App Drive Overview

App Drive is a system application introduced in HomeDock OS version 2.0.4.214 that provides direct access to Docker container volume mounts. It allows you to browse, upload, download, and manage files stored within your applications’ data directories without needing terminal access or external file managers.

Features

Container Volume Access

App Drive automatically discovers all Docker containers with volume mounts within the HomeDock OS data directory:

• Automatic Discovery: Lists all containers with accessible volume mounts
• Multi-Mount Support: Containers with multiple volumes show a mount selector
• Status Indicators: Visual badges show container running status (green for running, gray for stopped)
• Mount Count Display: Shows how many accessible mounts each container has
• Security Boundary: Only volumes mounted within HomeDock OS data directory are accessible

_{App Drive enforces strict security boundaries, ensuring you can only access volumes within the HomeDock OS data directory. System volumes and external mounts are automatically filtered out for protection.}

Visual Container Picker

When App Drive opens, you’re presented with an icon-based container picker:

• Application Icons: Each container displays its configured application icon
• Display Names: Shows friendly application names from the App Store
• Running Status: Green badge for running containers, gray for stopped
• Mount Indicators: Folder icons showing volume availability
• Responsive Grid: Automatically adjusts layout based on window size

File Browser Interface

Once you select a container, App Drive provides a full-featured file browser pretty similar to Drop Zone encrypted storage interface, in fact they share a lot of code.

The interface offers two view modes: a Grid View with desktop-like icon layout showing positioned files and folders, and a List View with compact rows containing detailed information. Your view mode preference is saved and remembered across sessions.

Files can be sorted by name (alphabetical ordering), by size, or by modification date. A direction toggle allows switching between ascending and descending order at any time.

Each file displays rich metadata including compact size badges on file icons (KB, MB, GB), relative timestamps in human-readable format (“5m ago”, “1h ago”, “Now”), and automatic file type detection with appropriate icons for documents, images, videos, audio, archives, code files, and more. Folders show their recursive size calculation.

Navigation

App Drive provides intuitive navigation through your container volumes:

• Breadcrumb Trail: Shows current path with clickable segments
• Root Navigation: Quick return to mount root with home button
• Back Navigation: Double-click ”..” or use context menu to go up
• Path Display: Shows the container-side mount path for reference

File Operations

Download

• Single Files: Click or double-click to download individual files
• Folders as ZIP: Folders are automatically compressed and downloaded as ZIP archives
• Multiple Selection: Select multiple files with Ctrl+Click and download all
• Batch ZIP: Large selections or folders are automatically zipped
• Progress Indicators: Visual progress bars during downloads

Tip

When downloading folders, App Drive automatically creates a ZIP archive in memory and streams it to your browser. This works for folders containing up to 50,000 files.

Upload

• Drag and Drop: Drop files or folders directly onto the App Drive window
• Folder Structure: Uploaded folders maintain their directory hierarchy
• Hidden File Filtering: Files starting with ”.” are automatically filtered out
• Upload Queue: Multiple files are queued and processed with up to 3 concurrent uploads
• Progress Panel: Expandable panel showing current uploads and queue status
• Mobile Upload Button: Floating upload button on smaller screens

File Management

• Create Folder: Create new directories within the current path
• Rename: Rename files and folders with validation
• Delete: Remove files or folders with confirmation dialog
• Multi-Select Delete: Delete multiple selected items at once

Caution

Delete operations are permanent and cannot be undone. Folders are deleted recursively with all their contents.

Read-Only Mount Detection

App Drive automatically detects read-only volume mounts and displays a lock icon in the status bar along with a “Read-only” badge in the mount information. When a mount is read-only, upload, delete, rename, and create folder operations are disabled, but files can still be downloaded normally.

Multi-Selection

You can select multiple files for batch operations using Ctrl+Click to add or remove individual files from the selection, or by clicking and dragging to create a selection rectangle. The context menu displays the number of selected items and provides batch operations like downloading all as ZIP or deleting all selected items at once.

Touch Support

App Drive is fully optimized for touch devices:

• Long Press: Opens context menu for file operations
• Double Tap: Opens folders or downloads files
• Touch Selection: Tap to select, tap again to deselect
• Gesture Detection: Distinguishes between taps, long presses, and scrolling
• Mobile Upload: Dedicated floating upload button on small screens

Volume Locations

App Drive accesses volumes based on the underlying operating system:

OS	HomeDock Data Directory
Linux	/DATA/HomeDock
macOS	~/HomeDock
Windows	C:\HomeDock
Docker	/DATA/HomeDock (or $DATA_ROOT/HomeDock)

_{Only volumes mounted within these directories are accessible through App Drive. This ensures applications outside HomeDock OS management scope remain isolated.}

Technical Limits

To prevent abuse and ensure system stability, App Drive enforces limits:

Limit	Value
Max files for size calculation	10,000
Max time for size calculation	2 seconds
Max files for ZIP download	50,000
Max time for ZIP creation	30 seconds
Filename max length	255 characters
Concurrent uploads	3

Best Practices

• Backup Important Data: Always maintain backups of critical application data
• Check Mount Status: Verify the mount is writable before attempting uploads
• Use Folders: Organize files in folders for easier management
• Watch File Sizes: Large uploads may take time; monitor the progress panel
• Refresh After External Changes: If files are modified outside App Drive, use the refresh button

Note

App Drive provides a convenient interface for managing container volumes, but for critical data operations, consider using proper backup solutions and the application’s native interfaces when available.