FAQ and Troubleshooting
Persistent Storage, powered by Backblaze, is in Beta. Account owners and admins can join under Settings → Profile, or by ticking Join the beta program at signup. See Overview.
FAQ
How do I get Persistent Storage?
It is in Beta. An account owner or admin can join the beta under Settings → Profile, or by ticking Join the beta program at signup.
I don't see the Storage page or the picker on Deploy.
Your account hasn't joined the beta yet. An account owner or admin can join under Settings → Profile. Partner vendor accounts can't use storage until general availability; see Can partner vendors use Persistent Storage?.
Can partner vendors use Persistent Storage?
No. Partner vendors can't use Persistent Storage until general availability.
Can I attach storage to an instance that is already running?
Yes. Open My Instances and click Storage on the instance. It takes effect the next time you stop the instance and start it again. Restarting isn't enough. See Attach to an existing instance.
Can I detach storage from an instance?
Yes, but only while the instance is stopped. Stop it, open My Instances, click Storage on the instance, and click Detach. The storage is gone from the instance when you start it again. See Detach storage.
Does my data survive when I terminate the instance?
Yes, for files under /persistent/<name>. Everything else on the instance is destroyed. Run sync /persistent/<name> before you terminate so recent writes finish uploading. Plain sync doesn't wait for these uploads.
Does stopping or restarting an instance affect the storage?
The storage mounts again when the instance starts. Stopping and starting the instance is also when attach and detach changes take effect. A stopped instance still counts as attached, so you can't delete the storage until you detach it or terminate that instance.
Is it as fast as the instance's disk?
No. It is object storage behind a filesystem layer, with higher latency than the local NVMe disk. Keep hot data on local disk. See Limitations.
What happens if storage can't be reached?
The instance still starts, but the storage doesn't mount and a .MOUNT-FAILED.txt note appears next to its folder. On a running instance, file operations that need storage fail with an I/O error until it is back. See When storage can't be reached.
How much storage can I attach?
Up to 8 per instance. Attach each storage to one instance at a time.
Can I attach the same storage to two instances?
Attaching the same storage to more than one instance at the same time isn't supported and can corrupt your data. Every mount is read-write, and there is no file locking between instances. Attach each storage to one instance at a time: stop the instance that has it and detach it before you attach it to another.
Can I use storage over MCP?
No. Persistent Storage isn't available over MCP. Use the website or the REST API.
Why was I charged for downloads when I only used the files on my instance?
Reading files from /persistent counts as a download. You get free downloads up to 3x your average stored GB each month, then pay $0.05 per GB. See Pricing and Billing.
What happens to my storage if my account leaves the beta?
An account owner or admin can leave the beta under Settings → Profile. After that, you can no longer see or manage your storage on the website or the API. Storage that still holds data keeps being charged until it is deleted. Contact support to have storage you no longer need deleted.
Can I rename storage?
No. The name is fixed. Create new storage and copy the files across.
Troubleshooting
The folder is empty or missing
| Check | Fix |
|---|---|
| Is the storage attached? | See Attached to on the Storage page. If the instance isn't listed, the storage isn't attached. Attach it, then stop and start the instance. |
Did the launch return a warning? (API) | Some storage didn't attach. Terminate the instance and launch again. |
| Did you attach it after the instance started? | Stop the instance and start it. Restarting isn't enough. |
| Has the instance just booted? | Mounts happen during boot. Wait a minute, then run ls /persistent/<name> again. |
Is there a /persistent/<name>.MOUNT-FAILED.txt file? | The storage couldn't mount. The file says why. See When storage can't be reached. |
| Still empty? | Stop the instance and start it. The storage mounts again at boot. If that doesn't work, contact support with the instance ID and storage name. |
Create fails
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Use lowercase letters, digits and hyphens. It can't start or end with a hyphen." or "Names are at most 22 characters." | Fix the name. See Name rules. |
| "That name is already used by other storage on this account." | Pick another name. |
| "Storage is still being set up for this account. Try again in a minute." | Wait a minute and try again. |
| "You can't create storage in that group." | Pick a group you manage, or ask an owner or admin. |
If the API connection drops while you create storage, it may still have been created. List your storage before you try again.
Deploy refuses the storage
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Some of the selected storage can't be attached" | The storage isn't Active, or it is in a group you don't manage. Remove it from the picker, or ask for access to that group. |
| "At most 8 storage mounts can be attached to one instance." | Deselect some storage. |
| "Persistent Storage is not available right now." | Deploy without storage, or try again later. |
Attach or detach is refused
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Stop the instance before detaching storage." | Stop the instance, then click Detach again. |
| "An instance can have at most 8 storage mounts." | Stop the instance and detach some storage first. The Storage window shows "This instance has the maximum of 8 storage mounts" instead of the picker when it is full. |
| "This storage isn't active, so it can't be attached." | Wait until the storage is Active. Storage being deleted can't be attached. |
| "This storage is already attached to this instance." | Nothing to do. Stop and start the instance if the folder isn't there yet. |
| "This storage isn't attached to this instance. Refresh and try again." | It was already detached. Close the window and open it again. |
| "That storage or instance no longer exists. Refresh and try again.", "Storage not found." or "Instance not found." | The storage or instance was deleted, or moved to a group you can't see. Reload My Instances. |
| "You can't attach storage in a group you don't manage." or "You can't detach storage in a group you don't manage." | Ask an owner or admin, or someone who manages the storage's group. |
| "You can't attach storage on an instance in a group you don't manage." or "You can't detach storage on an instance in a group you don't manage." | Ask an owner or admin, or someone who manages the instance's group. |
| "This instance is still initializing. Try again once it is running or stopped." | Wait until the instance is running. |
| "This instance has been terminated." | The instance is gone. Attach the storage to another instance. |
| "Persistent Storage is not available right now." | Try again later. |
| "You switched accounts in another tab. Reload this page and try again." | Reload My Instances. |
| "Failed to attach the storage. Try again later." or "Failed to detach the storage. Try again later." | Try again later. If it keeps failing, contact support. |
Detached storage is still mounted
Normally a detached storage is unmounted when the instance next starts. If the instance couldn't confirm its storage list during that start, the old mount can stay, and reads and writes in it fail with an I/O error (EIO). The files in the storage are safe.
Stop the instance and start it again. If it is still mounted, contact support with the instance ID and storage name.
Delete is refused
Still stuck?
Reach out on Discord or Support.
