Release a cloud disk - Elastic Compute Service - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Release a cloud disk manually or configure it to be automatically released with an ECS instance to permanently delete it and stop billing.

Release methods

Release a cloud disk manually or configure it to be released with its instance. If release disk with instance is enabled, the disk is automatically released when the instance is released.

System disk
- Released only with its instance.
- By default, released with its instance. If disabled, the system disk is detached and retained as a data disk when the instance is released.
Data disk
- Released manually or with its instance.
- By default, the release disk with instance setting is disabled for separately created pay-as-you-go data disks and enabled in all other cases. You can change this setting at any time.

Prerequisites

A snapshot is created to back up the disk data. Releasing a cloud disk permanently deletes its data.
The disk is in the Unattached state (required for manual release only).
If Delete Automatic Snapshots While Releasing Disk is enabled, automatic snapshots are released with the disk. See Configure automatic snapshots to be released with a disk.

Note
Manual snapshots are not affected by disk release.
The multi-attach feature is disabled for the disk (required for release-with-instance only).

Note
A disk with multi-attach enabled cannot be configured for release with instance. See Enable the multi-attach feature for a cloud disk.

Manually release a cloud disk

Manually release a data disk from the Disks page in the ECS console.

Go to ECS console - Block Storage - Disks.
In the upper-left corner of the page, select a region and resource group.
Find the target disk in the Unattached state. In the Actions column, choose > Release.

Warning
Releasing a cloud disk permanently deletes its data. Create a snapshot before you proceed. Snapshots incur fees. See Snapshot billing.
In the Release Disk dialog box, review the associated snapshots, select I am aware of the disks and associated resources to be released and understand the related data risks., and click OK.

Release disk with instance

Enable or disable the release disk with instance setting for an existing cloud disk.

Note

You can also configure this setting when you create an instance or disk.

Potential impacts

Disk type	Setting: Release Disk with Instance	Setting: Release Disk with Instance
System disk	Releasing the source instance automatically releases the system disk, even if the disk is detached or attached to another instance as a data disk.	The disk is detached and retained as a data disk when the instance is released.
Data disk	The data disk is automatically released with the attached instance. Note An Unattached disk is not affected by instance release.	Subscription disk: converted to pay-as-you-go and retained when the instance is released. Pay-as-you-go disk: retained when the instance is released. Note To ensure that cloud disks in Chinese mainland regions are retained, you must complete real-name verification for your account. Retained disks are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. View billing details by disk ID in the expenses and costs console.

Procedure

Go to ECS console - Block Storage - Disks.
In the upper-left corner of the page, select a region and resource group.
Find the target disk. In the Actions column, choose > Edit Attributes.
In the Modify Disk Property dialog box, enable or disable Release Disk with Instance, and click OK.

Related API operations

You can also use the following API operations:

DeleteDisk: release a pay-as-you-go data disk.
ModifyDiskAttribute: modify disk attributes, such as the release disk with instance setting.