The three categories
Every storage object on a Raff VM falls into exactly one of these.
Active storage
These are what the OS sees as block devices.Base disk
The boot disk that comes with every VM. Sized by the plan you pick (e.g. 50 GB on the $9.99/mo plan). Holds the OS, installed software, and anything you didn’t put on a volume.- Size grows via resize → Storage tab. One-way — disks can grow but cannot shrink.
- The base disk and the VM are inseparable: deleting the VM destroys the base disk.
Block volumes
Additional storage you attach on top of the base disk — see Volumes.- Live in the same region as the VM; can be detached and reattached to a different VM in that region.
- Survive the VM. Delete the VM → the volume detaches but is not deleted; it keeps billing until you delete it explicitly.
- Format and mount inside the OS — see Attach to a VM.
Protective copies
Captures of disk state for restore. Different lifecycle, different retention, different price.Snapshots
Manual, on-demand point-in-time copies of a VM disk or a volume.- Created when you click Snapshot — see Create a snapshot.
- Stored until you delete them, or until the source VM is destroyed (VM-disk snapshots are deleted with the VM; volume snapshots survive).
- Billed per GB-hour — accrues continuously, settled at month-end on the 1st.
- Best for restore points before risky changes.
Backups
Scheduled or on-demand copies, governed by a retention policy.- Configured per-VM with a Daily / Weekly schedule and a retention window (1-365 days). See Enable backups.
- Backup + snapshot storage shares a free pool per account (50 GB + 10–15% of each VM’s disk).
- Above the pool: $0.05/GB/month on the combined excess only.
- Crucially: backups survive VM delete as long as the retention is still active. This is the only mechanism for true post-delete recovery.
Reusable templates
Configurations from which you can deploy new VMs.Stock OS templates
Raff-maintained images: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, AlmaLinux, Rocky, openSUSE, Alpine, FreeBSD, Windows Server. See OS templates.Custom images
A snapshot of a VM’s OS disk preserved as a reusable template you can launch new VMs from. See Custom images.- Outlive the source VM (unlike snapshots).
- Appear in the create-VM dialog alongside stock templates.
- Best for golden-image workflows: build once, deploy N times.
Survival matrix — the key reference
What survives each lifecycle event:
Reading the matrix:
- Backups are the only thing that survives delete-VM. If you might want to recover the OS disk after destroying the VM, you must have a backup — not a snapshot.
- Reinstall is more destructive than factory reset. Reinstall deletes both snapshots and backups; factory reset preserves backups.
- Volumes always survive any VM-level operation; only volume-level delete removes them.
Pricing summary
All charges accrue continuously, settle on the 1st of the month, and deduct from your account balance first before charging the saved card. See Pricing for the full picture.
”I need to…” — decision flowchart
Related
Snapshots vs Backups
Decision framework for protective copies.
Custom images
Save and reuse a VM’s OS disk.
Volumes
Block storage that outlives the VM.
Pricing
Per-storage-object cost details.