# Make instance store volume available for use on an EC2 instance
Make instance store volumes available for use

After you launch an instance with attached instance store volumes, you must mount the volumes before you can access them.

## Linux instances


You can format volumes with the file system of your choice after you launch your instance.

**To make an instance store volume available on Linux**

1. Connect to the instance using an SSH client. For more information, see [Connect to your Linux instance using SSH](connect-to-linux-instance.md).

1. Use the `df -h` command to view the volumes that are formatted and mounted.

   ```
   $ df -h
   Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
   devtmpfs        3.8G   72K  3.8G   1% /dev
   tmpfs           3.8G     0  3.8G   0% /dev/shm
   /dev/nvme0n1p1  7.9G  1.2G  6.6G  15% /
   ```

1. Use the `lsblk` to view any volumes that were mapped at launch but not formatted and mounted.

   ```
   $ lsblk
   NAME          MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
   nvme0n1       259:1    0    8G  0 disk
   ├─nvme0n1p1   259:2    0    8G  0 part /
   └─nvme0n1p128 259:3    0    1M  0 part
   nvme1n1       259:0    0 69.9G  0 disk
   ```

1. To format and mount an instance store volume that was mapped only, do the following:

   1. Create a file system on the device using the `mkfs` command.

      ```
      $ sudo mkfs -t xfs /dev/nvme1n1
      ```

   1. Create a directory on which to mount the device using the `mkdir` command.

      ```
      $ sudo mkdir /data
      ```

   1. Mount the device on the newly created directory using the `mount` command.

      ```
      $ sudo mount /dev/nvme1n1 /data
      ```

## Windows instances


For Windows instances, we reformat the instance store volumes with the NTFS file system.

You can view the instance store volumes using Windows Disk Management. For more information, see [List non-NVMe disks](windows-list-disks.md#windows-disks).

**To manually mount an instance store volume**

1. Choose **Start**, enter **Computer Management**, and then press **Enter**.

1. In left-hand panel, choose **Disk Management**.

1. If you are prompted to initialize the volume, choose the volume to initialize, select the required partition type depending on your use case, and then choose **OK**.

1. In the list of volumes, right-click the volume to mount, and then choose **New Simple Volume**.

1. On the wizard, choose **Next**.

1. On the Specify Volume Size screen, choose **Next** to use the maximum volume size. Alternatively, choose a volume size that is between the minimum and maximum disk space.

1. On the Assign a Drive Letter or Path screen, do one of the following, and choose **Next**.
   + To mount the volume with a drive letter, choose **Assign the following drive letter** and then choose the drive letter to use.
   + To mount the volume as a folder, choose **Mount in the following empty NTFS folder** and then choose **Browse** to create or select the folder to use.
   + To mount the volume without a drive letter or path, choose **Do not assign a drive letter or drive path**.

1. On the Format Partition screen, specify whether or not to format the volume. If you choose to format the volume, choose the required file system and unit size, and specify a volume label.

1. Choose **Next**, **Finish**.