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Elastic Compute Service:Create a disk

Last Updated:Mar 19, 2024

You can create a subscription or pay-as-you-go data disk to increase the storage space of your Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance. This topic describes how to create a data disk.

Background information

The following table describes the limits that are imposed on disks that use different billing methods.

Disk type

Limit

Pay-as-you-go disk

  • Limits are imposed on the total number of pay-as-you-go disks. You can view resource quotas in the ECS console. For more information, see View and increase resource quotas.

  • For information about the pay-as-you-go billing method, see Pay-as-you-go.

Subscription disk

  • When you create a subscription disk, you must attach it to a subscription instance. You cannot separately create subscription disks.

  • You cannot separately detach or release subscription disks. Subscription disks expire and are released together with the instances to which they are attached. If you want to release a subscription disk, you can convert it to a pay-as-you-go disk, and then detach and release it.

In addition, you must take note of the following items:

  • Disks are independent of each other and cannot be merged by formatting. Before you create disks, we recommend that you determine the number and capacity of disks that you need based on your business requirements.

  • We recommend that you do not use Logical Volume Manager (LVM) to create logical volumes across multiple disks. A snapshot can back up the data of only a single disk. If you create a logical volume across multiple disks by using LVM, data discrepancies may occur when you roll back the disks.

Procedure

  1. Log on to the ECS console.

  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Storage & Snapshots > Disks.

  3. In the upper-left corner of the Disks page, click Create Disk.

  4. On the page that appears, configure the parameters described in the following table.

    Parameter or section

    Description

    Attach

    Specify whether to attach the created disks to ECS instances.

    • Not Attach: creates disks without attaching them to ECS instances.

      If you select Not Attach, only pay-as-you-go disks can be created. The disks and the ECS instances to which you want to attach the disks must reside in the same zone. Proceed with caution when you specify the Region and Zone parameter.

      Note

      If you want to partition a disk in the ECS console after the disk is created, select Not Attach. After the disk is created, you can partition the disk when you attach the disk to a Linux instance. For more information, see Attach a data disk.

    • Attach to ECS Instance: creates disks and attaches the disks to a specific ECS instance.

      If you select Attach to ECS Instance, you must specify the ECS Instance parameter by selecting a destination region and an ECS instance.

    Billing Method

    Specify the billing method of the disks.

    • Pay-as-you-go: Pay-as-you-go disks can be attached to subscription or pay-as-you-go instances.

    • Subscription: Subscription disks must be attached to subscription instances.

    Storage

    Select a disk category and specify the disk capacity.

    Configure the following parameters based on your business requirements:

    • Performance Level: You can specify performance levels for only enhanced SSDs (ESSDs). You can select a performance level based on the capacity of an ESSD. The performance of an ESSD varies based on the capacity of the ESSD and the performance level. For more information, see ESSDs.

    • Create from Snapshot: Select a snapshot to create disks. After you configure this parameter, the created disks contain data from the snapshot. For more information, see Create a disk from a snapshot.

    • Multi-attach: You can select this option to enable the multi-attach feature for ESSDs. This way, each ESSD can be attached to multiple instances in the same zone. For more information, see Enable multi-attach.

    • Disk Encryption: Disk encryption is applicable to scenarios that require data security and regulatory compliance. If you select this option, data stored on the created disks is automatically encrypted.

    Quantity

    Specify the number of disks that you want to create.

    Note
    • When you create disks, take note of the number of data disks on the instance to which you want to attach the disks. The number of data disks that can be attached to an ECS instance is limited. For more information, see the "Block storage limits" section in Limits.

    • Disks have capacity quotas. The total capacity of the disks that you purchase cannot exceed your remaining capacity quota. You can use the following formula to calculate the total disk capacity: Total capacity = Capacity of a single disk × Number of disks. After you configure the disk category, the purchased capacity and the remaining capacity quota are displayed on the disk buy page.

    Release

    Specify whether to release the automatic snapshots of the disks together with the disks or release the disks together with the instance to which they are attached. This parameter is available only if you set the Attach parameter to Attach to ECS Instance and the Billing Method parameter to Pay-as-you-go.

    Terms of Service

    Read and select ECS Terms of Service.

    Others (Optional)

    Specify the Disk Name, Description, Tags, and Resource Group parameters for easy search and management.

  5. Confirm the configurations and fees, click Preview, and then proceed as prompted to create the disks.

    After the disks are created, you can view the created disks on the Disks page. However, these disks cannot be directly used on ECS instances. You must perform the following operations before you can use the disks on ECS instances.

What to do next

The following table describes the operations that you must perform before you can use the created disks.

Scenario

What to do next

You set the Attach parameter to Attach to ECS Instance when you create the disks

Perform the following operations to initialize the disks:

You set the Attach parameter to Not Attach when you create the disks

Perform the following operations to attach and initialize the disks:

  1. Attach the disks. For more information, see Attach a data disk.

    Note

    If you partition the disks when you attach the disks to instances, skip this step.

  2. (Optional) Perform the following operations to initialize the disks: