Recoverable Vast.ai Data Movement

Overview

Disposable instance storage is a working tier, not the system of record. Choose the supported location syntax, verify checksums, use trusted datacenters for sensitive cloud sync, and externalize recovery artifacts before stop, expiry, or destroy.

Prerequisites

• Classified source, destination, size, checksum, encryption, and retention requirements
• Approved local, instance, volume, or saved cloud-connection identifiers
• Recovery point objective and owner for copy verification and cleanup

Instructions

Step 1: Plan the route

Choose local:, C.instance:path, V.volume:path, or saved cloud connection syntax based on the documented supported directions. Do not assume volumes can copy directly to local.

Step 2: Prepare least privilege

Scope the Vast.ai control key and cloud credential to the required operation and prefix. Prefer a trusted datacenter for sensitive Cloud Sync.

Step 3: Transfer into a staging path

Copy to a versioned temporary destination with enough disk and bandwidth budget. Never target /root or /, which can break SSH permissions and future copies.

Step 4: Verify before promotion

Compare size, count, cryptographic checksums, and a workload-level sample before renaming or consuming the staged data.

Step 5: Checkpoint externally

Write checkpoints and final artifacts to a recoverable volume or cloud target at a cadence inside the recovery objective.

Step 6: Close retention

Verify the external copy, remove temporary credentials, and destroy or retain instance/volume data according to policy; record ongoing storage cost.

Authentication

Keep storage credentials distinct from VAST_API_KEY, prefix-scoped, and short-lived. Never place either credential in copy logs, image layers, or evidence manifests.

Tool Discipline

Use Read and Grep to inspect manifests, configuration, provider output, and existing tests before proposing a mutation. Use Write or Edit only for the approved plan, implementation, test, or redacted receipt; do not create, update, destroy, or fund Vast.ai resources without explicit operator approval.

Output

• Source/destination route and data-class decision
• Transfer, checksum, checkpoint, and recovery evidence
• Retention, credential revocation, and residual-storage receipt

Return location types and IDs, byte/file counts, checksums, checkpoint age, verification result, and remaining storage owner.

Examples

A training dataset moves from a saved cloud connection to C.123:/workspace/data, is verified in a staging directory, and checkpoints return to a run-specific cloud prefix before the instance is destroyed.

Error Handling

Resources

• First-party source notes
• Official CLI file copy
• Manage instances data notes
• Billing and storage charges