diff --git a/scripts/cloudron-setup b/scripts/cloudron-setup
index 77fc0fbf3..68792606b 100755
--- a/scripts/cloudron-setup
+++ b/scripts/cloudron-setup
@@ -126,6 +126,11 @@ if [[ -z "${dataJson}" ]]; then
         echo "--dns-provider must be one of : manual, noop"
         exit 1
     fi
+
+    if [[ -n "${baseDataDir}" && ! -d "${baseDataDir}" ]]; then
+        echo "${baseDataDir} does not exist"
+        exit 1
+    fi
 fi
 
 echo ""
diff --git a/scripts/installer.sh b/scripts/installer.sh
index e2f173275..acc01b9ce 100755
--- a/scripts/installer.sh
+++ b/scripts/installer.sh
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ if [[ "${is_update}" == "yes" ]]; then
 fi
 
 # setup links to data directory
-if [[ "${arg_data_dir}" != "" ]]; then
+if [[ -n "${arg_data_dir}" ]]; then
     echo "==> installer: setting up links to data directory"
     mkdir "${arg_data_dir}/appsdata"
     ln -s "${arg_data_dir}/appsdata" "${BASE_DATA_DIR}/appsdata"