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Overview

Storage covers the disks your machines use, the point-in-time copies you take of them, shared file storage, and backups.
Navigation: Storage.

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Screens in this area

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Volumes

A volume is a virtual disk. Every machine has a root volume created with it, and you can attach additional data volumes. Keeping data on a separate data volume rather than the root volume is worth the small extra effort: you can detach it and reattach it to a different machine, and rebuilding the machine doesn’t put the data at risk.
Deleting a virtual machine does not always delete its volumes. Detached volumes keep consuming your storage quota indefinitely. Check this screen after removing machines — orphaned volumes are the usual explanation for storage quota that appears to belong to nothing.

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Snapshots

A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of one volume, used to roll back a change or to clone a disk’s contents. A snapshot captures a single volume, not a whole machine. For a machine-level capture see VM Snapshots — which requires a separate entitlement.
Take a snapshot before an in-place upgrade or a risky configuration change. It’s the cheapest rollback available.

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Snapshot Policies

Rather than remembering to snapshot manually, attach a policy to a volume and let the platform take them on a schedule with a retention rule, so old snapshots are pruned instead of accumulating against your quota.

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Shared Filesystems

Shared filesystems provide storage that several machines can mount simultaneously — the right tool when instances need a common set of files rather than their own separate disks. Each filesystem has a detail page for its configuration and access.
The filesystem detail page has an activity log tab that is not yet available — it reads “coming soon”. Use Events for activity in the meantime.

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Backups and Backup Schedules

Backups are restorable copies kept independently of your volumes, so they survive the loss of the original. Backup Schedules automates them. Backups count against a separate backup storage quota, shown on the dashboard when your account has one.
Backup setup can also be triggered as part of creating a virtual machine, so a new machine can be protected from the start rather than as an afterthought.

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Choosing between these

Take a snapshot of the volume first. Fastest to create, fastest to restore from.
Use backups. Snapshots live alongside your volume; a backup is held separately.
Attach a snapshot policy, a backup schedule, or both. Set retention so old copies don’t consume quota forever.
Use a shared filesystem. A volume attaches to one machine at a time.

Compute

The machines these volumes attach to.

Quotas and limits

Primary, secondary, and backup storage ceilings.