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How do I know what is on a managed disk and what is not?

Martin Vaughan 30 Reputation points
2024-10-11T14:29:42.2433333+00:00

I received the notification that I should migrate my data to Azure managed disks before unmanaged disks are retired on 30 September 2025. However, I am not sure what constitutes a managed disk and what does not. How does one know this? I would particularly like to know how to do this in the Azure portal.

Azure Disk Storage
Azure Disk Storage
A high-performance, durable block storage designed to be used with Azure Virtual Machines and Azure VMware Solution.
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  1. SUNOJ KUMAR YELURU 14,466 Reputation points MVP
    2024-10-11T14:56:59.1166667+00:00

    Hello @Martin Vaughan

    The procedure of moving data from unmanaged disk storage on Azure to managed disks is not too complicated. The general procedures you can take are as follows:

    Migrate using the Azure portal

    You can also migrate unmanaged disks to managed disks using the Azure portal.

    1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
    2. Select the VM from the list of VMs in the portal.
    3. In the blade for the VM, select Disks from the menu.
    4. At the top of the Disks blade, select Migrate to managed disks.
    5. If your VM is in an availability set, there will be a warning on the Migrate to managed disks blade that you need to migrate the availability set first. The warning should have a link you can click to migrate the availability set. Once the availability set is converted or if your VM is not in an availability set, click Migrate to start the process of migrating your disks to managed disks.

    The VM will be stopped and restarted after migration is complete.

    If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Up-Vote for the same. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  2. Nehruji R 8,146 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2024-10-14T10:03:11.8933333+00:00

    Hello Martin Vaughan,

    Greetings! Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Platform.

    Firstly, Refer to this article, how to find the unmanaged disk How to find if a Virtual Machine is using managed/Unmanaged disks in Azure

    In 2017, Azure managed disks was introduced. We've been enhancing capabilities ever since. Because Azure managed disks now have the full capabilities of unmanaged disks and other advancements. This functionality will be fully retired on September 30, 2025.

    With managed disks, you don't have to worry about managing storage accounts for creating a disk, because Azure manages the storage accounts under the hood. The abstraction reduces maintenance overhead for you. Also, it allows managed disks to provide numerous benefits over unmanaged disks, such as better reliability, scalability, large disks, bursting, and shared disks. If you use unmanaged disks, start planning your Windows or Linux migration now. Complete the migration by September 30, 2025, to take advantage of Azure managed disks.

    On September 30, 2025, customers will no longer be able to start IaaS VMs by using unmanaged disks. Any VMs that are still running or allocated will be stopped and deallocated.

    What actions should I take?

    Start planning your migration to Azure managed disks today.

    1. Make a list of all affected VMs:
      • The VMs with Uses managed disks set to No on the Azure portal's VM pane are all the affected VMs within the subscription.
      • You can also query Azure Resource Graph by using the portal or PowerShell to view the list of all flagged VMs and related information for the selected subscriptions.
      • On February 28, 2020, we sent out emails to subscription owners with a list of all subscriptions that contain these VMs. Please use them to build this list.
    2. Learn more about migrating your VMs to managed disks. For more information, see Frequently asked questions about migrating to managed disks.
    3. For technical questions, issues, and help with adding subscriptions to the allowlist, contact support.
    4. Complete the migration as soon as possible to prevent business impact and to take advantage of the improved reliability, scalability, security, and new features of Azure managed disks.

    Migrating data from Azure unmanaged disk storage to managed disks is a fairly straightforward process. Here are the general steps you can follow:

    1. Create a new managed disk in your Azure account that will serve as the destination for your data. You can do this using the Azure Portal or Azure CLI.
    2. Once the new managed disk is created, use a tool like AzCopy or Azure Storage Explorer to copy your data from the unmanaged disk storage to the new managed disk. Make sure to select the appropriate source and destination locations for the transfer.
    3. After the data transfer is complete, you can detach the unmanaged disk storage from your virtual machine or resource group, and then delete it from your Azure account.
    4. Attach the new managed disk to your virtual machine or resource group, and verify that your data is accessible and functioning properly.

    Please refer to the below mentioned article for more detailed information on migration

    Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further queries. I’m happy to assist you further.    

    Please "Accept the answer” and “up-vote” wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.

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