diff --git a/deploy/webmail.sh b/deploy/webmail.sh
index c78463c..40dfb54 100755
--- a/deploy/webmail.sh
+++ b/deploy/webmail.sh
@@ -326,10 +326,15 @@ cmd_up() {
         ylw "SEARCH_BACKEND=meili — starting the Meilisearch container too"
         profile=(--profile meili)
     }
-    # Best-effort only: Docker creates any missing bind-mount path itself, and
-    # the `init` service fixes ownership. This line must not be fatal, because
-    # DATA_ROOT is typically root-owned while you may be running as yourself.
-    mkdir -p "${DATA_ROOT}"/{postgres,blobs,redis,backups,meili,state} 2>/dev/null || true
+    # DATA_ROOT must exist before compose runs: Synology's Docker daemon will
+    # not create a missing bind-mount source, it just fails the container. The
+    # `init` service creates the subdirectories from there.
+    mkdir -p "${DATA_ROOT}" 2>/dev/null || true
+    if [ ! -d "${DATA_ROOT}" ]; then
+        die "cannot create ${DATA_ROOT} (running as $(id -un)). Create it first:
+    sudo mkdir -p ${DATA_ROOT}
+then re-run this command."
+    fi
     detect_compose
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
     compose "${profile[@]}" up -d "${build[@]}" $COMPOSE_WAIT
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index e367058..57f2c64 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -96,17 +96,22 @@ services:
       - -c
       - |
         set -e
-        mkdir -p /mnt/blobs /mnt/backups /mnt/redis /mnt/meili
-        chown -R 10001:10001 /mnt/blobs          # backend runs as uid 10001
-        chown -R 999:999     /mnt/backups        # pg_dump runs as postgres (999)
-        chown -R 999:999     /mnt/redis          # redis runs as uid 999
+        mkdir -p /mnt/postgres /mnt/blobs /mnt/backups /mnt/redis /mnt/meili /mnt/state
+        # Only recurse when ownership is actually wrong: `chown -R` over a large
+        # blob store on every start would be minutes of pointless disk churn.
+        [ "$$(stat -c %u /mnt/blobs)" = "10001" ] || chown -R 10001:10001 /mnt/blobs
+        [ "$$(stat -c %u /mnt/backups)" = "999" ] || chown -R 999:999 /mnt/backups
+        [ "$$(stat -c %u /mnt/redis)" = "999" ]   || chown -R 999:999 /mnt/redis
         chmod 700 /mnt/backups
         echo "[init] data directories ready"
     volumes:
-      - ${DATA_ROOT:-/NO-.env-FOUND-RUN-deploy_webmail.sh-init-FIRST}/blobs:/mnt/blobs
-      - ${DATA_ROOT:-/NO-.env-FOUND-RUN-deploy_webmail.sh-init-FIRST}/backups:/mnt/backups
-      - ${DATA_ROOT:-/NO-.env-FOUND-RUN-deploy_webmail.sh-init-FIRST}/redis:/mnt/redis
-      - ${DATA_ROOT:-/NO-.env-FOUND-RUN-deploy_webmail.sh-init-FIRST}/meili:/mnt/meili
+      # ONE mount, of DATA_ROOT itself. Synology's Docker daemon refuses to
+      # create a missing bind-mount source ("Bind mount failed: ... doesn't
+      # exists") instead of creating it the way Docker does elsewhere, so every
+      # subdirectory mounted below must exist before its container is created.
+      # Mounting the parent here means only DATA_ROOT has to pre-exist, and this
+      # service creates the rest — which is why everything now depends on it.
+      - ${DATA_ROOT:-/NO-.env-FOUND-RUN-deploy_webmail.sh-init-FIRST}:/mnt
     restart: "no"
     logging: *logging
 
@@ -135,6 +140,8 @@ services:
       # Full page writes stay ON: NAS filesystems (btrfs/ext4) are not 8k-atomic.
     volumes:
       - ${DATA_ROOT:-/NO-.env-FOUND-RUN-deploy_webmail.sh-init-FIRST}/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+    depends_on:
+      init: { condition: service_completed_successfully }
     healthcheck:
       # -h 127.0.0.1 forces a TCP check. Without it pg_isready uses the Unix
       # socket, which the temporary server that the postgres image runs during