can i close Azure VM's disk to save cost?

Question

my azure VM and it's status is Stopped (deallocated). but when i check resource cost list, i found the data disk(P30) of that VM on cost list. so, any way to save cost for the data disk?

Answer 1

Hi @Huang, Winston-HR,

Thanks for contacting Microsoft Q&A platform.
Disk resources of a VM in Azure can't be deallocated. If the VM is deallocated only the VM compute costs are affected.
The reason is: The disk resources are required for the VM (OS disk, data disk) and occupy space/resources in Azure even if the VM is stopped/deallocated.

If you want to save costs on the data disk while the VM is stopped, you have a few options:

1.      If the current data disk is of high performance or has more capacity than needed, you can resize it to a smaller and cheaper SKU.

2.      If you don't need the data disk and its contents, you can take a snapshot of the disk for backup purposes and then delete the data disk.

You can perform all these steps through the Azure Portal or using Azure CLI.
Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

Hi @Huang, Winston-HR ,

if the Azure VM is deallocated the disk is still there and is taking up space in the data center. For that reason you will be charged for the disk even if the VM is deallocated.

The only option is to delete the data disk to save the cost.

You can lower the cost if you buy a Disk Storage reservation for the P30 data disk: Reduce costs with Azure Disks Reservation

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Regards

Andreas Baumgarten