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tiCrypt 2.18.1

Drives Table

ResearcherRequires: User, Sub-admin, or Admin role
Permission requirements
  • Projects
    • View projects they are a member of
    • View the members of projects they are a member of
    • Tag what they own with a project they are active in
  • Project Management
    • Remove project tags of projects they manage
  • Virtual Machines
    • View their drives
    • Create drives
    • Edit drives (name and backup setting)
    • Get drive keys (needed to share and attach drives)
    • Share drives
    • Unshare drives
    • Attach drives to VMs
    • Detach drives from VMs
    • Delete drives they own

Drives are encrypted virtual disks that store your data in tiCrypt. Each drive has a format (EXT4, BTRFS, NTFS, XFS, or ZFS), belongs to a team, and can optionally be tagged with a project. Drives must be attached to a virtual machine before you can read or write files on them. You can share drives with other users in read-only or full-access (read-write) mode.

This page covers how to view and access your drives. For step-by-step instructions on creating, sharing, and configuring drives, see the dedicated pages linked in Related Pages below.

View Existing Drives​

  1. Go to the Virtual Machines icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Click the Drives section on the top left panel.
  3. View all listed drives you have access to.
Result:

The list shows the drives you own and the drives shared with you. If there are none, or none match your search, it shows "No Drives To Show".

In the list view, use Search drives... to filter by name. Each row shows the format icon, the project tag, the drive name, the format and capacity, a state chip, and a menu with the drive's actions. In the table view, choose Filter by Name, Filter by State, Filter by Format, or Filter by Project; the columns are Name, Format, Capacity, State, and Project.

The following table describes the state chip.

ChipMeaning
R/WThe drive is attached read-write to a VM.
R/O (n)The drive is attached read-only to n VMs.
ReadyThe drive is not attached and can be attached.
InitializingThe drive is not ready yet. A VM cannot start with it until it leaves this state ("Drive is not ready").
TransferringThe drive is being migrated to another storage pool. A VM cannot start with it until the migration ends.

Access Drives from the Virtual Machines UI​

  1. Go to the Virtual Machines icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Click the Virtual Machines section on the top left panel.
  3. In the left panel, select the virtual machine to access its drive(s).
  4. Scroll down and click the File Explorer option in the center.
  5. In the new window, select your drive in the Drives & ADs list. Linux drives are listed as (drive 1), (drive 2), and so on, followed by the drive name; Windows drives are listed by drive letter.
  6. View the contents of your drive(s).

Manage Drives from the Virtual Machines UI​

bulk-action

  1. Go to the Virtual Machines icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Click the Virtual Machines section on the top left panel.
  3. In the left panel, select the virtual machine to manage its drive(s).
  4. Click the VM Settings and Details option in the bottom center.
  5. In the new window, select the Drives section in the left panel.
  6. Manage your drive(s) from the list.

The Drives section appears once the VM's home drive is mounted, for users who hold the VM's Drives permission. Its actions are offered to Managers and higher. See Create and Manage Drives.

The following table describes the columns of the Drives section.

ColumnDescription
NameThe drive name. RAM disk and NFS mounts are listed as well.
TypeHome (the home drive), Mounted, Unmounted (attached but not mounted), Unattached (in the configuration but not attached), or Unknown.
Mount pathWhere the drive is mounted inside the VM.
AccessRead-only or Full control.
StateThe drive state, for example ReadWrite or ReadOnly.
FormatThe drive format.
UsageUsed and total space.
OwnerThe drive owner.
AttachedWhen the drive was attached.
IDThe drive ID.
BackupThe drive's backup setting.

Edit Drive Details​

  1. Go to the Virtual Machines icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Click the Drives section on the top left panel.
  3. Select the drive to edit.
  4. Click the Edit drive button in the top panel list.
  5. In the Update drive-name prompt, edit the drive name, its team, its backup settings, and the settings under Advanced Options.
  6. Click Update drive-name.
Result:

tiCrypt shows "Updated" followed by the drive name, or "No changes made" if nothing changed.

note
  • Edit drive is offered for a single drive that you own, with the Edit drives (name and backup setting) permission. Sub-admins and Admins can edit any drive.
  • The name of an NTFS drive cannot be changed.
  • Moving the drive to another team checks that team's quota: "Cannot switch to this team: insufficient disk space" followed by the space needed and available.
  • While the drive is attached to a VM in a realm that is not Libvirt, the backup setting is locked: "You cannot edit the backup preference for a drive while it is attached to one or more VMs".
  • For a BTRFS drive, Advanced Options also offers the compression algorithm and level. See Create and Manage Drives.

Delete a Drive​

  1. Go to the Virtual Machines icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Click the Drives section on the top left panel.
  3. Select the drive to delete.
  4. Click the menu next to the selected drive in the left panel list.
  5. Select Delete.
  6. In the prompt, tick the drive(s) without errors to delete.
  7. Type "Confirm" to confirm deletion.
  8. Click Delete number-of-drives drive(s).
Result:

The drives are marked as deleted, and the task offers an Undo for 30 seconds before they are deleted permanently.

warning

"Deleting a drive is irreversible and the data will be lost." You cannot delete drives attached to a VM. Detach the drive from every VM first; you do not need to shut the VM down.

The prompt lists each selected drive. A drive that cannot be deleted shows one of these errors, and only drives without errors are deleted:

  • Drive currently attached to a VM: Detach the drive first.
  • You do not have permission to delete other users' drives: You can delete only drives you own.
  • No access to drive: The drive is no longer available to you.

Change Drive Capacity & Type​

Drive capacity and format are fixed after creation. See Drive Details for details.

For detailed instructions on specific drive tasks, see these dedicated pages:

  • Create and Manage Drives - Create, format, attach, detach, remount, and mount drives
  • Share Drives - Share drives, manage access, transfer ownership, and project tagging
  • Drive Details - View specifications and configure cache/IO strategy; Sub-admins and Admins export drive data from Management > Virtual Machines > Drives