For the past two months, I've been struggling with a peculiar issue on my main computer. It runs Debian Linux as its operating system, which has been a joy to use ever since I switched from Windows back in late August 2019. Alongside it, I rely on a sturdy Synology NAS primarily for backups, and a Raspberry Pi Model 4 equipped with an external hard drive for storing my video and music files. The Raspberry Pi runs DietPi with Jellyfin as the media server, allowing seamless streaming of my files to my TV.

To integrate my NAS and Raspberry Pi into Debian, I configured entries in my /etc/fstab file, which looks something like this:

# Shared folder NFS from Server & mount point
192.168.x.xx:/volume1/Backup/ /mnt/Backup_NAS nfs noauto,x-systemd.automount,x-systemd.mount-timeout=10s,x-systemd.idle-timeout=1m 0 0

# Shared folder DietPi (RPi)
192.168.x.xx:/mnt/usbdrive/ /mnt/Dietpi nfs auto,defaults,nofail,nolock 0 0

This setup usually worked flawlessly—until my Synology NAS began shutting down automatically at 23:00. If my Debian computer was still running at that time, the file manager (Thunar) in Debian would freeze completely. When this happened, I couldn’t access any folders or files on my system, leading to an incredibly frustrating experience.

My old setup with bookmarks to my two NAS drives. This caused Thunar freezing when NAS was off.

I tried numerous solutions and troubleshooting procedures, many of which I detailed in my blog post titled When File Manager Hands You Lemons and How AI Turned Them Into Lemonade. (Yes, the title is a bit dramatic, but the ordeal felt endless!) Despite all my efforts, the issue stubbornly persisted.

While researching alternative solutions (implementing autofs), I stumbled across a user comment on a Linux forum. The comment suggested avoiding bookmarks for mounted external drives in Thunar. The rationale? If those drives became unavailable, Thunar might freeze while attempting to access them. This single insight opened up a potential fix for my problem.

Yesterday, I decided to start fresh and installed the latest Debian Testing .iso file with Xfce as my desktop environment. After completing the installation, I performed my usual system setup—editing the /etc/fstab, installing additional packages, configuring LightDM Greeter, setting up a firewall, eliminating microphone noise, and more. However, this time, I skipped creating bookmarks for my NAS drives in Thunar. Instead, I bookmarked only the /mnt folder, where links to my NAS drives are stored.

To my relief, this tweak worked perfectly! If the NAS shuts down, Thunar no longer freezes. It does pause momentarily, but after closing and reopening the file manager, it operates as usual.

The solution worked: Now I have only a bookmark for the /mnt folder in which there are links to my two NAS drives and DietPi.

For me, this solution is more than satisfactory. The system is stable, functional, and free of the infuriating freezes. I’m happy to call this case officially closed.

Sometimes, the simplest changes can make the biggest difference!