Using Bind Mounts

Besides volumes, Docker provides another way to persist data and share files between the host and a container: bind mounts. A bind mount maps a file or directory on the host machine directly into a container. Unlike volumes, which are managed by Docker and stored in a specific location, a bind mount can point to any path on the host system. This makes them particularly useful in development environments. For example, you can bind mount your application's source code directory from your host machine into a container. This way, you can edit the code on your host using your favorite editor, and the changes will be reflected immediately inside the running container, enabling a fast and efficient development workflow without needing to rebuild the image for every code change. However, bind mounts have some drawbacks compared to volumes. They are dependent on the host's directory structure, which makes the application less portable. They also have potential performance issues on some platforms like Docker Desktop for Mac and Windows due to filesystem inconsistencies. Furthermore, the container gets permission to modify the host filesystem, which can have security implications. For these reasons, while bind mounts are excellent for local development, named volumes are the recommended choice for persisting data in production environments.