> ## 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.
# Delete a volume
> Permanently remove a volume, stop its billing, and credit unused subscription time back to your balance
Updated May 8, 2026
Deleting a volume permanently destroys its data and stops the volume's subscription billing. On a subscription, the unused days and hours of the current term are credited back to your **account balance**.
**Deleting a VM can also delete its attached volumes** in one step. The [Destroy VM](/products/build/virtual-machines/quickstart-guides/delete-vm#step-2-final-confirmation-volumes-and-vpcs) flow's final-confirmation dialog lets you pick **Detach (keep)** or **Delete** for every attached volume. If you're tearing down a VM that owns its volume, pick **Delete** there and you don't need to come back to this page.
## Before you delete
Deletion is permanent. Every byte on the volume is destroyed. If you might want the data later, take a [snapshot](/products/build/virtual-machines/quickstart-guides/create-snapshot) of the volume first — snapshots survive volume delete.
Checks before clicking Delete:
* Is the volume attached? **Detach it first** (or the dashboard will block delete with a warning).
* Is the data important? Take a snapshot first — snapshots persist independently of the volume they came from.
* Is there an `/etc/fstab` entry on a VM still pointing at this volume? Remove it after delete to avoid boot warnings.
## 1. Open the Delete action
In the **Volumes** list, open the volume's row **⋮** Actions menu and pick **Delete**.
The Delete action sits at the bottom of the menu in red, in both attached and unattached actions menus. If the volume is currently attached, detach it first — see [Detach from a VM](/products/store/volumes/quickstart-guides/detach-from-vm).
## 2. Confirm
A confirmation dialog opens with the destructive-action warning and a reminder of what happens to your subscription:
The dialog shows:
* The volume name and a clear "this action cannot be undone" warning
* A blue **Subscription Billing** info panel — "Your current subscription will be cancelled and the remaining days will be returned to your account balance"
* **Cancel** and **Delete** (red) buttons
Click **Delete**. The volume disappears from the list within seconds.
## What happens on delete
| Resource | Result |
| ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Volume contents** | Destroyed — every byte unrecoverable |
| **Subscription** | Closed; unused days and hours credited back to your **account balance** |
| **Volume snapshots** | Retained — snapshots live independently of the source volume |
| **Backups (none for volumes today)** | n/a — Raff backups apply to VMs, not volumes; volume snapshots are the protective copy |
| **VM `/etc/fstab` entries** | Still on the VM — clean up to avoid boot warnings |
## Subscription credit on delete
When you delete a volume mid-term (Monthly / Yearly / 2-Year), the prorated unused time is credited to your account balance. The credit is immediate and can fund another volume, top up a VM subscription, or sit until your next renewal. It is **not refunded to your card** — see [Billing model](/products/build/virtual-machines/concepts/billing-model).
## Recover a deleted volume
You can't undelete. Recovery options:
* **From a volume snapshot** — if you took one before delete, create a new volume from it. (Snapshots survive volume delete, but not VM delete in the case of volume snapshots tied to a since-deleted VM — keep at least one snapshot per protective generation.)
* **From a copy elsewhere** — Object Storage, off-platform backups, or a database dump.
* **From scratch** — if you have neither, the data is gone.
This is why production volumes should run a snapshot schedule.
## Next steps
What lives on a volume vs the VM's base disk.
How volumes fit alongside snapshots, backups, and images.