I stopped two VMs on Azure and didn't realize until months later I'm still being charged for disk space

Question

I stopped two virtual machines on Azure months ago and just realized that I'm still being charged for disk space. Do I need to unmount, detach and then delete the disks?

What is the correct process to go through to get them off my monthly bill? I don't mind leaving them, I just don't want to pay for unused disks.

Answer 1

Hi Gina Bourret,
Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Platform! Thank you for reaching out with your question.

Based on your query,
Yes, even if a virtual machine (VM) is stopped or deallocated, the disk resources (OS disk, data disk) continue to occupy space in Azure, so you still incur charges for them. To reduce costs, you have a couple of options. First, if your current data disk is more powerful or has a larger capacity than you need, you can resize it to a smaller and less expensive option. Second, if you no longer need the data on the disk, you can take a snapshot for backup purposes and then delete the disk itself. If you do not need the backup, you can delete the data disk completely to save costs

Please refer to the similar questions below for more information
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/938889/my-storage-from-previous-vm-still-charge-me-help
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1462998/can-i-close-azure-vms-disk-to-save-cost

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