How can I downgrade to another plan without losing my data?

Hey there,

I understand that you would like to resize your Linode to a smaller plan, while maintaining all of your current data. This can be achieved easily by following a few steps:

• Check to see the amount of storage space your Linode is currently using. This can be done by issuing the following command from the command prompt:

df

This command will display the amount of disk space that is being used, as well as the amount of available disk space.

• If you are utilizing more disk space than the plan you wish to resize to, you may need to back some data up to an external source. I will list a few resources below on ways to move files from your Linode to an external device.

https://linode.com/docs/tools-reference/file-transfer/filezilla/
https://linode.com/docs/tools-reference/file-transfer/transfer-files-with-winscp-on-windows/
https://haydenjames.io/linux-securely-copy-files-using-scp/

• If you are not utilizing more disk space than the plan you wish to resize to, you are ready to proceed. You will need to resize your disk to match the disk space provided with the plan you are resizing to. For example:

If you are resizing your Linode to the 1GB nanode plan, you will want to be sure that your disks do not exceed a total of 25GB. If you would like to review the disk space provided with each plan, feel free to reference our pricing page: https://www.linode.com/pricing#all

In order to resize your disk, please review the following:

1. Navigate to the Linode Manager
2. Select the Linode you wish to resize
3. Click the "Edit" link, next to the disk you wish to resize
4. Enter the size you wish to resize it to in the New Size field
5. Click on the Save Changes button

• Once your Linode's disks are sized appropriately to the plan you wish to resize to, you are ready to resize your Linode.

From the Linode Manager:

1. Click on the Linodes tab
2. Select the Linode you wish to resize
3. Click on the Resize tab
4. Select the plan you wish to resize your Linode to
5. Click on the button "Resize this Linode Now!"
6. After the process is completed, you will have to reboot your Linode

If you would like more information on this process please feel free to reference our guide on Resizing a Linode. I will link it below:

https://linode.com/docs/platform/disk-images/resizing-a-linode/

I hope that I was able to be of assistance!

Mike
Linode Support

As this post was put up a year ago the resize directions in it are written for our Classic Manager.

Because of that, I wanted to add our two guides that relate to resizing for our Cloud Manager:

Resize a Linode Disk - Cloud Manager

Resize a Linode - Cloud Manager

I would also like to add that it may be worth checking the disk usage to see if there's any unnecessary data that can be removed. A command that can help you spot your top directories in terms of usage is:

du -hs /* 2>/dev/null | sort -rh | head -15

Also, Block Storage could be a potential option to offload data from the Linode's disk.

A Block Storage Volume can have different sizes depending on what is needed. It can also be expanded if more is needed later on. The cost of a Volume will depend on its size, which is currently rated at $0.10/GiB per month. If this sounds like a good option, here's our documentation on how to get started with the service:

How to Use Block Storage with Your Linode