Volumes can be viewed, created, and managed in the [Gcore Customer Portal](https://portal.gcore.com) on the **Volumes** page. The following list describes the main areas of the page:
1. **Volumes**: View all volumes created in a project.
2. **Instance**: Check if a volume is attached to a Virtual Machine.
3. **IOPS limit / burst**: Check the maximum number of read and write operations a volume can handle in a second and when a burst traffic occurs.
4. **MBps limit / burst**: Check the bandwidth limit for a volume and a max bandwidth when a burst traffic occurs.
5. **Without attachments**: View all volumes that aren't attached to a Virtual Machine.
## Create a volumeVolumes can be created in several ways: [when creating a Virtual Machine](/cloud/virtual-instances/create-an-instance), from the **Volumes** page, or from a snapshot. Creating a volume from the Volumes page and from a snapshot are described in the following sections.
3\. The **Create volume** side panel opens on the Volumes page. Volume settings can be customized here.
4\. Specify the required disk space in GB. If the size exceeds the current limit, [send a request for quota increase](/cloud/getting-started/request-a-quota-increase#how-to-send-a-request).
5\. Select the [volume type](/cloud/virtual-instances/volumes/about-volumes#available-volume-types). Faster volume types are designed for latency-sensitive transactional operations and storing critical data. Slower volumes are more suitable for archived or non-critical data and for less frequent operations.
6\. (Optional) Attach the volume to an existing [Virtual Machine](/cloud/virtual-instances/create-an-instance) in the same region.
7\. Enter a volume name using Latin letters, numbers, underscores, spaces, and dots. The name should be between 3 and 63 characters long.
3\. Click **Create Volume**.
4\. Select the Virtual Machine to attach the new volume to.
5\. Click **Create**.
The volume will appear on the **Volumes** page.
When a volume is attached to a Virtual Machine, the VM name appears on the **Volumes** page in the **Instance** column. Otherwise, the **Attach to Instance** link appears. More than one volume can be attached to a Virtual Machine. However, volumes can only be used in the same region where the VM is created.
Volumes can be attached to a Virtual Machine either from the **Volumes** page or from the VM settings.
3\. Select the Virtual Machine from the **Choose Instance to attach to** dropdown.
4\. (Optional) Enter a value in the **Tag** field.
5\. Click **Attach volume**.
The volume has been attached to the Virtual Machine.
3\. Open the **Volumes** tab.
4\. Click **Add Volume**.
5\. Click **Select existing** to attach an existing volume to a Virtual Machine.
A new volume can also be created here. Click **Create new** and configure the settings as described under the [Create a volume](/cloud/virtual-instances/volumes/create-and-configure-volumes#create-a-volume) section.
6\. Select the volume to attach to the Virtual Machine.
7\. (Optional) Enter a value in the **Tag** field.
8\. Click **Add Volume**.
The volume has been attached to the Virtual Machine.
Volume management options depend on whether the target volume is boot or regular.
When many volumes exist, filter the list by name or UUID to locate a specific volume.
### Rename a volumeBoth boot and regular volumes can be renamed:
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the target volume.
3. Click **Rename**.
4. Enter a new name.
5. Select **Save** to apply the changes.
The volume has been renamed.
### Manage volume tagsVolume tags can be added during creation or managed later from the volume context menu:
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the volume.
3. Click **Tags**.
4. Add, edit, or remove key-value tag pairs and save the changes.
### Detach a volume from a Virtual MachineOnly regular volumes can be detached. The boot volume cannot be detached from a Virtual Machine as long as the VM exists. To detach a boot volume, delete the VM first.
To detach a volume:
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the target volume.
3. Click **Detach**.
4. In the confirmation dialog, click **Detach** again to confirm.
The volume has been detached from the Virtual Machine.
Both boot and regular volumes can be resized:
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the target volume.
3. In the **Resize volume** dialog that opens, the current volume size in GB is shown. Enter the new size.
4. Click **Resize** to apply the changes.
The volume size has been changed.
This option is available for regular volumes of High IOPS and Standard types. The boot volume type cannot be changed. To use a different type, create a new volume from a volume snapshot with the required type.
To retype a volume:
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the target volume.
3. Click **Retype**.
4. Select the desired volume type and then click **Retype** to apply the updates.
The volume type has been changed.
When multiple volumes are attached to one Virtual Machine, use the `rsync` and `cp` utilities to migrate data between volumes within an operating system.
### Take a volume snapshotA volume snapshot can be created and used later for backup, further recovery, and deploying new Virtual Machines from snapshots of boot volumes.
To take a snapshot:
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the needed volume.
3. Click **Take snapshot**.
4. Enter snapshot name.
5. Click **Take snapshot**.
The snapshot will appear on the **Snapshots** page, along with the other created snapshots.
### Revert volume to the latest snapshotIn case of an accidental data loss or data corruption, a volume may need to be restored to a previous state. When a [snapshot was taken of that volume](/cloud/virtual-instances/volumes/create-and-configure-volumes#take-volume-snapshot), the volume can be rolled back to the snapshot state.
To revert a volume:
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the target volume.
3. Click **Revert to the latest snapshot**.
4. Click **Revert**.
An image can be created from a boot volume and used to create a new Virtual Machine.
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the volume to use as the image source.
3. Select **Create Image**.
4. Specify the image name.
5. Select architecture.
6. Click **Create Image**.
Within a few minutes, the image will be created and available on the **Images** page.
