Introduction
In Microsoft Azure, virtual machines (VMs) often require additional storage beyond their default Operating System (OS) disk. Adding a data disk allows you to expand storage capacity for applications, databases, or file storage. This guide walks you through the process of adding a managed data disk to an Azure VM using the Azure Portal.
To add a data disk to a VM in Microsoft Azure using the Azure Portal, follow these steps:
Step 1: Navigate to the Virtual Machine
- Log in to the Azure Portal.
- Select the VM to which you want to add a data disk.
For this example, I created and selected a VM called "DataDiskVM1".
Step 2: Add a Data Disk
- In the VM's menu, under the "Settings" section, click on "Disks".
- In the "Data disks" section, click on "+ Create and attach a new disk".
Step 3: Configure the Data Disk
- A new row appears with an empty disk.
- In the "Create a managed disk" blade:
- Enter a name for the disk (I used DataDisk1 for this example).
- Select the Storage type (Standard HDD, Standard SSD, or Premium SSD) - I used the Premium SSD.
- Choose a Disk Size (e.g., 11 GiB or more).
- Click Apply.
We have successfully created and added a new data disk to the VM. The next step is to initialize and format the disk in the VM.
Step 4: Initialize and Format the Disk in the VM
- Connect to the VM using Remote Desktop (Windows VM) or SSH (Linux VM).
- If you use an iOS PC, download the "Windows App", formerly Windows Remote Desktop from the App Store. Windows users can easily connect to a VM with a Windows image OS.
- Search and open Disk Management (Windows) or use lsblk and mkfs commands (Linux) to initialize, partition, and format the disk.
- Select Ok to initialize the Data Disk.
- After initializing the disk, it should appear as an unallocated disk as shown below. At this stage, we need to format the disk to have a healthy disk we can use in the VM.
Take the following steps to format the disk:
- Right-click on the disk and select "New Simple Volume"
Select the "format this volume with the following settings", leaving all default settings. However, you can either leave the default name of the disk or rename it. I renamed mine to "DataDisk (Main)"
- Select "Next" to continue.
- At this stage, you're expected to "review + finish" the formatting process of the newly added disk to the VM
- Now we have our healthy disk, DataDisk (Main), ready for use.
- To view the disk in the VM, right-click on the DataDisk(Main) to open it.
- There you go, this is what the newly created Disk looks like in the VM.
Conclusion
We have successfully added a data disk to the Azure VM. This additional storage can now be used for application data, logs, or any other purpose.