Modify a persistent disk

You can use a persistent disk as a boot disk for a virtual machine (VM) instance, or as a data disk that you attach to a VM. This document explains how to modify existing persistent disks to do the following:

  • Switch to a different disk type.
  • Auto-delete disks when attached VMs are deleted.

For general information about persistent disks and the types of disks that are available, read the persistent disk overview.

Change the type of your persistent disk

You can change the type of your persistent disk at any time. Persistent disk types differ in terms of pricing and performance characteristics, so you might need to change the type of an existing persistent disk to better suit your workload.

You can change the type of your persistent disk using snapshots. For example, to change your standard persistent disk to an SSD persistent disk, use the following process:

Console

  1. Create a snapshot of your standard persistent disk.
  2. Create a new persistent disk based on the snapshot. From the Type drop-down list, select "SSD persistent disk".

gcloud

  1. Create a snapshot of your standard persistent disk.
  2. Create a new persistent disk based on the snapshot. Include the --type flag and specify pd-ssd.

REST

  1. Create a snapshot of your standard persistent disk.
  2. Create a new persistent disk based on the snapshot. In the type field, specify "zones/ZONE/diskTypes/pd-ssd" and replace ZONE with the zone where your instance and new disk are located.

Set the auto-delete state of a zonal persistent disk

You can automatically delete read/write zonal persistent disks when the associated VM instance is deleted. This behavior is controlled by the autoDelete property on the VM instance for a given attached zonal persistent disk and can be updated at any time. Similarly, you can also prevent a zonal persistent disk from being deleted as well by marking the autoDelete value as false.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

    Go to VM instances

  2. Select the instance that has the disks associated with it.

  3. Click the instance name. The VM instance details page appears.

  4. Click Edit.

  5. In the Storage section, under the heading Additional disks, click the pencil icon to change the disk's Deletion Rule.

  6. Click Save to update your instance.

gcloud

To set the auto-delete state of a zonal persistent disk, use the gcloud compute instances set-disk-auto-delete command command:

gcloud compute instances set-disk-auto-delete example-instance \
  [--auto-delete|--no-auto-delete] \
  --disk DISK_NAME

Replace DISK_NAME with the name of the disk.

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Compute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Compute Engine Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Compute Engine, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/cloud/compute/v1"
)

// setDiskAutodelete sets the autodelete flag of a disk to given value.
func setDiskAutoDelete(
	w io.Writer,
	projectID, zone, instanceName, diskName string, autoDelete bool,
) error {
	// projectID := "your_project_id"
	// zone := "us-west3-b"
	// instanceName := "your_instance_name"
	// diskName := "your_disk_name"
	// autoDelete := true

	ctx := context.Background()
	instancesClient, err := compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer instancesClient.Close()

	getInstanceReq := &computepb.GetInstanceRequest{
		Project:  projectID,
		Zone:     zone,
		Instance: instanceName,
	}

	instance, err := instancesClient.Get(ctx, getInstanceReq)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to get instance: %w", err)
	}

	diskExists := false

	for _, disk := range instance.GetDisks() {
		if disk.GetDeviceName() == diskName {
			diskExists = true
			break
		}
	}

	if !diskExists {
		return fmt.Errorf(
			"instance %s doesn't have a disk named %s attached",
			instanceName,
			diskName,
		)
	}

	req := &computepb.SetDiskAutoDeleteInstanceRequest{
		Project:    projectID,
		Zone:       zone,
		Instance:   instanceName,
		DeviceName: diskName,
		AutoDelete: autoDelete,
	}

	op, err := instancesClient.SetDiskAutoDelete(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to set disk autodelete field: %w", err)
	}

	if err = op.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %w", err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "disk autoDelete field updated.\n")

	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Compute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Compute Engine Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Compute Engine, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Instance;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.SetDiskAutoDeleteInstanceRequest;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class SetDiskAutodelete {

  public static void main(String[] args)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.

    // Project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
    String projectId = "YOUR_PROJECT_ID";

    // The zone of the disk that you want to modify.
    String zone = "europe-central2-b";

    // Name of the instance the disk is attached to.
    String instanceName = "YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME";

    // The name of the disk for which you want to modify the autodelete flag.
    String diskName = "YOUR_DISK_NAME";

    // The new value of the autodelete flag.
    boolean autoDelete = true;

    setDiskAutodelete(projectId, zone, instanceName, diskName, autoDelete);
  }

  // Sets the autodelete flag of a disk to given value.
  public static void setDiskAutodelete(String projectId, String zone, String instanceName,
      String diskName, boolean autoDelete)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {

    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
    // the `instancesClient.close()` method on the client to safely
    // clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (InstancesClient instancesClient = InstancesClient.create()) {

      // Retrieve the instance given by the instanceName.
      Instance instance = instancesClient.get(projectId, zone, instanceName);

