Updated May 8, 2026 A Raff VM has up to five storage objects in its orbit, and the source of most “where did my data go?” support tickets is mixing them up. This page is the map.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rafftechnologies.com/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
The three categories
| Category | Purpose | Lives where |
|---|---|---|
| Active storage | The disks the running OS reads and writes | Attached to a single VM at a time |
| Protective copies | Point-in-time captures for restore | Stored in the platform, separate from the VM |
| Reusable templates | Configurations you can boot new VMs from | Stored at the account level |
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.
- The first 3 backups per VM are free, rolling — when a 4th appears, the oldest of the 3 auto-deletes.
- Beyond the free 3: $0.05/GB/month.
- 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:| Base disk | Attached volumes | Volume snapshots | VM snapshots | Backups | Custom images | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop / start | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Reboot | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Resize compute | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Resize disk (grow) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Reset password | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Reinstall (Change OS) | ❌ wiped | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ deleted | ❌ deleted | ✅ |
| Factory reset | ❌ wiped | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ deleted | ✅ | ✅ |
| Delete VM | ❌ destroyed | ✅ detached, kept | ✅ | ❌ deleted | ✅ kept per retention | ✅ |
- 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
| Object | How it’s billed |
|---|---|
| Base disk | Bundled in the plan price |
| Block volumes | Per GB stored — subscription term or hourly |
| Snapshots | Per GB-hour |
| Backups | Per GB-month (after free 3 per VM) |
| Custom images | Per GB stored |
| Object Storage (orthogonal — for files, not disks) | Per GB stored |
”I need to…” — decision flowchart
| Goal | Use |
|---|---|
| Add more disk to one VM | Resize the base disk or attach a volume |
| Capture state before a risky change | Snapshot |
| Routine, scheduled protection | Backups |
| Move a VM to a different region | Snapshot → Save as image → create new VM in target region from image |
| Stand up N identical VMs from a config | Build one → save as custom image → create N from image |
| Recover a destroyed VM’s OS disk | Only possible from a backup — contact support |
| Keep data when the VM is destroyed | Put it on a volume (volumes survive); the OS disk doesn’t |
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.