Disk Image

Disk images are software copies of physical disks. Disk images save the data of a physical disk, like a hard drive, to one or more files.

Typically, disk images function as backups for a physical system.

There are several DigitalOcean products based on disk images:

  • DigitalOcean Snapshots are disk images of DigitalOcean Droplets and volumes that you can create and save to your account on demand. Use them to create new Droplets and volumes with the same contents or to restore Droplets to a previous point in time.

  • DigitalOcean Backups is a service that automatically creates disk images of your Droplet on a weekly schedule. Use them to create new Droplets with the same contents or to restore Droplets to a previous point in time.

  • DigitalOcean Custom Images are Linux and Unix-like disk images that you import to DigitalOcean to create Droplets from other operating systems or with software and configuration you’ve customized.

Disk Image Articles

Import an existing DigitalOcean snapshot into a cluster.
Create volume snapshots to save the contents of the volume’s disk, then use the snapshot to restore or create new volumes with the same contents.
Overwrite the entirety of a Droplet’s disk with an image you select.