Docker desktop shows disk utilization that is 10-20x+ compared to actual macOS disk usage

[thesyntaxinator]

Description

E.g. Docker desktop shows 315 gb used while actual macOS disk usage is only ~30gb. This is an issue because when the disk usage limit is reached according to docker desktop, applications running within docker fail due to "no space left on device" even though there is plenty of available space on the macOS disk.

Reproduce

1. Run a docker application that writes a lot of files
2. Check docker desktop disk usage and compare to actual docker disk usage according to macOS

Expected behavior

No response

docker version

Client:
 Version:           29.0.1
 API version:       1.52
 Go version:        go1.25.4
 Git commit:        eedd969
 Built:             Fri Nov 14 16:16:57 2025
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.52.0 (210994)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.0.1
  API version:      1.52 (minimum version 1.44)
  Go version:       go1.25.4
  Git commit:       198b5e3
  Built:            Fri Nov 14 16:18:20 2025
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.1.5
  GitCommit:        fcd43222d6b07379a4be9786bda52438f0dd16a1
 runc:
  Version:          1.3.3
  GitCommit:        v1.3.3-0-gd842d771
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Version:    29.0.1
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.9.11
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-ai
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.29.1-desktop.1
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.40.3-desktop.1
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.45
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.0
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.28.0
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-mcp
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.0
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-model
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.5.20
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-offload
  pass: Docker Pass Secrets Manager Plugin (beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.11
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-pass
  sandbox: Docker Sandbox (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.6.0
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sandbox
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.18.3
    Path:     /Users/prag/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 19
  Running: 19
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 0
 Images: 16
 Server Version: 29.0.1
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 2
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Discovered Devices:
  cdi: docker.com/gpu=webgpu
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: runc io.containerd.runc.v2
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: fcd43222d6b07379a4be9786bda52438f0dd16a1
 runc version: v1.3.3-0-gd842d771
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.12.54-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 11
 Total Memory: 7.653GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: cbb097f3-c94e-478c-b27b-175ac250b456
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
 Labels:
  com.docker.desktop.address=unix:///Users/prag/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/docker-cli.sock
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  127.0.0.0/8
  ::1/128
 Live Restore Enabled: false
 Firewall Backend: iptables

Diagnostics ID

950DE69A-6F3D-4A9D-8C51-948E8D39E0C0/20251126162814

Additional Info

14" M3 MacBook Pro with 18 GB RAM and 500 gb hdd running Sonoma 14.7.5

[bsousaa]

Your diagnostics is showing that your Docker VM is consuming 316GB (images, containers, etc), which is inconsistent with your report of MacOS disk usage of 30GB. Could it be that's the space you have left on your device?