Amazon Lightsail block storage has been made generally available. This allows users of Amazon Web Services (AWS) virtual private servers to add additional storage as required.
Block storage was announced on Tuesday. It allows users to attach SSD storage disks directly to existing Lightsail instances. These “attached drives” are compared to hard drives by AWS. They are automatically encrypted and duplicated to protect against component failure.
AWS explained in a FAQ that attached disks are useful for software or applications that need to separate specific data from their core services and to protect application information in the event of a failure with your instance or system disk.
A user’s data will be preserved even if their main Lightsail instance is accidentally deleted because attached disks exist independent of the main Lightsail instance.
“Your instance’s root device is the system disk that comes with your Lightsail plan. The system disk will also be deleted if you terminate an instance. The system disk may be affected if you experience an instance crash. AWS stated that you cannot also detach your system drive or back it up from your instance. Data stored on attached disks persist independent of the instance. Attached disks can easily be detached and moved among instances. They can also be backed-up independently using disk snapshot.
Each attached disk can hold up to 16TB and users can add up to 15 additional disks to their account. Prices start at $0.10 per additional GB per month and are capped at $1600 per month for maximum 16TB.
You can find more information about block storage for Lightsail here.