Back up a Docker volume's data to a tar archive

domain: docs.docker.com · 6 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. Run a throwaway helper container mounting the volume and tar its content to the host: docker run --rm -v mydata:/data -v $(pwd):/backup ubuntu tar cvf /backup/backup.tar -C /data .
  2. Put the tar somewhere outside /data so you do not archive the archive
  3. For a mounted subdirectory, adjust the -C path accordingly (volumes can be mounted at a subdir with volume-subpath)
  4. Compress the archive: add z to use gzip, e.g. tar czvf /backup/backup.tar.gz -C /data .
  5. Confirm the archive contains the expected files with tar tzf backup.tar.gz before trusting it
  6. Because that container is a one-off, use --rm so the helper is removed when it exits

Known gotchas

Related routes

Restore a Docker volume from a backup tar archive
docs.docker.com · 6 steps · unrated
Save and load a Docker image as a tar archive
docs.docker.com · 6 steps · unrated

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