Is Immich eating my photos?

[HMKnapp]

I have searched the existing issues, both open and closed, to make sure this is not a duplicate report.

• Yes

The bug

I wanted to open such a ticket a few times this year, but lately there were no issues... until today when it happened again

Is Immich eating my photos?

After every n-th upgrade this happens:

--

The OS that Immich Server is running on

Docker version 28.3.3

Version of Immich Server

v1.141.1

Version of Immich Mobile App

1.141.1 build.3013

Platform with the issue

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

Device make and model

No response

Your docker-compose.yml content

Default

Your .env content

UPLOAD_LOCATION=./library
DB_DATA_LOCATION=./postgres
IMMICH_VERSION=release

Reproduction steps

1. Run Immich in Docker, have xx thousand photos
2. Shutdown Docker with systemd, reboot, start docker with new version of Immich
3. Lose a lot of photos (sometimes)
   ...

Given the nature of the issue, it being seemingly random, and this not being a test instance but my (and other people's) supposed "backup" of their precious memories, I can't really reproduce it. But I believe there is some fundamental flaw hidden somewhere that causes this behaviour. Somewhere some condition seems to trigger a deletion of images.

Relevant log output

immich_server | Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access '/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs/b844eea9-2173-452d-a3e9-12e0f5a276f2/91/7a/917a9e9f-da4d-4586-8f29-4000c53121ef-thumbnail.webp' 
immich_server |     at async access (node:internal/fs/promises:608:10)
immich_server |     at async sendFile (/usr/src/app/server/dist/utils/file.js:49:9)
immich_server |     at async AssetMediaController.viewAsset (/usr/src/app/server/dist/controllers/asset-media.controller.js:60:13)
immich_server | [Nest] 18  - 09/09/2025, 6:50:56 AM   ERROR [Api:LoggingRepository~x1badx4o] Unable to send file: Error
immich_server | Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access '/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs/b844eea9-2173-452d-a3e9-12e0f5a276f2/71/0c/710c4767-c210-413a-afed-249f04eb9959-thumbnail.webp' 
immich_server |     at async access (node:internal/fs/promises:608:10)
immich_server |     at async sendFile (/usr/src/app/server/dist/utils/file.js:49:9)
immich_server |     at async AssetMediaController.viewAsset (/usr/src/app/server/dist/controllers/asset-media.controller.js:60:13)
immich_server | [Nest] 18  - 09/09/2025, 6:50:56 AM   ERROR [Api:GlobalExceptionFilter~x1badx4o] Unknown error: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access '/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs/b844eea9-21
73-452d-a3e9-12e0f5a276f2/71/0c/710c4767-c210-413a-afed-249f04eb9959-thumbnail.webp'          
immich_server | Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access '/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs/b844eea9-2173-452d-a3e9-12e0f5a276f2/71/0c/710c4767-c210-413a-afed-249f04eb9959-thumbnail.webp' 
immich_server |     at async access (node:internal/fs/promises:608:10)
immich_server |     at async sendFile (/usr/src/app/server/dist/utils/file.js:49:9)
immich_server |     at async AssetMediaController.viewAsset (/usr/src/app/server/dist/controllers/asset-media.controller.js:60:13)
immich_server | [Nest] 18  - 09/09/2025, 6:50:56 AM   ERROR [Api:LoggingRepository~85zcn4hq] Unable to send file: Error
immich_server | Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access '/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs/b844eea9-2173-452d-a3e9-12e0f5a276f2/d4/9d/d49df1a8-db1b-42f7-89bb-db24fd824bd8-thumbnail.webp' 
immich_server |     at async access (node:internal/fs/promises:608:10)
immich_server |     at async sendFile (/usr/src/app/server/dist/utils/file.js:49:9)
immich_server |     at async AssetMediaController.viewAsset (/usr/src/app/server/dist/controllers/asset-media.controller.js:60:13)
immich_server | [Nest] 18  - 09/09/2025, 6:50:56 AM   ERROR [Api:GlobalExceptionFilter~85zcn4hq] Unknown error: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access '/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs/b844eea9-21
73-452d-a3e9-12e0f5a276f2/d4/9d/d49df1a8-db1b-42f7-89bb-db24fd824bd8-thumbnail.webp'

Additional information

Why I believe this is related to Immich and not a file system or hardware issue:

1. Clean FS on boot before starting Immich:
   Sep 09 08:37:34 ryzen systemd-fsck[888]: /dev/sda: clean, 926747/274661376 files, 3698163812/4394582016 blocks
2. SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
3. This has been an issue for months and nothing else but Immich is affected
4. I sync the FS every minute, run sync in each container every minute
5. Both original image and thumbnail are missing (in the cases I reviewed). If hardware or FS issue, I would expect it to be random. (It could it be that the thumbnail was never created and this fact masked by the app using a local thumbnail)

To me it looks like Immich is removing the photo as well as the thumbnail on startup or shutdown. The metadata is there which prevents re-importing the photos as they "already exist".

Help 🫠 Please find this bug.

PS: Fixing it by allowing re-uploads of no longer existing photos would not solve it but only mask the problem and make it much more difficult to detect.

[bo0tzz]

The files aren't where Immich expects to find them, this is probably an issue with your mount points.

[HMKnapp]

The mount points have not changed. These files are nowhere. They were there after uploading them. Photos disappear (sometimes) after Immich shutdown and upgrades. The file system looks fine, see my issue description.

[alextran1502]

I suspect that the network mount is not reliable so that it could be unmounted without your knowledge. When that happens, the thumbnail is written onto the OS's location where the mount point is pointed to.

