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Block Storage — Cloud Disk · NVMe SSD · RDMA Network · Snapshots

Persistent block
storage for
any workload.

Block Storage provides network-attached block devices for cloud hosts — from cost-efficient mechanical disks to enterprise NVMe SSDs with RDMA delivering 1.2 million IOPS and sub-0.2ms latency. Attach, expand, snapshot, and migrate disks without rebooting.

1.2MIOPS (RSSD)
0.1msAvg latency
32TBMax per disk
8Nines durability
Performance spectrum → Regular SATA HDD 1K IOPS 10ms latency SSD NVMe SSD 24K IOPS 0.5–3ms latency RSSD NVMe SSD + RDMA 1.2M IOPS 0.1ms avg latency Increasing performance → Independent lifecycle No server restart
RSSD Cloud Disk · Peak Performance

Performance that rivals local NVMe.

RSSD Cloud Disk uses NVMe SSD media with RDMA network transmission — delivering local-disk performance over the network. These are not theoretical peaks: they are achievable at production capacity.

1.2M
Maximum IOPS
RSSD performance formula: min{1800 + 50 × capacity, 1,200,000} — scales linearly with disk size
0.1ms
Average latency
0.1–0.2ms average IO latency. RDMA bypasses the host CPU for network IO — eliminating software stack overhead
4.8GB/s
Peak throughput
Throughput formula: min{120 + 0.5 × capacity, 4800} MB/s. Scales with capacity — more GB means more bandwidth
What You Get

Persistent storage for cloud hosts — built for production

Block Storage gives cloud hosts a reliable, expandable block device with an independent lifecycle. Detach from one host and reattach to another. Expand without rebooting. Snapshot at any point.

8 nines
SSD/RSSD durability
Multiple cross-cabinet replicas with real-time sync. Immune to single-machine failures. Regular disks: 7 nines. SSD/RSSD: 8 nines.
32 TB
Max RSSD disk size
RSSD supports up to 32 TB per disk. Regular and SSD support up to 8 TB. Mount multiple disks to one host for virtually unlimited capacity.
Live
Expand without restart
Expand cloud disk capacity online without restarting the server. The new space is available immediately after the expand operation completes.
Snap
Manual + real-time backup
Manual snapshots for on-demand backup. Data Ark provides real-time backup — recover from any point in time, create new disks from snapshots instantly.
Disk Types

Four cloud disk types. One for every workload.

Choose by your I/O pattern and latency requirement. All types share the same independent lifecycle, online expansion, snapshot, and clone features — only the underlying media and network transmission differ.

Regular · SATA HDD
High Capacity · Low Cost

Mechanical disk storage for sequential workloads where cost per GB matters more than IOPS. Ideal for log storage, backups, and large infrequently-accessed datasets.

IOPS1,000 peak
Throughput100 MB/s
Latency~10ms
Max: 8 TB · Durability: 7 nines
SSD · NVMe
Balanced Performance

NVMe SSD storage for general production workloads. Suitable for databases, boot disks, and medium-intensity I/O applications requiring consistent sub-3ms response.

IOPSup to 24K
Throughput260 MB/s
Latency0.5–3ms
Max: 8 TB · Durability: 8 nines
RSSD · NVMe + RDMA ✦
Enterprise Peak Performance

NVMe SSD with RDMA network bypasses host CPU for IO — delivering latency comparable to local-attached storage. For mission-critical databases and latency-sensitive applications.

IOPSup to 1.2M
Throughput4,800 MB/s
Latency0.1–0.2ms
Max: 32 TB · Durability: 8 nines
ESSD Cloud Disk (Public Beta)NVMe SSD-based, up to 6K IOPS and 150 MB/s throughput. Currently available in select regions. Contact your account manager for access.
Core Capabilities

Everything a production disk needs — built in.

Four capabilities that apply to every cloud disk type — regardless of whether you choose Regular, SSD, or RSSD. The performance tier changes; these features stay constant.

01
Independent Lifecycle
A cloud disk exists independently of any cloud host. You create it, attach it to a host, use it — and when you need to migrate or retire the host, you detach the disk and reattach it to a different host. The data persists through all of this. The disk's lifetime is not tied to the VM's lifetime.
02
Online Capacity Expansion
Expand a cloud disk's capacity at any time from the console or API — without restarting the server and without remounting. The OS detects the new capacity automatically. Expand as many times as needed. RSSD disks can be expanded up to 32 TB total without ever touching the host configuration.
03
Snapshot and Data Ark
Take manual snapshots of any cloud disk at any time — the snapshot captures the full disk state and can be used to restore the disk or create a new disk from the snapshot. Data Ark extends this with real-time continuous backup: recover from any point in time down to the minute, not just when you last took a snapshot.
04
Clone and Duplicate
Clone any cloud disk into a new, independent disk with identical data. Cloned disks are immediately usable — attach to any host, expand capacity independently, take their own snapshots. Use cloning for environment duplication, test environments, blue-green deployments, and disaster recovery staging.
Disk Lifecycle

Create. Attach. Expand. Migrate. Independently.

The key advantage of cloud block storage over a physical hard drive is its independence. A cloud disk follows your workflow — not the hardware's physical constraints.

