Best way to pass a 2TB HDD into a Docker container running inside a Proxmox VM, without losing existing data?
I'm running Proxmox with a 5TB and a 2TB HDD. I want to get the data on the 2TB drive accessible inside a Docker container (running Jellyfin + a few other services) that lives in a VM.
My current plan:
- Passthrough the raw 2TB disk from Proxmox host to the VM (
qm set <VMID> -scsi1 /dev/disk/by-id/...) - Mount it inside the VM (
/mnt/data) - Bind mount that into the Docker container (
-v /mnt/data:/data)
Questions:
- Is disk passthrough the right approach here, or would I be better off keeping the drive on the Proxmox host and sharing it via NFS/Samba into the VM instead?
- The drive already has data on it — is there any risk of that being wiped during passthrough, as long as I don't reformat it?
- Any gotchas with
/etc/fstabpersistence across reboots when the disk is passed through this way (vs. natively attached)? - For anyone running a similar Jellyfin + Docker + Proxmox setup — did you go passthrough or network share, and why?
Appreciate any input — trying to avoid rookie mistakes before I touch a drive with actual data on it.
Posted Jul 11, 2026, 2:37 PM UTC
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