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How to Move Volumes between Droplets

Validated on 16 Dec 2019 • Last edited on 18 Dec 2024

Volumes are network-based block devices that provide additional data storage for Droplets. You can move them between Droplets, create disk images of them, and resize them at any time.

To move a volume between Droplets in the same region, you need to unmount and detach it from its current Droplet, then attach and mount it to the new Droplet.

Between Droplets in the Same Region

Using the Control Panel

Unmount the volume from the current Droplet using the command line, or power down the Droplet. This makes sure the Droplet is not writing to the volume when you move it.
Detach the volume from the current Droplet using the control panel. In the volume’s More menu, choose Detach from Droplet.
Attach the volume to a different Droplet using the control panel. In the volume’s More menu, choose Attach to Droplet., then select the Droplet you want to use.

You can choose any Droplet in the same region. Droplets in other datacenters are visible but cannot be selected.
Mount the volume to make it accessible to the new Droplet’s filesystem. The mount directions are also in the volume’s More menu, under Config instructions.

Using the API or CLI

First, unmount the volume from the current Droplet using the command line, or power down the Droplet. This makes sure the Droplet is not writing to the volume when you move it. Then, detach the volume.

How to Attach a Volume to a Droplet Using the DigitalOcean CLI

Install doctl, the official DigitalOcean CLI.
Create a personal access token and save it for use with doctl.
Use the token to grant doctl access to your DigitalOcean account.
```
doctl auth init
```
Finally, run doctl compute volume-action attach. Basic usage looks like this, but you can read the usage docs for more details:
```
doctl compute volume-action attach <volume-id> <droplet-id> [flags]
```
The following example attaches a volume with the UUID f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6 to a Droplet with the ID 386734086:
```
doctl compute volume-action attach f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6 386734086
```

To detach a volume using the API, use the volume actions endpoints and set the type field to attach.

How to Attach a Volume to a Droplet Using the DigitalOcean API

Create a personal access token and save it for use with the API.
Send a POST request to https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/volumes/{volume_id}/actions.

cURL

Using cURL:

# Attach a Volume to a Droplet by ID
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type": "attach", "droplet_id": 11612190, "region": "nyc1", "tags":["aninterestingtag"]}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/volumes/7724db7c-e098-11e5-b522-000f53304e51/actions"

# Remove a Volume from a Droplet by ID
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type": "detach", "droplet_id": "11612190", "region": "nyc1"}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/volumes/7724db7c-e098-11e5-b522-000f53304e51/actions"

# Resize a Volume
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type":"resize","size_gigabytes": 100, "region":"nyc1"}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/volumes/7724db7c-e098-11e5-b522-000f53304e51/actions"

Go

Using Godo, the official DigitalOcean API client for Go:

import (
    "context"
    "os"

    "github.com/digitalocean/godo"
)

func main() {
    token := os.Getenv("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN")

    client := godo.NewFromToken(token)
    ctx := context.TODO()

  // Attach a Volume to a Droplet by ID
    action, _, err := client.StorageActions.Attach(ctx, "7724db7c-e098-11e5-b522-000f53304e51", 11612190)

  // Remove a Volume from a Droplet by ID
  // action, _, err := client.StorageActions.Detach(ctx, "7724db7c-e098-11e5-b522-000f53304e51")

  // Resize a Volume
  // action, _, err := client.StorageActions.Resize(ctx, "7724db7c-e098-11e5-b522-000f53304e51", 100, "nyc1")
}

Ruby

Using DropletKit, the official DigitalOcean API client for Ruby:

require 'droplet_kit'
token = ENV['DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN']
client = DropletKit::Client.new(access_token: token)

# Attach a Volume to a Droplet by ID
client.volume_actions.attach(volume_id:'7724db7c-e098-11e5-b522-000f53304e51', droplet_id: 11612190, region: 'nyc1'


# Remove a Volume from a Droplet by ID
# client.volume_actions.detach(volume_id:'7724db7c-e098-11e5-b522-000f53304e51', droplet_id: 11612190, region: 'nyc1'

Python

Using PyDo, the official DigitalOcean API client for Python:

import os
from pydo import Client

client = Client(token=os.environ.get("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN"))

req = {
  "type": "attach",
  "droplet_id": 11612190,
  "region": "nyc1",
  "tags": [
    "aninterestingtag"
  ]
}

resp = client.volume_actions.post_by_id(volume_id="7724db7c", body=req)

Between Droplets in Different Regions

Volumes are region-specific resources, meaning you can’t use them with Droplets in different regions. You currently can’t transfer volumes or snapshots of volumes to different regions.

As a workaround, you can create a new volume in the desired region, attach it to a Droplet, and use rsync or similar tools to copy the data from the original volume to the new one. Once you’ve confirmed the data transfer and no longer need the original volume, you can detach and destroy it.