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Create and use your first disk

This guide walks you through creating a data disk from the Hikube console, attaching it to a virtual machine, then formatting and mounting it in the system.

Objectives​

By the end of this guide, you will have:

  • A 20 GB data disk in your project
  • This disk attached to an existing VM
  • A file system mounted and usable in the VM

Prerequisites​

Step 1: Open the creation wizard​

  1. Log in to the Hikube console and select your project.
  2. In the side menu, open Infrastructure → Disks. The Storage Disks page is displayed.
  3. Click Create a disk.

Step 2: Configure and create the disk​

The Create a disk wizard has four steps.

  1. General: enter the Disk Name (a name is suggested by default). Rules: lowercase letters, digits and hyphens; starts with a letter and ends with a letter or a digit; 16 characters maximum. Example: data01.
  2. Source: choose Empty Disk.
  3. Configuration (Size and Security):
    • Size (GB): 20 (minimum 20 GB). The Estimated project usage gauge shows the impact on the project quota;
    • Replication Type: leave Asynchronous Replication (Recommended);
    • Disk Encryption: leave disabled for this guide.
  4. Summary: check the name, size, encryption, replication and source, as well as the Estimated Cost displayed at the top of the wizard, then click Create disk.

The console displays "Disk created" and returns to the list of disks.

Step 3: Check the disk status​

In the Storage Disks list, the disk appears with the Creating status, then Ready.

Click the disk (or actions menu → Preview) to open its detail page:

  • Configuration: Capacity, Encryption, Replication;
  • Source: source image (N/A for an empty disk) and Attached to (Not attached for now).

Step 4: Attach the disk to the VM​

  1. Open Infrastructure → VM Instances, then your VM's page, and click Edit.
  2. In the Storage section, click Add a disk.
  3. On the new volume, select Existing, then choose data01 in Select an existing volume.
  4. Click Save.
VM restart

Changing the storage restarts the VM ("The instance type or storage was modified. The instance will reboot"). Plan the operation accordingly.

Once the operation is complete, the disk switches to the In Use status and its page shows the VM name in Attached to.

Step 5: Format and mount the disk in the VM​

Connect to the VM over SSH, then identify the new disk:

lsblk

The new disk appears without a partition or mount point, with a size of 20 GB (for example vdb). Adapt the device name in the following commands.

# Create a file system (erases the disk contents)
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/vdb

# Mount the disk
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data
sudo mount /dev/vdb /mnt/data

# Mount automatically at boot
UUID=$(sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/vdb)
echo "UUID=$UUID /mnt/data ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

# Test
echo "hello hikube" | sudo tee /mnt/data/test.txt
df -h /mnt/data

Expected result: df -h shows a file system of about 20 GB mounted on /mnt/data.

Step 6: Quick troubleshooting​

SymptomProbable causeAction
Next disabled at the Configuration stepSize below 20 GB or quota exceededAdjust the size; "Size exceeds available quota" indicates the maximum possible
The disk does not appear in Select an existing volumeDisk already attached to a VM, or system disk offered for a data volumeCheck Attached to on the disk page; an empty disk goes on a data volume, not on the system disk
The disk does not appear in lsblkThe VM has not restarted yetWait for the restart to finish, then run lsblk again
Error statusProvisioning failedContact support with the disk name and identifier

See also the full troubleshooting guide.

Step 7: Cleanup​

  1. In the VM, unmount the disk and remove its line from /etc/fstab: 
    sudo umount /mnt/data
    sudo sed -i '\|/mnt/data|d' /etc/fstab
  2. Detach the disk: VM page → Edit → Storage section, click the volume's delete icon, confirm by entering its name, then click Save. The disk returns to the Ready status.
  3. Delete the disk: disk page → Delete (or actions menu → Delete in the list), enter its exact name in Resource name to confirm, then click Permanently delete.
warning

Deleting a disk is irreversible: all its data is lost. A disk attached to a VM cannot be deleted; detach it first.