Can I use named volumes to persist data from my containers or do I have to bind mount paths onto my array?

 

(normally volumes end up in /var/lib/docker/volumes so I’m not sure if it would work on unraid)

Edited February 21, 20206 yr by skipkayhil

I would recommend against it. The docker filesystem (where volumes are stored) on unRAID is kept in the loop mounted image you setup when setting up docker. The docker image is of limited size (resizing is a manual operation), limited in speed (due to the loop mounting), and you will often see the recommendation that if something goes wrong with docker to just delete the image a recreate all your containers (which also would delete volumes). Using bind mounts is the safer option and affords use the flexibility of using unRAIDs user share system to allow containers to store their data on the cache or array as we see fit. It also makes it easier to access the files (typically config files) that docker containers create as they are typically bind mounted to /mnt/user/appdata/container-name.