Google Persistent Disk
Google Persistent Disk is a block storage service provided by Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that offers durable, high-performance storage for virtual machine instances. It provides persistent, network-attached storage that can be attached to Compute Engine instances, allowing data to persist independently of the instance lifecycle. The service supports various disk types, including standard HDD, SSD, and extreme SSD, with features like snapshots, encryption, and automatic scaling.
Developers should use Google Persistent Disk when building applications on GCP that require reliable, scalable storage for data such as databases, file systems, or application logs, as it ensures data durability and easy management. It is particularly useful for stateful workloads in Kubernetes (via Persistent Volumes), disaster recovery through snapshots, and high-performance computing tasks that need fast I/O. Learning this is essential for cloud-native development on GCP to optimize storage costs and performance.