---
title: "Volume Expansion and Snapshot Restores"
description: "Fly.io introduces two improvements to its persistent storage volumes: extending an existing volume and restoring a regular volume from a snapshot. Previously, increasing capacity required provisioning an empty volume and copying data, whereas the new fly volume extend command resizes it after the attached app restarts; regular apps restart automatically, while Machines VMs require manual restarts. Individual restores are available from flyctl v0.0.363 by supplying --snapshot-id when creating a new volume, after listing snapshots and selecting the desired ID. Snapshots are taken daily, stored in object storage for five days, and can restore data only to a volume at least as large as the source."
---

# Volume Expansion and Snapshot Restores

[Fly.io](https://yomu.fyi/company/fly-io) · Aug 4, 2022

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

Fly.io introduces two improvements to its persistent storage volumes: extending an existing volume and restoring a regular volume from a snapshot. Previously, increasing capacity required provisioning an empty volume and copying data, whereas the new fly volume extend command resizes it after the attached app restarts; regular apps restart automatically, while Machines VMs require manual restarts. Individual restores are available from flyctl v0.0.363 by supplying --snapshot-id when creating a new volume, after listing snapshots and selecting the desired ID. Snapshots are taken daily, stored in object storage for five days, and can restore data only to a volume at least as large as the source.

## Context

Fly.io volumes previously required a new empty volume and a data copy when more storage was needed. Restoring snapshots for regular volumes also required asking Fly.io to perform the restore, unlike HA Postgres snapshot restores.

## Approach / What changed

The fly volume extend CLI command increases a volume’s size, with an automatic restart for regular apps and a manual restart for Machines VMs. Starting with flyctl v0.0.363, users can list snapshots and create a new volume with --snapshot-id to restore data. Restores may target a larger volume, but not a smaller one.

## Takeaways

- Extending a volume requires the attached app instance to restart so its file system can be resized; regular apps restart automatically, while Machines VMs must be restarted manually.
- Regular volume snapshots are taken daily and retained in object storage for five days before expiring.
- A snapshot restore creates a new volume, and the destination cannot be smaller than the volume from which the snapshot was taken.

**Tags:** [Fly](https://yomu.fyi/topic/fly), [Object Storage](https://yomu.fyi/topic/object-storage)

- Source: [Fly.io](https://fly.io/blog/volumes-expand-restore)
- Source URL: https://fly.io/blog/volumes-expand-restore
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-09-02T11:59:08.367Z

[Read original post](https://fly.io/blog/volumes-expand-restore)