Add Existing Data Disk to a VM in Azure
Pluralsight Hands-On Lab — Azure Fundamentals
At a Glance
| Platform | Pluralsight |
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| Category | Azure Fundamentals |
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| Lab Type | Guided + Challenge Mode |
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| Environment | Azure Portal, Windows VM via Azure Bastion |
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| Completed | 2026 |
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Overview
Azure managed disks are independent of the VMs they attach to, which makes it possible to migrate application data between machines without copying files. In this lab, I acted as an Azure administrator decommissioning a source VM while preserving its data disk for use on a destination VM. I safely detached the disk after stopping both VMs, reattached it to the destination, connected via Azure Bastion, and verified the data file was intact and readable inside the guest OS.
What I Did
- Stopped both winvm-src and winvm-dst from the Virtual Machines blade to prevent data corruption before disk operations
- Opened winvm-src, navigated to Disks, and detached the data disk using the Detach icon, then clicked Apply to confirm removal
- Opened winvm-dst, navigated to Disks, and used Attach existing disks to select the detached DATA-DISK, then clicked Apply
- Started winvm-dst and waited for Status to show Running before connecting
- Deployed Azure Bastion using default settings and connected to winvm-dst in the browser using the lab credentials
- Opened File Explorer inside the guest OS, navigated to This PC, and opened DataDisk (E:)
- Opened myfile and confirmed the contents read "Awesome test data", verifying the disk migrated successfully with data intact
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