I’m running a Docker container on my Droplet and noticed that every time I recreate the container, all my data is gone. What’s the proper way to store data so it doesn’t get lost when the container restarts or gets rebuilt?
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Accepted Answer
Hey there 👋
Great question! By default, Docker containers are ephemeral, meaning all data inside the container is lost when it’s removed. To persist data, you should use volumes.
Here’s a simple example:
docker run -v /my/local/path:/app/data your-image-name
This mounts a local folder (/my/local/path) on your Droplet to /app/data inside the container — so anything your container writes there will stay even if the container is removed or restarted.
If you’re using docker-compose, it looks like this:
volumes:
- ./data:/app/data
Also if you are just getting started with Docker, this free eBook might be helpful: 👉 https://github.com/bobbyiliev/introduction-to-docker-ebook
Hope that helps!
- Bobby
Heya, @1329f70102f4446f94457e686ea96f
I’ll also recommend to use volumes for this. The other option will be to use bind Mounts (Host Directory)
You can mount a directory from your host system directly into the container.
docker run -d \ --name mycontainer \ -v /path/on/host:/app/data \ myimage
This gives you full control and visibility of the files on the host machine.
⚠️ Be careful with permissions and SELinux/AppArmor when using bind mounts.
I’ll still however vote for volumes over bind mounts.
Regards
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