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Every instance has an ephemeral root disk. Use a persistent volume for anything you cannot recreate: checkpoints, model weights, datasets, and outputs.

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Choose the storage lifecycle

Files outside the persistent mount path live on the root disk and disappear when the instance stops or terminates.

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Create storage with the instance

This is the recommended path because placement considers GPU stock and storage support together:
The quote includes:
  • instanceUsdPerHour: GPU plus root disk;
  • persistentStorageUsdPerHour: the volume rate;
  • totalRunningUsdPerHour: everything billed while running;
  • storageOnlyUsdPerHour: what continues after stop or termination.
Launch from the quote:
The volume is created before the instance in the same accepted transaction. A retry with the same idempotency key cannot create a second volume.

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Reuse an existing volume

An existing volume pins placement to its provider account and location. If you also pass --region, that region must include the volume’s location. AI Reserve returns no_capacity with reason: volume_location when no eligible GPU can mount it within the request. A volume supports one attached instance at a time. To move it elsewhere, terminate the current instance and wait for termination to complete before launching the replacement. Stopping alone does not currently make it attachable to another instance.

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Create a standalone volume

Create storage before the GPU when you need to stage data:
The normalized request chooses a broad region rather than a provider data center. --accelerator is a placement hint: AI Reserve places the volume in a storage-capable location with current stock for that accelerator, so a later launch of that accelerator can mount it. If no location in the region both sells persistent storage and has that accelerator in stock, the request is refused with 409 no_capacity (reason: no_persistent_storage) listing the regions where it would work, and no volume is created — a volume nothing you asked for could mount would only bill. Omit the hint to place storage on the first storage-capable location in the region regardless of GPU stock. The hint is not a capacity reservation or guarantee. Storage billing begins when the volume is created.
Volume list and get responses still include legacy data-center fields for compatibility. New integrations should use region and should not persist or make decisions from those provider-shaped fields.

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Inspect and delete volumes

The response includes normalized region, size, status, attachment, and hourly storage rate. Terminate the instance before deleting its attached volume:
Deleting a volume is irreversible. Terminating an instance never deletes its volume, so storage charges continue until the separate volume deletion succeeds.

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Grow a volume

Volumes can grow but cannot shrink. The current grow flow remains on the legacy quote path: request a volume quote for the volume’s existing data center, then pass that quote ID to gpu volumes grow.
This provider-shaped grow quote is a transitional compatibility surface. Do not use it as a pattern for new instance placement. The REST counterparts live under /v1/gpu/volumes. Use the generated API Reference for exact create, inspect, grow, and delete schemas.