How to move or copy storage volumes¶

You can copy or move custom storage volumes from one storage pool to another, or copy or rename them within the same storage pool.

To move instance storage volumes from one storage pool to another, move the corresponding instance to another pool.

When copying or moving a volume between storage pools that use different drivers, the volume is automatically converted.

Copy custom storage volumes¶

Use the following command to copy a custom storage volume:

incus storage volume copy <source_pool_name>/<source_volume_name> <target_pool_name>/<target_volume_name>

Add the --volume-only flag to copy only the volume and skip any snapshots that the volume might have. If the volume already exists in the target location, use the --refresh flag to update the copy.

Specify the same pool as the source and target pool to copy the volume within the same storage pool. You must specify different volume names for source and target in this case.

When copying from one storage pool to another, you can either use the same name for both volumes or rename the new volume.

Move or rename custom storage volumes¶

Before you can move or rename a custom storage volume, all instances that use it must be stopped.

Use the following command to move or rename a storage volume:

incus storage volume move <source_pool_name>/<source_volume_name> <target_pool_name>/<target_volume_name>

Specify the same pool as the source and target pool to rename the volume while keeping it in the same storage pool. You must specify different volume names for source and target in this case.

When moving from one storage pool to another, you can either use the same name for both volumes or rename the new volume.

Copy or move between cluster members¶

For most storage drivers (except for ceph and ceph-fs), storage volumes exist only on the cluster member for which they were created.

To copy or move a custom storage volume from one cluster member to another, add the --target and --destination-target flags to specify the source cluster member and the target cluster member, respectively.

Copy or move between projects¶

Add the --target-project to copy or move a custom storage volume to a different project.

Copy or move between Incus servers¶

You can copy or move custom storage volumes between different Incus servers by specifying the remote for each pool:

incus storage volume copy <source_remote>:<source_pool_name>/<source_volume_name> <target_remote>:<target_pool_name>/<target_volume_name>
incus storage volume move <source_remote>:<source_pool_name>/<source_volume_name> <target_remote>:<target_pool_name>/<target_volume_name>

You can add the --mode flag to choose a transfer mode, depending on your network setup:

pull (default): Instruct the target server to pull the respective storage volume.
push: Push the storage volume from the source server to the target server.
relay: Pull the storage volume from the source server to the local client, and then push it to the target server.

Move instance storage volumes to another pool¶

To move an instance storage volume to another storage pool, make sure the instance is stopped. Then use the following command to move the instance to a different pool:

incus move <instance_name> --storage <target_pool_name>