External Drive to Container Blueprint: Proxmox → VM → Docker

Blueprint: External Drive → Proxmox → VM → Container

1. Attach and Identify the Drive (Proxmox host)

• Plug in the external drive.
• Run:

lsblk -f

• Identify the device (/dev/sda1, /dev/sdb1, etc.), filesystem, and UUID.

2. Create Mount Point(s) (Proxmox host)

• Decide where to mount it, e.g.:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/audiobooks
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/podcasts
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/digitalbooks

• Mount it temporarily:

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3

3. Make Mount Persistent with fstab (Proxmox host)

• Get the UUID:

blkid /dev/sda1

• Edit /etc/fstab:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

• Add line (replace UUID with yours):

UUID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx /mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3 ext4 defaults 0 2

• Test:

sudo mount -a

4. Export Folders via NFS (Proxmox host)

• Edit exports:

sudo nano /etc/exports

• Add lines for each library:

/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/audiobooks   192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,insecure)
/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/podcasts     192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,insecure)
/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/digitalbooks 192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,insecure)

• Apply:

sudo exportfs -ra
showmount -e localhost

5. Mount in VM (client side)

• Create mount points:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/audiobooks /mnt/podcasts /mnt/digitalbooks

• Test mount:

sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.121:/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/audiobooks /mnt/audiobooks
sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.121:/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/digitalbooks /mnt/digitalbooks
sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.121:/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/podcasts     /mnt/podcasts

• Make persistent in /etc/fstab on VM:

192.168.1.121:/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/audiobooks   /mnt/audiobooks   nfs defaults 0 0
192.168.1.121:/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/podcasts     /mnt/podcasts     nfs defaults 0 0
192.168.1.121:/mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3/digitalbooks /mnt/digitalbooks nfs defaults 0 0

• Reload:

sudo mount -a

6. Map Folders into Containers (VM)

• In your docker-compose.yml:

volumes:
  - ./config:/config
  - ./metadata:/metadata
  - /mnt/audiobooks:/audiobooks
  - /mnt/podcasts:/podcasts
  - /mnt/digitalbooks:/digitalbooks

• Restart container:

sudo docker compose down && sudo docker compose up -d

7. Add Library in the App

• In Audiobookshelf → add /audiobooks and /podcasts.
• In Calibre-Web → add /digitalbooks.

✅ Summary

With this process:

• New libraries (movies, ebooks, comics, etc.) just mean adding a new directory under /mnt/Ext_T7_ssd_nuc3, exporting it, mounting it in the VM, and mapping it into the container.
• Same steps every time → repeatable blueprint.