---
title: Use bind mounts
weight: 60
linkTitle: "Part 5: Use bind mounts"
keywords: 'get started, setup, orientation, quickstart, intro, concepts, containers, docker desktop'
description: Using bind mounts in our application
aliases:
 - /guides/walkthroughs/access-local-folder/
 - /get-started/06_bind_mounts/
 - /guides/workshop/06_bind_mounts/
---

In [part 4](./05_persisting_data.md), you used a volume mount to persist the
data in your database. A volume mount is a great choice when you need somewhere
persistent to store your application data.

A bind mount is another type of mount, which lets you share a directory from the
host's filesystem into the container. When working on an application, you can
use a bind mount to mount source code into the container. The container sees the
changes you make to the code immediately, as soon as you save a file. This means
that you can run processes in the container that watch for filesystem changes
and respond to them.

In this chapter, you'll see how you can use bind mounts and a tool called
[nodemon](https://npmjs.com/package/nodemon) to watch for file changes, and then restart the application
automatically. There are equivalent tools in most other languages and
frameworks.

## Quick volume type comparisons

The following are examples of a named volume and a bind mount using `--mount`:

- Named volume: `type=volume,src=my-volume,target=/usr/local/data`
- Bind mount: `type=bind,src=/path/to/data,target=/usr/local/data`

The following table outlines the main differences between volume mounts and bind
mounts.

|                                              | Named volumes                                      | Bind mounts                                          |
| -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Host location                                | Docker chooses                                     | You decide                                           |
| Populates new volume with container contents | Yes                                                | No                                                   |
| Supports Volume Drivers                      | Yes                                                | No                                                   |

## Trying out bind mounts

Before looking at how you can use bind mounts for developing your application,
you can run a quick experiment to get a practical understanding of how bind mounts
work.

1. Verify that your `getting-started-app` directory is in a directory defined in
Docker Desktop's file sharing setting. This setting defines which parts of your
filesystem you can share with containers. For details about accessing the setting, see [File sharing](/manuals/desktop/settings-and-maintenance/settings.md#file-sharing).

    > [!NOTE]
    > The **File sharing** tab is only available in Hyper-V mode, because the files are automatically shared in WSL 2 mode and Windows container mode.

2. Open a terminal and change directory to the `getting-started-app`
   directory.

3. Run the following command to start `bash` in an `ubuntu` container with a
   bind mount.

   {{< tabs >}}
   {{< tab name="Mac / Linux" >}}

   ```console
   $ docker run -it --mount type=bind,src="$(pwd)",target=/src ubuntu bash
   ```
   
   {{< /tab >}}
   {{< tab name="Command Prompt" >}}

   ```console
   $ docker run -it --mount "type=bind,src=%cd%,target=/src" ubuntu bash
   ```
   
   {{< /tab >}}
   {{< tab name="Git Bash" >}}

   ```console
   $ docker run -it --mount type=bind,src="/$(pwd)",target=/src ubuntu bash
   ```
   
   {{< /tab >}}
   {{< tab name="PowerShell" >}}

   ```console
   $ docker run -it --mount "type=bind,src=$($pwd),target=/src" ubuntu bash
   ```
   
   {{< /tab >}}
   {{< /tabs >}}
   
   The `--mount type=bind` option tells Docker to create a bind mount, where `src` is the
   current working directory on your host machine (`getting-started-app`), and