How to Move Volumes between Droplets

Volumes are network-based block devices that provide additional data storage for Droplets. You can move them between Droplets and resize them at any time. Learn more about volumes.


Between Droplets in the Same Region

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.

  1. 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.

  2. Detach the volume from the current Droplet using the control panel. In the volume’s More menu, choose Detach from Droplet.

    One attached volume on the Volumes page, with the more menu open
  3. 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.

  4. 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.

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.