# Outdated and expensive Premium SSD disk | Cloud Efficiency Hub Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/outdated-and-expensive-premium-ssd-disk Workloads using legacy Premium SSD managed disks may be eligible for migration to Premium SSD v2, which delivers equivalent or improved performance... By: PointFive Updated: 2026-09-28 [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) # Outdated and Expensive Premium SSD Disk The short version Workloads using legacy Premium SSD managed disks may be eligible for migration to Premium SSD v2, which delivers equivalent or improved performance characteristics at a lower cost. PointFive Research Cloud cost research at PointFive Azure service [Azure Managed Disks](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/azure-managed-disks) Category [Storage](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/storage) Reference CER-0121 Type Outdated Version ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. Premium SSD v2 decouples disk size from performance metrics like IOPS and throughput, enabling more granular cost optimization. Additionally, Premium SSD disks are often overprovisioned in size - for example, a P40 disk with more IOPS and capacity than the workload requires - resulting in inflated storage costs. Rightsizing includes both transitioning to v2 and moving to smaller SKUs (e.g., P40 to P20) based on observed utilization, which requires a new disk because managed disks cannot be shrunk in place. Failure to address either form of overprovisioning leads to persistent waste. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. Azure Premium SSD disks are billed per provisioned GB per month, with costs based on the selected disk size and tier. Premium SSD v2 offers greater flexibility in performance configuration and lower pricing compared to the original Premium SSD offering, allowing users to optimize both cost and performance. ## How to detect 7 checks to find it in your estate. - Identify Premium SSD managed disks provisioned using the original Premium SSD offering (not v2) - Exclude OS disks and disks that depend on host caching, which Premium SSD v2 does not support - Review disk IOPS, throughput, and sizing requirements to ensure compatibility with Premium SSD v2 capabilities - Analyze whether the current SKU size (e.g., P30, P40) exceeds actual capacity and performance needs - Confirm that the region supports Premium SSD v2, as availability may vary across Azure regions - Evaluate whether application or OS dependencies require any disk-specific configurations during migration - Validate migration plans with infrastructure owners to align with performance expectations and change management policies ## How to fix How to remove the waste. Transition eligible Premium SSD disks to Premium SSD v2 to achieve improved cost efficiency and flexible performance configuration. Where appropriate, resize oversized disks to smaller SKUs that better match actual usage. Data disks can be converted to Premium SSD v2 in place or migrated through incremental snapshots, with a VM restart planned into a maintenance window (OS disks cannot use Premium SSD v2). Premium SSD v2 does not support host caching, so caching must be set to none before converting, and in most availability-zone regions it attaches only to zonal VMs; check these limits before migrating. Azure does not support shrinking a managed disk, so downsizing (for example P40 to P20) means creating a new smaller disk, copying the data at the OS level, and swapping it in. With Premium SSD v2, capacity, IOPS, and throughput are set independently, so a right-sized disk can be created during migration. Monitor performance metrics after migration to ensure service quality is maintained. Update infrastructure provisioning templates to adopt Premium SSD v2 and rightsized configurations by default where applicable. ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. - [Select a disk type for Azure IaaS VMs - managed disks learn.microsoft.com](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/disks-types#premium-ssd-v2) - [Azure Managed Disks Pricing azure.microsoft.com](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/managed-disks/) - [Convert managed disks storage between different disk types learn.microsoft.com](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/disks-convert-types) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - Azure Managed Disks CER-0010 ### [Outdated and Expensive Standard SSD Disk](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/outdated-and-expensive-standard-ssd-disk) Standard SSD disks can sometimes be replaced with Premium SSD v2 disks, which offer higher IOPS and throughput and let you set capacity, IOPS, and throughput independently. Microsoft positions Premium SSD v2 as generally less costly than... Storage - Azure Managed Disks CER-0338 ### [Underutilized Azure Managed Disk Reservations](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/underutilized-azure-managed-disk-reservations) Azure Managed Disk reservations allow organizations to pre-purchase Premium SSD capacity at a discounted rate by committing to a one-year term. However, these reservations operate on a strict use-it-or-lose-it basis - if reserved disk... Storage - Azure Managed Disks CER-0094 ### [Missing Performance Plus on Eligible Managed Disks](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/missing-performance-plus-on-eligible-managed-disks) For Premium SSD, Standard SSD, and Standard HDD managed disks 513 GiB or larger, Azure now offers the option to enable Performance Plus - unlocking higher IOPS and MBps at no extra cost. Many environments that previously required custom... Storage --- Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.