Docker : Use External Storage2026/05/08

	When containers are removed, data in them are also lost, so it's necessary to use external filesystem in containers as persistent storages if you need.
[1]	It's possible to mount a directory on Docker Host into containers.

# create a directory for containers data

root@dlp:~#

mkdir -p /var/lib/docker/disk01

root@dlp:~#

echo "persistent storage" >> /var/lib/docker/disk01/testfile.txt

# run a container with mounting the directory above on [/mnt]

root@dlp:~#

docker run -it -v /var/lib/docker/disk01:/mnt ubuntu /bin/bash

root@1a9b35b1ef16:/#

df -hT

Filesystem                        Type     Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
overlay                           overlay   77G  7.9G   65G  11% /
tmpfs                             tmpfs     64M     0   64M   0% /dev
shm                               tmpfs     64M     0   64M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv ext4      77G  7.9G   65G  11% /mnt
tmpfs                             tmpfs    7.6G     0  7.6G   0% /proc/acpi
tmpfs                             tmpfs    7.6G     0  7.6G   0% /proc/scsi
tmpfs                             tmpfs    7.6G     0  7.6G   0% /sys/firmware

root@1a9b35b1ef16:/#

cat /mnt/testfile.txt

persistent storage

[2]	It's also possible to configure external storage by Docker Data Volume command.

# create [volume01] volume

root@dlp:~#

docker volume create volume01

volume01

# display volume list

root@dlp:~#

docker volume ls

DRIVER    VOLUME NAME
local     volume01

# display details of [volume01]

root@dlp:~#

docker volume inspect volume01

[
    {
        "CreatedAt": "2026-05-08T00:22:38Z",
        "Driver": "local",
        "Labels": null,
        "Mountpoint": "/var/lib/docker/volumes/volume01/_data",
        "Name": "volume01",
        "Options": null,
        "Scope": "local"
    }
]

# run a container with mounting [volume01] to [/mnt] on container

root@dlp:~#

docker run -it -v volume01:/mnt ubuntu

root@8776cf9c61fc:/#

df -hT /mnt

Filesystem                        Type  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv ext4   77G  7.9G   65G  11% /mnt

root@8776cf9c61fc:/#

echo "Docker Volume test" > /mnt/testfile.txt

root@8776cf9c61fc:/#

exit

root@dlp:~#

cat /var/lib/docker/volumes/volume01/_data/testfile.txt

Docker Volume test

# possible to mount from other containers

root@dlp:~#

docker run -v volume01:/var/volume01 ubuntu /usr/bin/cat /var/volume01/testfile.txt

Docker Volume test

# to remove volumes, do like follows

root@dlp:~#

docker volume rm volume01

Error response from daemon: remove volume01: volume is in use - [8776cf9c61fc7c067243aea19c079e577376948a7ea845048387d230a62013ff, eea2ee038d2d515fa4432d333124f83132ef30126ef88dce6494bc5292960b62]

# if some containers are using the volume you'd like to remove like above,
# it needs to remove target containers before removing a volume

root@dlp:~#

docker rm 8776cf9c61fc7c067243aea19c079e577376948a7ea845048387d230a62013ff

root@dlp:~#

docker rm eea2ee038d2d515fa4432d333124f83132ef30126ef88dce6494bc5292960b62

root@dlp:~#

docker volume rm volume01

volume01

Matched Content