diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 7e08f2cbf4b..0963a175e81 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -437,6 +437,14 @@ class Run extends DefaultTask {
   public void setDebug(boolean enabled) {
     project.project(':distribution').run.debug = enabled
   }
+
+  @Option(
+    option = "data-dir",
+    description = "Override the base data directory used by the testcluster"
+  )
+  public void setDataDir(String dataDirStr) {
+    project.project(':distribution').run.dataDir = dataDirStr
+  }
 }
 
 task run(type: Run) {
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchNode.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchNode.java
index e85b68c6b76..f8364188fd4 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchNode.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchNode.java
@@ -133,7 +133,6 @@ public class ElasticsearchNode implements TestClusterConfiguration {
 
     private final Path confPathRepo;
     private final Path configFile;
-    private final Path confPathData;
     private final Path confPathLogs;
     private final Path transportPortFile;
     private final Path httpPortsFile;
@@ -150,6 +149,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchNode implements TestClusterConfiguration {
     private boolean isWorkingDirConfigured = false;
     private String httpPort = "0";
     private String transportPort = "0";
+    private Path confPathData;
 
     ElasticsearchNode(String path, String name, Project project, ReaperService reaper, File workingDirBase) {
         this.path = path;
@@ -1305,6 +1305,10 @@ public class ElasticsearchNode implements TestClusterConfiguration {
         this.transportPort = transportPort;
     }
 
+    void setDataPath(Path dataPath) {
+        this.confPathData = dataPath;
+    }
+
     @Internal
     Path getEsStdoutFile() {
         return esStdoutFile;
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/RunTask.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/RunTask.java
index 2282651f6d4..07e5a6ae221 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/RunTask.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/RunTask.java
@@ -10,9 +10,12 @@ import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 public class RunTask extends DefaultTestClustersTask {
@@ -22,6 +25,8 @@ public class RunTask extends DefaultTestClustersTask {
 
     private Boolean debug = false;
 
+    private Path dataDir = null;
+
     @Option(
         option = "debug-jvm",
         description = "Enable debugging configuration, to allow attaching a debugger to elasticsearch."
@@ -35,6 +40,19 @@ public class RunTask extends DefaultTestClustersTask {
         return debug;
     }
 
+    @Option(
+        option = "data-dir",
+        description = "Override the base data directory used by the testcluster"
+    )
+    public void setDataDir(String dataDirStr) {
+        dataDir = Paths.get(dataDirStr).toAbsolutePath();
+    }
+
+    @Input
+    public String getDataDir() {
+        return dataDir.toString();
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void beforeStart() {
         int debugPort = 5005;
@@ -46,6 +64,14 @@ public class RunTask extends DefaultTestClustersTask {
                 entry -> entry.getKey().toString().substring(CUSTOM_SETTINGS_PREFIX.length()),
                 entry -> entry.getValue().toString()
             ));
+        boolean singleNode = getClusters().stream().flatMap(c -> c.getNodes().stream()).count() == 1;
+        final Function<ElasticsearchNode, Path> getDataPath;
+        if (singleNode) {
+            getDataPath = n -> dataDir;
+        } else {
+            getDataPath = n -> dataDir.resolve(n.getName());
+        }
+
         for (ElasticsearchCluster cluster : getClusters()) {
             cluster.getFirstNode().setHttpPort(String.valueOf(httpPort));
             httpPort++;
@@ -53,6 +79,9 @@ public class RunTask extends DefaultTestClustersTask {
             transportPort++;
             for (ElasticsearchNode node : cluster.getNodes()) {
                 additionalSettings.forEach(node::setting);
+                if (dataDir != null) {
+                    node.setDataPath(getDataPath.apply(node));
+                }
                 if (debug) {
                     logger.lifecycle(
                         "Running elasticsearch in debug mode, {} suspending until connected on debugPort {}",