diff --git a/deployments/home-server/linkwarden.yaml b/deployments/home-server/linkwarden.yaml
index e07bee5..023eee8 100644
--- a/deployments/home-server/linkwarden.yaml
+++ b/deployments/home-server/linkwarden.yaml
@@ -60,7 +60,13 @@ spec:
           image: ghcr.io/linkwarden/linkwarden:latest
           command: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
           args:
-            - cp -r /app/. /data/  # Copy everything from the internal app dir to the mounted volume
+            - |
+              if [ -z "$(ls -A /data)" ]; then
+                echo "/data is empty, initializing..."
+                cp -r /app/. /data/
+              else
+                echo "/data already initialized, skipping copy."
+              fi
           volumeMounts:
             - name: linkwarden-data
               mountPath: /data