### Delete volumeA regular volume that is not attached to a Virtual Machine can be deleted. Boot volumes cannot be deleted directly — they must be detached first, which requires deleting the Virtual Machine. When the VM is deleted, the boot volume is retained by default and can be reused to create a new Virtual Machine.
To delete a volume:
1. In the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Storage**.
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the volume to delete.
3. Click **Delete**.
4. Type "Delete" in the confirmation field.
5. Click **Delete Volume**.
The volume has been removed from the Gcore Customer Portal.
Volumes are persistent network-attached disks for Virtual Machines. Data survives VM reboots, and a volume can be detached from one VM and re-attached to another in the same region.
Open a bash terminal and set these as environment variables before running the examples:
```bash theme={null} export GCORE_API_KEY="{YOUR_API_KEY}" export GCORE_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID="{YOUR_PROJECT_ID}" export GCORE_CLOUD_REGION_ID="{YOUR_REGION_ID}" export INSTANCE_ID="{YOUR_INSTANCE_ID}" ```The scripts below create a 10 GiB standard volume, attach it to the VM identified by `INSTANCE_ID`, resize it to 20 GiB, then detach and delete it.
Each step below explains what the call does, which parameters matter, and what the response looks like. Use this section to understand the flow or to debug a specific step.
GET /cloud/v1/tasks/{task_id} every 5 seconds until `state` is `FINISHED`:
```json theme={null}
{
"state": "FINISHED",
"created_resources": {
"volumes": ["3298c2d7-aed9-4000-a784-9f066b0843b2"]
}
}
```
Save the volume ID and export it:
```bash theme={null}
export VOLUME_ID="{VOLUME_ID}"
```
GET /cloud/v1/tasks/{task_id} every 5 seconds until `state` is `FINISHED`. The volume `status` changes to `"in-use"` once attached.
GET /cloud/v1/tasks/{task_id} every 5 seconds until `state` is `FINISHED`.
GET /cloud/v1/tasks/{task_id} every 5 seconds until `state` is `FINISHED`.
Only detached volumes can be deleted. Boot volumes cannot be deleted directly — they are retained when a Virtual Machine is deleted and must be managed separately.
GET /cloud/v1/tasks/{task_id} every 5 seconds until `state` is `FINISHED`. Billing for the volume stops immediately after deletion.
Provision block storage — boot volumes from an OS image, blank data disks, or restored snapshots. The full attribute reference is on the [`gcore_cloud_volume`](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/G-Core/gcore/latest/docs/resources/cloud_volume) resource page.
## Create a volumeThe most common use case is `source = "image"` — this creates a boot volume from an OS image and is required when provisioning a Virtual Machine. Use `"new-volume"` for a blank data volume, or `"snapshot"` to restore from an existing snapshot.
For a boot volume, pass the image UUID via a variable. To find the UUID, open the Gcore Customer Portal, navigate to **Cloud** > **Images**, and copy the ID from the image details. IDs are region-specific — use the ID from the region where you are creating the volume.
```hcl theme={null} variable "image_id" { type = string description = "OS image UUID (region-specific). Find it in Cloud > Images." } resource "gcore_cloud_volume" "boot" { project_id = var.project_id region_id = var.region_id name = "boot-volume" source = "image" image_id = var.image_id size = 20 type_name = "standard" } output "boot_volume_id" { value = gcore_cloud_volume.boot.id } ```For a blank data volume:
```hcl theme={null} resource "gcore_cloud_volume" "example" { project_id = var.project_id region_id = var.region_id name = "data-volume" source = "new-volume" size = 10 type_name = "standard" } output "volume_id" { value = gcore_cloud_volume.example.id } ``` ## Attach to a VMSet `instance_id_to_attach_to` to attach the volume to a [Virtual Machine](/cloud/virtual-instances/create-an-instance). Both the volume and the VM must be in the same region.
```hcl theme={null} resource "gcore_cloud_volume" "example" { project_id = var.project_id region_id = var.region_id name = "data-volume" source = "new-volume" size = 10 type_name = "standard" instance_id_to_attach_to = var.instance_id } ```To detach, remove the `instance_id_to_attach_to` attribute and run `terraform apply`.
## Resize a volumeIncrease `size` and run `terraform apply` — volume size can only be increased.
```hcl theme={null} resource "gcore_cloud_volume" "example" { project_id = var.project_id region_id = var.region_id name = "data-volume" source = "new-volume" size = 20 # increased from 10 type_name = "standard" } ``` ```bash theme={null} terraform apply ``` ## Change volume typeChange `type_name` and run `terraform apply`.
Remove the resource block — Terraform detects the missing declaration and deletes the volume on the next `terraform apply`.
```hcl theme={null} # Remove or comment out this block: # resource "gcore_cloud_volume" "example" { # name = "data-volume" # source = "new-volume" # size = 20 # type_name = "ssd_hiiops" # ... # } ``` ```bash theme={null} terraform apply ``` ## Import a volumeUse when a volume was created outside Terraform and needs to be managed as code.
```hcl theme={null} resource "gcore_cloud_volume" "example" { project_id = var.project_id region_id = var.region_id name = "data-volume" source = "new-volume" size = 20 type_name = "standard" } ``` ```bash theme={null} terraform import gcore_cloud_volume.example '