How to Back Up Docker Containers | Backup & Restore Tutorial

This tutorial focuses on how to back up docker containers. The instructions utilize a Synology NAS and show how to back up a docker container volume, then how to restore it if necessary.

DISCLAIMER: The information in this video has been self-taught through years of technical tinkering. While we do our best to provide accurate, useful information, we make no guarantee that our viewers will achieve the same level of success. WunderTech does not assume liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to damage caused directly or indirectly from its content or associated media. Use at your own risk.

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[lincongkai]

Thanks for this video. I now understand how docker backup works.

[TechMeOut]

Great video Frank. The explanations and demonstrations were both spot on! Excellent job!

[Dr]

That video shows exactly what I needed. I use my Synology NAS with Docker and I made a lot of mistakes lately. Having a backup would have helped me a lot. Well I restarted my containers and everything was gone :D I learned the lesson and now I will back up all my containers. Thanks a lot. Looking forward to a lot more videos with Docker on Synology.

[aliasname]

Thanks for the video, two quick questions:
The hyper backup you showed was a scheduled backup. Is it mandatory to stop the container before a backup (database corruption)? If yes, how do you ensure that the container is off when the schedule runs?
A docker compose file is to restore the docker setup, in case the docker program itself goes corrupt, right?

[terezasanchez]

Great Video, Frank!
However, I would also like to point out the importance of backing up (at least) once the core configuration of the container. It could save some time when it comes to problems.

I recently purchased an M2 SSD and decided to move my docker data onto the new volume (M2).
While the shared folder can easily be migrated from one volume to another, the installed Synology app (Container Manager) can't.
I also wanted to run the Container manager also on the SSD volume, as it would significantly reduce the noise levels.

However, since migration wasn't possible, I had to uninstall and re-install the container manager app, in order to have it running on the SSD volume.
Obviously this caused the loss of my configuration files for each container. I hadn't thought about exporting the configs first.
I initially thought I could import the data of the shared folder docker in the container manager, but this is not how it works :D

Long story short:
Important lesson learned here, backup your container configs at least once (they don't change very often anyway).

[jlaroche]

Do the backups of the Docker Container mountpoints need to happen with the container turned off?

If so, this obviously complicates things a bit as the services would need to be shut off while the backups happen and then turned back on after copying / synchronization is completed.

Thanks for this wonderful video on the basics!

[henryammons]

Thank you for this video! When you back up the container (or the whole docker folder), does that include the Image for the installation? Thanks.

[lupinewoof]

ok, but how do you backup all the container manger config details that doesn't live in the docker folders? Some containers don't have any folders such as the wyze camera streaming api, or cloudflare tunnel etc.

[notreallyme]

I use HyperBackup and I backup the docker folders and files, but I don’t see a way to backup the Docker settings. So if my NAS crashed I’d still have to re-create all the containers. Anyway around that?