Using a vSphere Storage Profile that supports First Class Disk (FCD) storage, you can create block device-based storage that is independent of a VM.

First Class Disks offer many advantages. For example, you can attach an FCD to a VM and take multiple snapshots of the disk over time. If you find that you do not need certain snapshots, you can delete them. You can also revert an FCD to an earlier snapshot.

Note: If you attach an FCD to a VM and then delete the VM, both the FCD and its snapshots are deleted. And if the FCD is detached from a VM, you cannot delete the FCD without deleting its snapshots first.