TerraMaster Forum

Feature Request: Allow Applications to Fully Honor User-Selected Installation Volume Instead of Hardcoding Metadata to Volume1

I am writing to propose an enhancement to the Application Center in TOS 7 (and future versions) regarding application installation paths, particularly for apps like Plex Media Server.
Currently, users can specify a default installation volume in the Application Center settings (e.g., Volume3/@apps for binaries and core files).

However, certain applications, such as Plex Media Server, create a dedicated shared folder named "Plex" on Volume1 for storing metadata, databases, thumbnails, cache, and transcoding files. This occurs regardless of the selected installation volume, appearing to be a hardcoded behavior.
While this ensures consistency and proper permissions for the hidden "plex" application user, it limits flexibility for users with multi-volume setups. For instance:

It forces metadata storage on Volume1, which may be the system volume with limited capacity or higher priority for OS-related data.
It prevents full consolidation of application data on a dedicated high-capacity volume, complicating space management and backups.

Volume 1 folder view:
Requested Feature:
Please implement support for applications to fully respect the user-defined default installation path. This could include:

Storing all application-related data (including metadata, libraries, and cache) on the selected volume.
Optionally, providing a per-application setting to override the metadata path if needed for backward compatibility.
Ensuring the hidden application user (e.g., "plex") has appropriate permissions and home directory on the chosen volume.

This enhancement would provide greater control over storage allocation, align with user expectations when selecting an installation volume, and improve usability for advanced configurations without compromising stability.
Thank you for considering this suggestion. I believe it would benefit many users managing larger or specialized storage pools.

rigveda
Model: F5-221
TOS Version: 7.0.0309

The shared folder for Plex was created by the Plex Media Server during its installation process. As the system provider, we do not manage the internal functionalities of the application. Please contact the Plex team for assistance.

That seems strange how another application like Plex is able to hardcode "/Volume1" as its default installation location, is this not specific to how Terramaster defines its storage volumes?
How do they package the application to target Terramaster? Does Terramaster provide the Plex packaging team with certain variables that they have to use are target when they create the installation package? I suspect, the "specifications" that Terramaster provides to Plex and others needs to be updated to make sure they use the user defined volume location.

I have also noticed when I tried to install the Docker Manager and the Docker Engine it ALSO defaults to /Volume1. This shows that it is NOT the system provider but rather how Terramaster ignores the user defined path of /Volume3 (as I have specified) and continues to default it to /Volume1

After Installing Docker Manager and Docker Engine:
Yet on the default Application folder path it shows /Volume3


So I believe this is actually a bug, as it seems 3 applications so far are not using this folder, and are defaulting to "/Volume1" I suspect ALL of your applications are following this instruction? Or does one need to reboot the server to force it to update its internall configurations?

After I install Docker Manager, it shows the installation path that it used was /Volume1 and NOT /Volume3, even though I had previously selected the default path to be /Volume3