Block storage volumes
Each volume is block storage created for one specific server, then attached as a disk that server uses. Detach, grow, or delete it without rebuilding the server.
At a glance
The cards at the top of the page summarize your storage:
- Volumes — how many you have, and how many are currently attached.
- Total storage — the combined size, in GB, across every volume.
- Est. monthly — the combined storage cost, shown in your account's display currency (USD by default); billed in USD.
The list refreshes every few seconds, so status changes appear without a reload.
Before you start
A volume always attaches to a server, so you need at least one server before you can create one. Only servers that are running or stopped can take a new volume — if you have none yet, deploy a server first. Block storage also has to be offered in that server's region, and your wallet has to cover it:
- On monthly billing, the volume's first month is charged when you create it, so your balance needs that month.
- On hourly billing, nothing is charged up front, but your balance needs an hour of runway for all your volumes together, the new one included — not just an hour of the new one on its own.
Creating and growing volumes add to the account's bill, so a team admin managing someone else's account can't do either — the create form is replaced by a note, and Resize drops out of the menu. They can still attach, detach and delete the volumes already there. See Team & collaborators.
Create a volume
Choose a server
Under Attach to server, pick the server this volume belongs to. The list shows your running and stopped servers.
Name it
Give the volume a Name — use letters, numbers, and hyphens.
Set the size
Enter a Size (GB) as a whole number between 1 and 1000.
Create it
Select Create. The volume appears in the list below, already attached to that server.
Attach and detach
Each volume stays tied to the server you created it for. Attaching makes it available to that server as a disk; detaching removes the disk from the server while keeping the volume and its data. Both actions live in the volume's actions menu (the ⋮ button on the right of each row).
Open the actions menu
Select the ⋮ menu on the volume's row.
Attach or Detach
Choose Attach to connect it, or Detach to disconnect it. The status chip updates when the change completes.
Detach cleanly
Detaching pulls the disk out from under the server. If the volume is mounted and in use, unmount it inside the operating system first — detaching a busy disk can interrupt writes or leave data unwritten.
Resize a volume
Volumes can only grow — storage can't be shrunk. New space is added without downtime. The volume has to be attached while it grows, so attach it first if it's currently detached.
Open Resize
In the volume's ⋮ menu, choose Resize.
Enter a larger size
Type a new size as a whole number larger than the current size, up to 1000 GB. The dialog shows the new monthly rate, and on monthly billing what confirming charges now, before you confirm. If your account was set up by a reseller, your volumes are charged to your provider's account under its billing mode, not yours — so the dialog says so and describes both modes instead of quoting the one on your own wallet.
Confirm
Select Resize to apply the new size.
What a resize costs depends on your billing mode, and it's settled before the disk grows — growing can't be undone, so a resize your balance can't cover is refused with nothing changed:
- Monthly — the current billing period is re-priced at the new size, and the difference (the new monthly rate minus what this period has already paid for the volume) is charged the moment you confirm, before the disk grows. Part-way through a period that's roughly the difference between the two monthly rates; right after a new period has started, before that period's first charge, it's the whole new month. It's the same amount the next billing run would have taken; it's just collected up front instead of draining your balance afterwards. If the disk then can't be grown, the charge is refunded straight away (a Refund line in your ledger) and the volume keeps its old size and price.
- Hourly — nothing is charged at the resize. Your balance needs an hour of runway for all your volumes at their new sizes — including any other resize still in progress — and the next hours bill at the new rate.
One volume can only have one resize in progress at a time; a second one while the first is still running is refused, so wait for it to finish and try again.
Make the new space usable
Resizing adds raw capacity to the disk. To use it, extend the partition and filesystem inside the server's operating system afterward.
Delete a volume
When you no longer need a volume, delete it to stop the storage charge. You'll be asked to confirm first.
Open Delete
In the volume's ⋮ menu, choose Delete.
Confirm
Type the volume's name in the dialog, then select Delete.
Deleting is permanent
Deleting a volume erases its data permanently — there's no undo. Back up anything you need to keep before you delete.
When a delete is refused
- A snapshot or backup still includes the volume. A snapshot of the server — one you took, or an automated backup — taken while the volume was attached captures the volume's disk too, and the disk can't be freed while any such snapshot exists. The delete is refused up front, with nothing changed, and the message names the snapshots. Delete those on the server's Snapshots tab or the Backups page, then delete the volume. If automated backups are on, detach the volume first so the next backup doesn't include it again.
- The server is busy — migrating, backing up, or snapshotting — so the hypervisor won't release the disk right now. The dialog stays open with that reason; try again shortly.
If a delete gets as far as detaching the disk but the hypervisor then won't free it, the volume is shown as detached — which is what the server now sees — and keeps its data and its charge until a retry succeeds.
What it costs
Volume storage is billed per GB per month, in USD, based on each volume's size. The Est. monthly card totals it across all your volumes, and the resize dialog previews the new rate before you confirm a larger size. On monthly billing a resize charges the rest of the current period at the new size straight away — up to the whole new month right at the start of a period (see Resize a volume).
A detached volume still occupies the disk it was given, so it keeps billing at the same rate whether or not a server is using it — and whether or not that server is running. Deleting is what stops the charge.