Perhaps try unmounting your network mount, then navigate to the supposed mount location and check if you can see the files there

[HMKnapp]

Thanks for your response. It is a local ext4 mount, no network, no disconnect, no write errors (see initial post, SMART health passed, no fsck errors). The files arrive fine when uploading.

The photos in the screenshot were uploaded in August, no issues. They only disappeared at or around the upgrade today (as far as I can tell). At least that's when I noticed and this exact same thing has has happened several times before, always after an upgrade (shutdown of docker, reboot, start docker with new version).
The files have also not been written or moved anywhere else.

[ryanwwest]

I have the same errored log output on mine for perhaps 1/2 of all my photos (similar to immich_server | Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access '/usr/src/app/upload/thumbs/b844eea9-2173-452d-a3e9-12e0f5a276f2/71/0c/710c4767-c210-413a-afed-249f04eb9959-thumbnail.webp' followed by a Unable to send file: Error line) on latest immich on fresh install (and previously experienced the same thing on v1.116 and earlier).

I'm running immich in docker-compose containers within a VM on proxmox, and it accesses the photos external library from an NFS mount from a LAN truenas machine separated only by a 2.5G switch - so it's possible that there are mount problems, but I've never encountered others and the VM itself is stored within that same truenas pool and runs without issue. When I had them connected at 10Gbe before, same problem.

Perhaps unlike OP, my photo files are still always all there and always accessible when Immich reports it can't load them.

[rdfurman]

We've started seeing this over the past few weeks as well.

I performed the migration documented here: https://immich.app/docs/install/truenas/#migration

Even after a successful migration, I see see this exact same issue for maybe around half my photos.

2025-09-19 17:42:52.701484+00:00Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access 'upload/thumbs/16e998a3-82f8-43de-8d76-2859be87e8c1/47/96/47962b22-d615-4b9f-a064-b9f8c35c82fc-thumbnail.webp'
2025-09-19 17:42:52.701506+00:00at async access (node:internal/fs/promises:606:10)
2025-09-19 17:42:52.701524+00:00at async sendFile (/usr/src/app/server/dist/utils/file.js:49:9)
2025-09-19 17:42:52.701543+00:00at async AssetMediaController.viewAsset (/usr/src/app/server/dist/controllers/asset-media.controller.js:60:13)
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807592+00:00�[31m[Nest] 27  - �[39m09/19/2025, 11:42:53 AM �[31m  ERROR�[39m �[33m[Api:LoggingRepository~w4fd519s]�[39m �[31mUnable to send file: Error�[39m
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807688+00:00Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access 'upload/thumbs/16e998a3-82f8-43de-8d76-2859be87e8c1/85/7f/857f90b8-f1d9-447d-a6dc-d88a388f62c5-preview.jpeg'
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807712+00:00at async access (node:internal/fs/promises:606:10)
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807732+00:00at async sendFile (/usr/src/app/server/dist/utils/file.js:49:9)
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807751+00:00at async AssetMediaController.viewAsset (/usr/src/app/server/dist/controllers/asset-media.controller.js:60:13)
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807853+00:00�[31m[Nest] 27  - �[39m09/19/2025, 11:42:53 AM �[31m  ERROR�[39m �[33m[Api:GlobalExceptionFilter~w4fd519s]�[39m �[31mUnknown error: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access 'upload/thumbs/16e998a3-82f8-43de-8d76-2859be87e8c1/85/7f/857f90b8-f1d9-447d-a6dc-d88a388f62c5-preview.jpeg'�[39m
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807908+00:00Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access 'upload/thumbs/16e998a3-82f8-43de-8d76-2859be87e8c1/85/7f/857f90b8-f1d9-447d-a6dc-d88a388f62c5-preview.jpeg'
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807930+00:00at async access (node:internal/fs/promises:606:10)
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807949+00:00at async sendFile (/usr/src/app/server/dist/utils/file.js:49:9)
2025-09-19 17:42:53.807967+00:00at async AssetMediaController.viewAsset (/usr/src/app/server/dist/controllers/asset-media.controller.js:60:13)

Should it be looking for thumbs under the upload directory? I will look for one of these "missing" photos and report back if I can find it or not.

Immich
App Version:
v1.142.1
Version:
1.9.26

TrueNAS Version: 
ElectricEel-24.10.2.4

data and pgData are both under a local pool.

[ryanwwest]

Still same for me as well.

[rdfurman]

Somehow, at some point BEFORE I did the migration, Immich server decided that some uploads should be moved to the data dir. Not sure what would have caused this though...

# find / -type f -name "*d84c2634-f2d3-410f-a4e6-15fa118c9d00*"
/data/thumbs/019a0e31-2d91-4210-9d8d-e39d1addf812/d8/4c/d84c2634-f2d3-410f-a4e6-15fa118c9d00-preview.jpeg
/data/thumbs/019a0e31-2d91-4210-9d8d-e39d1addf812/d8/4c/d84c2634-f2d3-410f-a4e6-15fa118c9d00-thumbnail.webp

---

2025-09-25 13:17:50.976459+00:00Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access 'upload/thumbs/019a0e31-2d91-4210-9d8d-e39d1addf812/d8/4c/d84c2634-f2d3-410f-a4e6-15fa118c9d00-preview.jpeg'
2025-09-25 13:17:50.976655+00:00Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access 'upload/thumbs/019a0e31-2d91-4210-9d8d-e39d1addf812/d8/4c/d84c2634-f2d3-410f-a4e6-15fa118c9d00-preview.jpeg'

So files aren't being munched, instead Immich server is randomly moving some files out of the uploads dir to the top level data dir and not updating the file paths in the database.