persistent volume
compound.compound. a piece of digital storage in a computer system that keeps your data safe even if the software using it stops or restarts. It is like a hard drive that stays connected to your files no matter what happens to the program.
compound. a storage resource in a container orchestration system, such as Kubernetes, that exists independently of the lifecycle of any individual container. It allows data to remain intact and accessible even after the associated pod or container is deleted or rescheduled.
The database uses a persistent volume to save all user information.
When the server crashed and restarted, the persistent volume ensured that no customer records were lost during the downtime.
Architecting stateful applications in cloud-native environments requires the careful configuration of a persistent volume to decouple data storage from the ephemeral nature of containerized execution units.
A compound formed from the adjective persistent, derived from the Latin persistere meaning to continue steadfastly, and the noun volume, used in a computing context to denote a logical area of storage.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Commonly used in the context of cloud computing and DevOps; often abbreviated as PV.
Last updated July 22, 2026