working on an external drive (without synchronization) using another method. I am testing it to see whether it remains stable over time, and I will keep you updated. Thank you again.