Storage

Every cloud instance comes with a primary NVMe SSD disk. You can expand your storage with additional volumes, protect your data with snapshots and backups, and scale storage independently of compute.

Volumes

Primary Disk

Every instance is created with a primary disk (scsi0) sized according to your chosen plan. This disk contains the operating system and is tied to the instance lifecycle.

Additional Volumes

Attach additional NVMe SSD volumes to your instance for expandable, persistent storage.

Adding a volume:

1. Navigate to your instance detail page
2. Go to the Storage or Volumes tab
3. Click Add Volume
4. Specify the size (10 GB - 10 TB)
5. The volume is attached and appears as a new block device

After attaching:

# List available disks
lsblk

# Format the new volume (first time only)
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb

# Create a mount point
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data

# Mount the volume
sudo mount /dev/sdb /mnt/data

Persistent mount (survives reboots):

# Get the UUID of your volume
sudo blkid /dev/sdb

# Add to /etc/fstab
echo "UUID=<your-uuid>  /mnt/data  ext4  defaults,nofail  0  2" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Resizing Volumes

Volumes can only be expanded — you cannot shrink a volume.

1. Navigate to the instance → Storage tab
2. Select the volume to resize
3. Enter the new size (must be larger than current)
4. Confirm the resize

After resizing, extend the filesystem inside the instance:

# For ext4 filesystems
sudo resize2fs /dev/sdb

# For XFS filesystems
sudo xfs_growfs /mnt/data

Detaching Volumes

You can detach additional volumes from an instance without destroying the data.

1. Unmount the volume inside the instance: sudo umount /mnt/data
2. Navigate to the instance → Storage tab
3. Click Detach on the volume
4. The volume remains in your account and can be reattached to another instance

Snapshots

Snapshots capture a point-in-time copy of your entire virtual machine, including all disks and optionally the VM state (RAM).

Creating a Snapshot

1. Navigate to your instance detail page
2. Go to the Snapshots tab
3. Click Create Snapshot
4. Enter a name and optional description
5. Click Create

Rolling Back a Snapshot

Restore your instance to the exact state captured by the snapshot.

1. Navigate to the instance → Snapshots tab
2. Select the snapshot to restore
3. Click Rollback
4. Confirm the action

Deleting Snapshots

Remove snapshots you no longer need to free up storage and stop billing.

1. Navigate to the instance → Snapshots tab
2. Click Delete on the snapshot
3. Confirm the deletion

Snapshot Use Cases

• Before updates — Snapshot before applying OS patches, kernel upgrades, or application updates. Roll back instantly if something goes wrong.
• Testing — Snapshot a clean environment, run tests, then roll back to the clean state.
• Configuration changes — Snapshot before changing critical configs (nginx, database, firewall). One-click undo if the change breaks things.

Backups

Backups create a compressed copy of your instance that is stored separately from the primary storage infrastructure. They provide disaster recovery protection that snapshots alone cannot.

Manual Backups

Create a backup of your instance on demand.

1. Navigate to your instance detail page
2. Go to the Backups tab
3. Click Create Backup
4. The backup job runs using vzdump with zstd compression

Automated Backups

Enable automated backups to run on a schedule. Automated backups cost 20% of your instance's monthly price.

1. Navigate to the instance → Backups tab
2. Toggle Automated Backups to on
3. Backups run automatically on the configured schedule

Restoring from a Backup

Restore your instance from any available backup.

1. Navigate to the instance → Backups tab
2. Select the backup to restore
3. Click Restore
4. Confirm the action

Deleting Backups

Remove old backups to free up storage.

1. Navigate to the instance → Backups tab
2. Click Delete on the backup
3. Confirm the deletion

Storage Pricing

Cost Examples

Storage Limits

Best Practices

1. Use snapshots before changes — Always snapshot before OS updates, config changes, or application upgrades.
2. Enable automated backups for production — Snapshots are on the same storage; backups provide true disaster recovery.
3. Use nofail in fstab — Prevent boot failures if a volume becomes unavailable.
4. Monitor disk usage — Set up alerts before volumes fill up. Expand proactively.
5. Clean up old snapshots — Snapshots consume storage and incur costs. Delete snapshots you no longer need.
6. Start small, expand later — Volumes can only grow, not shrink. Start with a smaller size and expand as needed.

Next Steps

• Review Networking for firewalls and private networks
• Upload SSH Keys for secure instance access
• Learn about Block Storage for standalone volume documentation
• Configure Object Storage for S3-compatible unstructured data