Selecting a Storage Driver for Docker

--- title: Select a storage driver weight: 10 description: Learn how to select the proper storage driver for your container. keywords: container, storage, driver, btrfs, zfs, overlay, overlay2 aliases: - /storage/storagedriver/selectadriver/ - /storage/storagedriver/select-storage-driver/ --- Ideally, very little data is written to a container's writable layer, and you use Docker volumes to write data. However, some workloads require you to be able to write to the container's writable layer. This is where storage drivers come in. Docker supports several storage drivers, using a pluggable architecture. The storage driver controls how images and containers are stored and managed on your Docker host. After you have read the [storage driver overview](./_index.md), the next step is to choose the best storage driver for your workloads. Use the storage driver with the best overall performance and stability in the most usual scenarios. > [!NOTE] > This page discusses storage drivers for Docker Engine on Linux. If you're > running the Docker daemon with Windows as the host OS, the only supported > storage driver is windowsfilter. For more information, see > [windowsfilter](windowsfilter-driver.md). The Docker Engine provides the following storage drivers on Linux: | Driver | Description | | :---------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `overlay2` | `overlay2` is the preferred storage driver for all currently supported Linux distributions, and requires no extra configuration. | | `fuse-overlayfs` | `fuse-overlayfs`is preferred only for running Rootless Docker on an old host that does not provide support for rootless `overlay2`. The `fuse-overlayfs` driver does not need to be used since Linux kernel 5.11, and `overlay2` works even in rootless mode. Refer to the [rootless mode documentation](/manuals/engine/security/rootless.md) for details. | | `btrfs` and `zfs` | The `btrfs` and `zfs` storage drivers allow for advanced options, such as creating "snapshots", but require more maintenance and setup. Each of these relies on the backing filesystem being configured correctly. | | `vfs` | The `vfs` storage driver is intended for testing purposes, and for situations where no copy-on-write filesystem can be used. Performance of this storage driver is poor, and is not generally recommended for production use. |  The Docker Engine has a prioritized list of which storage driver to use if no storage driver is explicitly configured, assuming that the storage driver meets the prerequisites, and automatically selects a compatible storage driver. You can see the order in the [source code for Docker Engine {{% param "docker_ce_version" %}}](https://github.com/moby/moby/blob/v{{% param "docker_ce_version" %}}/daemon/graphdriver/driver_linux.go#L52-L53). { #storage-driver-order }

This document guides users on selecting the appropriate storage driver for their Docker containers on Linux. It highlights that while Docker volumes are preferred for data persistence, storage drivers manage how images and containers are stored and managed when writing to the container's writable layer is necessary. The document lists available storage drivers such as `overlay2` (the preferred option), `fuse-overlayfs` (mainly for rootless Docker), `btrfs` and `zfs` (for advanced options like snapshots), and `vfs` (for testing purposes only). It also mentions that Docker Engine automatically selects a compatible driver based on a prioritized list.