      // Check if the instance contains a disk that matches the given diskName.
      boolean diskNameMatch = instance.getDisksList()
          .stream()
          .anyMatch(disk -> disk.getDeviceName().equals(diskName));

      if (!diskNameMatch) {
        throw new Error(
            String.format("Instance %s doesn't have a disk named %s attached", instanceName,
                diskName));
      }

      // Create the request object.
      SetDiskAutoDeleteInstanceRequest request = SetDiskAutoDeleteInstanceRequest.newBuilder()
          .setProject(projectId)
          .setZone(zone)
          .setInstance(instanceName)
          .setDeviceName(diskName)
          // Update the autodelete property.
          .setAutoDelete(autoDelete)
          .build();

      // Wait for the update instance operation to complete.
      Operation response = instancesClient.setDiskAutoDeleteAsync(request)
          .get(3, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

      if (response.hasError()) {
        System.out.println("Failed to update Disk autodelete field!" + response);
        return;
      }
      System.out.println(
          "Disk autodelete field updated. Operation Status: " + response.getStatus());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the Compute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Compute Engine Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Compute Engine, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const zone = 'europe-central2-b';
// const instanceName = 'YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME';
// const diskName = 'YOUR_DISK_NAME';
// const autoDelete = true;

const compute = require('@google-cloud/compute');

async function setDiskAutodelete() {
  const instancesClient = new compute.InstancesClient();

  const [instance] = await instancesClient.get({
    project: projectId,
    zone,
    instance: instanceName,
  });

  if (!instance.disks.some(disk => disk.deviceName === diskName)) {
    throw new Error(
      `Instance ${instanceName} doesn't have a disk named ${diskName} attached.`
    );
  }

  const [response] = await instancesClient.setDiskAutoDelete({
    project: projectId,
    zone,
    instance: instanceName,
    deviceName: diskName,
    autoDelete,
  });
  let operation = response.latestResponse;
  const operationsClient = new compute.ZoneOperationsClient();

  // Wait for the update instance operation to complete.
  while (operation.status !== 'DONE') {
    [operation] = await operationsClient.wait({
      operation: operation.name,
      project: projectId,
      zone: operation.zone.split('/').pop(),
    });
  }

  console.log('Disk autoDelete field updated.');
}

setDiskAutodelete();

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Compute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Compute Engine Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Compute Engine, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

from __future__ import annotations

import sys
from typing import Any

from google.api_core.extended_operation import ExtendedOperation
from google.cloud import compute_v1


def wait_for_extended_operation(
    operation: ExtendedOperation, verbose_name: str = "operation", timeout: int = 300
) -> Any:
    """
    Waits for the extended (long-running) operation to complete.

    If the operation is successful, it will return its result.
    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.
    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation
    they will be printed to sys.stderr.

    Args:
        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.
        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,
            used only during error and warning reporting.
        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.
            If None, wait indefinitely.

    Returns:
        Whatever the operation.result() returns.

    Raises:
        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`
        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`
        set for the `operation`.

        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,
        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.
    """
    result = operation.result(timeout=timeout)

    if operation.error_code:
        print(
            f"Error during {verbose_name}: [Code: {operation.error_code}]: {operation.error_message}",
            file=sys.stderr,
            flush=True,
        )
        print(f"Operation ID: {operation.name}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        raise operation.exception() or RuntimeError(operation.error_message)

    if operation.warnings:
        print(f"Warnings during {verbose_name}:\n", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        for warning in operation.warnings:
            print(f" - {warning.code}: {warning.message}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)

    return result


def set_disk_autodelete(
    project_id: str, zone: str, instance_name: str, disk_name: str, autodelete: bool
) -> None:
    """
    Set the autodelete flag of a disk to given value.

    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
        zone: name of the zone in which is the disk you want to modify.
        instance_name: name of the instance the disk is attached to.
        disk_name: the name of the disk which flag you want to modify.
        autodelete: the new value of the autodelete flag.
    """
    instance_client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()
    instance = instance_client.get(
        project=project_id, zone=zone, instance=instance_name
    )

    for disk in instance.disks:
        if disk.device_name == disk_name:
            break
    else:
        raise RuntimeError(
            f"Instance {instance_name} doesn't have a disk named {disk_name} attached."
        )

    disk.auto_delete = autodelete

    operation = instance_client.update(
        project=project_id,
        zone=zone,
        instance=instance_name,
        instance_resource=instance,
    )

    wait_for_extended_operation(operation, "disk update")

REST

If you are using the API, make a POST request to the following URI:

https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/setDiskAutoDelete?deviceName=DISK_NAME,autoDelete=true

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID
  • ZONE: the zone where your instance and disk are located
  • VM_NAME: the name of your instance
  • DISK_NAME: the name of your disk

Troubleshooting

To find methods for diagnosing and resolving issues related to full disks and disk resizing, see Troubleshooting full disks and disk resizing.

What's next