🔧
Create
Select type, capacity, and region from the console or API. Ready in seconds.
🔗
Attach
Mount to any cloud host in the same zone. No restart required. Appears as a block device immediately.
💾
Use & Expand
Format, write data, expand capacity online at any time without server restart.
📸
Snapshot
Manual or real-time backup via Data Ark. Restore to any point in time.
🔀
Detach & Migrate
Unmount from one host, reattach to another. Data intact, no restart needed on either host.
📋
Create disk from snapshot
Any snapshot can instantly produce a new, usable cloud disk — useful for environment cloning, staging, and disaster recovery preparation.
🧬
Clone a disk directly
Create an exact copy of any disk — independently expandable, independently snapshottable. Ideal for blue-green deployments and test environments.
Architecture

The disk outlives the host.

Unlike a physical hard drive soldered into a server, a cloud disk exists as a network-attached block device — independent of any host. This decoupling is the architectural property that makes all other cloud disk features possible.

Traditional physical disk — tied to hardware
Physical Server Hard Disk permanently attached inside ⚠ Server fails → Disk inaccessible Disk lifecycle = server lifecycle
Cloud Disk — independent, network-attached
Cloud Host A vm-prod-01 Cloud Host B vm-prod-02 detach reattach Cloud Disk /dev/vdb · 1TB Data always intact
🔗
Network-attached
Accessed over the internal network — appears as /dev/vdb to the OS, transparent
🔀
Freely movable
Detach from Host A, attach to Host B. Same disk, same data, different location
📦
Multi-replica
Three copies across separate cabinets. No single physical failure can cause data loss
↔️
RSSD via RDMA
RDMA bypasses host CPU for IO — sub-0.2ms even over the network
Use Cases

Match your workload to the right disk.

Cloud disk type should be driven by I/O pattern. Sequential writes → Regular is often enough. Random reads with microsecond latency requirements → RSSD is the only answer.

RSSD · Database

Production Databases

MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis — all benefit from sub-millisecond storage. RSSD's 1.2M IOPS and 0.1ms latency eliminates storage as a bottleneck even at extreme qps.

RSSD recommended
Query latency 0.1 ms storage RSSD SSD 0.5–3ms HDD 10ms
SSD · Boot disk

System and Boot Disks

Operating system, application binaries, and runtime libraries. SSD provides fast boot times, quick application starts, and responsive OS I/O — at a lower cost than RSSD for this pattern.

SSD recommended
Boot sequence BIOS → boot 24K IOPS · SSD Up to 8 TB · 260 MB/s
Regular · Cost-efficient

Log Storage and Backup

Sequential writes for application logs, database backups, and cold data don't need low latency. Regular Cloud Disk delivers 100 MB/s sequential throughput at the lowest cost per GB — ideal for high-volume log accumulation.

Regular recommended
Sequential write throughput 100 MB/s Cost per GB: lowest tier Up to 8 TB per disk
RSSD · HPC · AI

GPU and AI Workloads

GPU compute jobs read model checkpoints and training batches at high throughput. RSSD's 4.8 GB/s throughput means large checkpoints load in seconds, not minutes — keeping GPU utilisation high between iterations.

RSSD recommended
Peak throughput 4.8 GB/s Formula: min{120 + 0.5×GB, 4800} Scales with disk size
Global Network

A truly global infrastructure for fast, reliable service delivery.

26
Regions
33
Availability Zones
25ms
Regional latency
99.95%
SLA uptime
Active region
Hub region (Dubai HQ)
Backbone link
Customer Stories

Production results from teams using Cloud Disk

Fintech · RSSD · Production Database
After switching our MySQL cluster from SSD to RSSD, average query latency dropped from 2.1ms to 0.18ms. At our transaction volume — 380,000 queries per minute — this reduced tail latency from 45ms p99 to under 4ms. Our application team stopped treating the database as a bottleneck entirely.
CTO · Payment processing platform · UAE
12×
lower query latency
AI Research · RSSD · GPU Training
Our model checkpoint files are 40–90 GB. Loading from SSD took 7–16 minutes per training run. On RSSD, the same checkpoint loads in under 90 seconds — and since we iterate 30–40 times a day, this adds up to 5+ hours of GPU time recovered per day, per researcher.
VP Engineering · AI research lab · GCC
5hr
GPU time recovered daily
E-commerce · SSD · Independent lifecycle
We run seasonal spikes. During peak periods, we spin up additional hosts and mount additional SSD disks. When traffic drops, we unmount the disks and terminate the hosts — but keep the disks. We only pay for the disk storage between peaks, not for idle compute. The disk's independent lifecycle is what makes this cost model work.
Infrastructure Lead · E-commerce platform · MENA
62%
lower off-peak storage cost
Trusted by teams across the region
Falcon AITradeSparkMasaarNEXAGENSalam DigitalOrbita
FAQ

Common questions about Block Storage

Create your first cloud disk

Persistent block storage.
Any workload.

From cost-efficient mechanical storage to 1.2M IOPS enterprise NVMe with RDMA. Independent lifecycle, online expansion, snapshots, Data Ark — all without rebooting.

Create a Cloud Disk → Read the Docs