Docker filling up storage on macOS
(Post created on Oct 05 '16)
I noticed that every time I run an image and delete, my system doesn't return to the original amount of available space.
The lifecycle I'm applying to my containers is:
> docker build ...
> docker run CONTAINER_TAG
> docker stop CONTAINER_TAG
> rm docker CONTAINER_ID
> rmi docker image_id
[ running on a default mac terminal ]
The containers that are created from custom images, running from node and a standard redis. My OS is OSX 10.11.6.
At the end of the day I see I keep losing Mbs. How can I face this problem?
EDITED POST
2020 and the problem persists, leaving this update for the community:
Today running:
- macOS 10.13.6
- Docker Engine 18.9.2
- Docker Desktop Cli 2.0.0.3
The easiest way to workaround the problem is to prune the system with the Docker utilties.
docker system prune -a --volumes
Answer
WARNING:
By default, volumes are not removed to prevent important data from being deleted if there is currently no container using the volume. Use the
--volumesflag when running the command to prune volumes as well:
Docker now has a single command to do that:
docker system prune -a --volumes
See the Docker system prune docs