Raw Volumes allow allocate an unformatted partition, label it, and make it available for use by advanced storage drivers like Container Storage Interface (CSI) drivers. When a raw volume configuration is applied, Talos Linux will either locate an existing volume or provision a new one. The volume will be created on the disk which satisfies the diskSelector expression and has enough free space to satisfy the minSize requirement. The raw volume is identified by a unique name, which is used both as a mount location and as a label for the volume. The volume name must be unique across all raw volumes, and it should be between 1 and 34 characters long, and can only contain ASCII letters, digits, and - (dash) characters. The volume label is derived from the volume name as r-<volume-name>, and it is used to identify the volume on the disk after initial provisioning. Disk encryption can be optionally enabled for raw volumes.
Note: If you need to allocate a volume to be mounted to a container, please see User Volumes guide.

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Creating Raw Volumes

To create a raw volume, append the following document to the machine configuration: 
# raw-volume.patch.yaml
apiVersion: v1alpha1
kind: RawVolumeConfig
name: openebs-vol1
provisioning:
  diskSelector:
    match: "!system_disk"
  minSize: 2GB
  maxSize: 2GB
For example, this machine configuration patch can be applied using the following command: 
talosctl --nodes <NODE> patch mc --patch @raw-volume.patch.yaml
In this example, a raw volume named openebs-vol1 is created on the first disk which is not the system disk and has 2GB of disk space available. The volume will be created as a partition with a size of 2GB. The status of the volume can be checked using the following command: 
$ talosctl get volumestatus r-openebs-vol1 # note r- prefix
NODE         NAMESPACE   TYPE           ID               VERSION   TYPE        PHASE   LOCATION    SIZE
172.20.0.5   runtime     VolumeStatus   r-openebs-vol1   1         partition   ready   /dev/sda1   2.0 GB
This volume can be referenced using a stable symlink /dev/disk/by-partlabel/r-openebs-vol1, which is created automatically by Talos Linux.
Note: Ceph will not create a partition if the partition label contains the substring ceph. Avoid using such names for your labels.

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Removing Raw Volumes

Before removing a raw volume, ensure that it is not used anymore. In order to remove a raw volume, first remove the configuration document from the machine configuration. The VolumeStatus resource will be removed automatically by Talos Linux.
Note: The actual disk data hasn’t been removed yet, so you can re-apply the raw volume configuration back and it will be re-provisioned on the same disk.
To wipe the disk data, and make it allocatable again, use the following command: 
talosctl wipe disk sda1 --drop-partition
The sda1 is the partition name, and it can be obtained from the VolumeStatus resource before the raw volume is removed, or from the DiscoveredVolume resource any time later.