Create and use data disks
Create, attach, initialize, and manage data disks throughout their lifecycle on ECS instances.
Common operations
The following figure shows data disk operations throughout its lifecycle.
Create a data disk
You can create a data disk with an ECS instance or separately.
The following figure shows the process of creating a data disk separately.
Step 1: Create a disk.
Creation method | Operation |
Create an empty data disk | Data disks created with Windows instances are automatically initialized. |
Create a data disk from a snapshot | Create a data disk from a snapshot. A disk created from a snapshot requires no initialization. Mount a file directory to use it. |
Create a data disk from a disk | (Public Preview)Clone a cloud disk After mounting the file system, cloned disks are ready to use with no initialization required. |
Step 2: Attach a data disk to the target instance.
Skip this step for disks created with an instance.
Step 3: Initialize the disk by creating partitions and mounting a file system. A newly attached empty data disk cannot store data until initialized.
Partitioning requirement | Operation | |
The disk is a raw device that requires a file system but no partitions. | Create a file system on a raw device (Linux only). | |
The disk needs to be partitioned. | Linux instance | |
Windows instance | ||
Manage data disks
View disk information and monitor performance. | |
Back up and restore disk data with snapshots. | |
Move a data disk between instances | |
Upgrade disk configuration when performance is insufficient. | |
Expand disk storage capacity. |
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Re-initialize a disk to restore its initial state. | |
Manage disk tags for resource organization. |
Release a data disk
Detach and release unneeded disks to reduce costs. |