diff --git a/Deployment/conf_templates/master.conf b/Deployment/conf_templates/master.conf
index 3669443..81bdf8e 100644
--- a/Deployment/conf_templates/master.conf
+++ b/Deployment/conf_templates/master.conf
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@
 #   DATA_DIR   — historical logs, statistics, discovery histories, blocklists
 #   STATE_DIR  — runtime state files for all scripts (watchdogs, fallback, transcode, etc.)
 #                Requirement: ALL state files MUST use $STATE_DIR. No /tmp, no /boot/config.
-    DATA_DIR="/boot/config/plugins/varaverk/data"
-    STATE_DIR="/boot/config/plugins/varaverk/State_Files"
+    DATA_DIR="/mnt/user/appdata/Varaverk/data"
+    STATE_DIR="/mnt/user/appdata/Varaverk/State_Files"
 
 # ── Version Parity ──
 # Controls behaviour when local and remote unRAID versions differ.
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@
     GITEA_CONTAINER="Gitea"
     GITEA_REPO_PATH="FailedProxy/Varaverk.git"
     GITEA_DOMAIN=""                         # e.g. git.yourdomain.com — requires NPM + DNS
-    TARGET_DIR="/boot/config/plugins/varaverk"
+    TARGET_DIR="/mnt/user/appdata/Varaverk"
     GITEA_SSH_KEY="/root/.ssh/unraid_gitea"
     SSH_PORT=221                            # Gitea SSH port (default 22, Gitea often uses 221/222)
     GITEA_HTTP_PORT=3000                    # Gitea web/API port — used by gitea_ssh_setup.sh
diff --git a/Plugin/varaverk.plg b/Plugin/varaverk.plg
index b7f3b46..cccea7d 100644
--- a/Plugin/varaverk.plg
+++ b/Plugin/varaverk.plg
@@ -87,9 +87,12 @@ SCRIPTS_DIR="$CFG_DIR"
 CONF_DIR="$SCRIPTS_DIR/Configurations"
 
 # Seed varaverk.cfg with defaults (SCRIPTS_DIR + Gitea settings) if not present.
+# Default SCRIPTS_DIR is appdata — safe for USB boot users.
+# Users with NVMe/SSD boot can change this to /boot/config/plugins/varaverk
+# so scripts are available before the array mounts.
 if [[ ! -f "$CFG_FILE" ]]; then
     cat > "$CFG_FILE" <<'CFGEOF'
-SCRIPTS_DIR="/boot/config/plugins/varaverk"
+SCRIPTS_DIR="/mnt/user/appdata/Varaverk"
 GITEA_CONTAINER="Gitea"
 GITEA_REPO_PATH="FailedProxy/Varaverk.git"
 GITEA_SSH_KEY="/root/.ssh/unraid_gitea"