Volumes
Volumes are persistent block storage devices you can attach to your servers. Unlike a server's root disk, volumes exist independently — their data survives server deletion and they can be detached from one server and reattached to another.
The volumes list
Navigate to Cloud → Volumes in the left sidebar. You'll see all volumes in the current project, including their name, size, status, and which server they're currently attached to (if any).
Creating a volume
Click + Create Volume to open the creation form.
Name
Give your volume a recognisable name (e.g. database-data, backup-storage).
Size
Enter the desired size in GB. You can increase a volume's size later but cannot reduce it, so start conservatively and expand when needed.
Source
Choose how to initialise the volume:
| Source | Description |
|---|---|
| Blank | An empty, unformatted volume. You'll need to partition and format it after attaching. |
| Image | Pre-fill the volume from a public OS image or one of your custom images. Useful for creating bootable volumes. |
| Snapshot | Restore from an existing volume snapshot. |
Location
Select the datacenter where the volume will be created. A volume can only be attached to servers in the same datacenter.
Click Create Volume once done.
Attaching a volume to a server
Volumes can be attached during server creation (step 4 of the wizard) or afterwards:
- From the volume list, click the volume name to open its detail view.
- Click Attach.
- Select the server to attach to and confirm.
Alternatively, from inside a Server → Volumes page, click Select Volume to attach an existing volume.
Attaching a volume makes it available to the server as a block device (e.g. /dev/vdb). You still need to partition, format, and mount it inside the OS if it's a blank volume.
Detaching a volume
- From the server's Volumes page, find the volume and click Detach.
- Confirm the action.
The volume returns to Available status and can be attached to a different server.
Always unmount the volume inside the OS before detaching it to avoid data corruption.
Snapshots
You can snapshot a volume to create a point-in-time copy. Snapshots are accessible under the server's Snapshots page or from the volume detail view. Snapshots can be used to create new volumes or new server images.
Deleting a volume
A volume must be detached before it can be deleted. Select the volume in the list and click Delete. This is permanent and cannot be undone.