Modify a persistent disk

Linux Windows

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 howto modify existing Persistent Disk volumes to do the following:

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

For general information about Persistent Disk, seeAbout Persistent Disk.

Change the type of your Persistent Disk volume

At times, you need to change the type of a particular Persistent Disk volume tomeet your performance or pricing requirements. For example, you might want tochange a workload's data disk from a standard Persistent Disk to a balancedPersistent Disk.

You can't directly change the type of an existing Persistent Disk volume. You mustcreate a snapshot of the existing disk and then use that snapshot tocreate a disk of the new type.

For example, to change a standard Persistent Disk to an SSD Persistent Disk, use thefollowing process:

Console

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

gcloud

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

REST

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

After you create and test the new disk, you candelete the snapshotanddelete the original disk.

Set the auto-delete state of a Persistent Disk volume

You can automatically delete read/write Persistent Disk volumes when theassociated VM instance is deleted. This behavior is controlled by theautoDelete property on the VM instance for a given attached diskand can be updated at any time. Similarly, you can prevent aPersistent Disk volume from being deleted by marking theautoDelete value asfalse.

Note: You can only set the auto-delete state of a Persistent Disk volume if it is attached in read/write mode.

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the followingpermissions:

  • compute.instances.setDiskAutoDelete on the instance
  • compute.disks.update on the disk

Console

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

    Go to VM instances

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

  3. Click the instance name. TheVM instance details page appears.

  4. ClickEdit.

  5. In theStorage section, under the headingAdditional disks,click the pencil icon tochange the disk'sDeletion Rule.

  6. ClickSave to update your instance.

gcloud

Set the auto-delete state of a Persistent Disk with thegcloud compute instances set-disk-auto-delete command. To keep the disk, use the--no-auto-delete flag.To delete the disk,use the--auto-delete flag.

gcloud compute instances set-disk-auto-deleteVM_NAME \AUTO_DELETE_SETTING \  --diskDISK_NAME

Replace the following:

  • VM_NAME: the name of the instance
  • AUTO_DELETE_SETTING: whether or not to automaticallydelete the disk. Specify--no-auto-delete to keep the disk after deletingthe VM, and--auto-delete to delete the disk at the same time as the VM
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk

Go

Before trying this sample, follow theGo setup instructions in theCompute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see theCompute EngineGo API reference documentation.

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

import("context""fmt""io"compute"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"computepb"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb")// setDiskAutodelete sets the autodelete flag of a disk to given value.funcsetDiskAutoDelete(wio.Writer,projectID,zone,instanceName,diskNamestring,autoDeletebool,)error{// projectID := "your_project_id"// zone := "us-west3-b"// instanceName := "your_instance_name"// diskName := "your_disk_name"// autoDelete := truectx:=context.Background()instancesClient,err:=compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %w",err)}deferinstancesClient.Close()getInstanceReq:=&computepb.GetInstanceRequest{Project:projectID,Zone:zone,Instance:instanceName,}instance,err:=instancesClient.Get(ctx,getInstanceReq)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to get instance: %w",err)}diskExists:=falsefor_,disk:=rangeinstance.GetDisks(){ifdisk.GetDeviceName()==diskName{diskExists=truebreak}}if!diskExists{returnfmt.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)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to set disk autodelete field: %w",err)}iferr=op.Wait(ctx);err!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %w",err)}fmt.Fprintf(w,"disk autoDelete field updated.\n")returnnil}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow theJava setup instructions in theCompute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see theCompute EngineJava API reference documentation.

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

importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Instance;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.SetDiskAutoDeleteInstanceRequest;importjava.io.IOException;importjava.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;importjava.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;importjava.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;publicclassSetDiskAutodelete{publicstaticvoidmain(String[]args)throwsIOException,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.StringprojectId="YOUR_PROJECT_ID";// The zone of the disk that you want to modify.Stringzone="europe-central2-b";// Name of the instance the disk is attached to.StringinstanceName="YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME";// The name of the disk for which you want to modify the autodelete flag.StringdiskName="YOUR_DISK_NAME";// The new value of the autodelete flag.booleanautoDelete=true;setDiskAutodelete(projectId,zone,instanceName,diskName,autoDelete);}// Sets the autodelete flag of a disk to given value.publicstaticvoidsetDiskAutodelete(StringprojectId,Stringzone,StringinstanceName,StringdiskName,booleanautoDelete)throwsIOException,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(InstancesClientinstancesClient=InstancesClient.create()){// Retrieve the instance given by the instanceName.Instanceinstance=instancesClient.get(projectId,zone,instanceName);// Check if the instance contains a disk that matches the given diskName.booleandiskNameMatch=instance.getDisksList().stream().anyMatch(disk->disk.getDeviceName().equals(diskName));if(!diskNameMatch){thrownewError(String.format("Instance %s doesn't have a disk named %s attached",instanceName,diskName));}// Create the request object.SetDiskAutoDeleteInstanceRequestrequest=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.Operationresponse=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 theNode.js setup instructions in theCompute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see theCompute EngineNode.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Compute Engine, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, seeSet 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;constcompute=require('@google-cloud/compute');asyncfunctionsetDiskAutodelete(){constinstancesClient=newcompute.InstancesClient();const[instance]=awaitinstancesClient.get({project:projectId,zone,instance:instanceName,});if(!instance.disks.some(disk=>disk.deviceName===diskName)){thrownewError(`Instance${instanceName} doesn't have a disk named${diskName} attached.`);}const[response]=awaitinstancesClient.setDiskAutoDelete({project:projectId,zone,instance:instanceName,deviceName:diskName,autoDelete,});letoperation=response.latestResponse;constoperationsClient=newcompute.ZoneOperationsClient();// Wait for the update instance operation to complete.while(operation.status!=='DONE'){[operation]=awaitoperationsClient.wait({operation:operation.name,project:projectId,zone:operation.zone.split('/').pop(),});}console.log('Disk autoDelete field updated.');}setDiskAutodelete();

Python

Before trying this sample, follow thePython setup instructions in theCompute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see theCompute EnginePython API reference documentation.

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

from__future__importannotationsimportsysfromtypingimportAnyfromgoogle.api_core.extended_operationimportExtendedOperationfromgoogle.cloudimportcompute_v1defwait_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)ifoperation.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)raiseoperation.exception()orRuntimeError(operation.error_message)ifoperation.warnings:print(f"Warnings during{verbose_name}:\n",file=sys.stderr,flush=True)forwarninginoperation.warnings:print(f" -{warning.code}:{warning.message}",file=sys.stderr,flush=True)returnresultdefset_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)fordiskininstance.disks:ifdisk.device_name==disk_name:breakelse:raiseRuntimeError(f"Instance{instance_name} doesn't have a disk named{disk_name} attached.")disk.auto_delete=autodeleteoperation=instance_client.update(project=project_id,zone=zone,instance=instance_name,instance_resource=instance,)wait_for_extended_operation(operation,"disk update")

REST

To set the auto-delete state using the API, make aPOST request to theinstances.setDiskAutoDeletemethod.

Use theautoDelete parameter to indicate whether to delete the disk.

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

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID
  • ZONE: the zone where your instance and disk arelocated
  • VM_NAME: the name of your instance
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk attached to theinstance.
  • AUTO_DELETE_OPTION: whether or not to automaticallydelete the disk when the VM is deleted. To delete the disk, set totrue.Set tofalse to keep the disk after deleting the VM.

Troubleshooting

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

What's next

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under theApache 2.0 License. For details, see theGoogle Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2025-07-16 UTC.