# Runpod storage types: container disk, volume disk and network volume

Compare Runpod container disks, volume disks and network volumes by Stop, Terminate, mount location and the data that each resource should hold.

Author: Retrivium team
Updated: 2026-11-01
Canonical URL: https://retrivium.ai/journal/runpod-container-volume-network-disk/
Language: en

Runpod container disks, volume disks and network volumes differ primarily in lifecycle. The container disk is temporary environment storage, a volume disk supports pausing the same Pod, and a network volume exists independently. Choose by the operations your files must survive, not capacity alone.

## Compare the common storage types

The documented Pod storage behaviour can be summarized as follows. Other Runpod products and newer storage options have their own conditions.

| Resource | After stopping the Pod | After deleting the Pod | Typical purpose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Container disk | Contents cleared | Contents deleted | Rebuildable environment and temporary files |
| Volume disk | Files retained | Files deleted | Continuing the same Pod's work |
| Network volume | Retained separately | Retained separately | Data needed by a replacement Pod |

A network volume has placement and attachment constraints. Portability between Pods does not mean immediate attachment to any machine in every region. Check compatible data-centre placement before planning a replacement GPU.

## Assign files according to their value

For an image project, packages reproducible from a fixed image differ from original photographs, edited labels and final metrics. A public model cache can be downloaded again, but doing so takes time. Human annotations cannot be recreated by downloading model weights.

Make a directory map with source, recovery method and required lifetime for each group. File size is not a reliable measure of importance. A small configuration file may be the only description of a successful experiment.

## Verify what /workspace represents

Both a local volume disk and an attached network volume can use `/workspace`. The network attachment replaces the default volume disk at that location. Saving to the intended path is necessary, but knowing which resource backs it is equally important.

Record the volume ID separately from the Pod name. This prevents a colleague from creating empty storage with a similar label and mistaking it for lost data. Keep the mapping accessible outside the environment being tested.

## Treat newer options separately

At the research date, the documentation also describes Global volumes in beta. Do not silently assign them the same behaviour as the three options above. Review their current operations, placement and write restrictions if selecting that product.

For a first experiment, create control files in the used directories and test the required lifecycle action on disposable data. Compare the observation with the documented expectation. Do not test deletion on the only copy of important work; finish with a verified path for restoring the next session.

## Turn the check into a practical next step

Choose storage by the actions your files must survive. Both local and network storage can appear under /workspace, so confirm the actual resource.

For the documented details, consult the [primary documentation](https://docs.runpod.io/pods/storage/types); [configuration reference](https://docs.runpod.io/storage/network-volumes). Continue with [runpod network volume persistence](/journal/runpod-network-volume-persistence/) and [runpod terminate pod backup](/journal/runpod-terminate-pod-backup/).