A PVC gives a Pod durable storage beyond the container
A container is ephemeral by design, so a PersistentVolumeClaim is the handle that pins real storage to it even when the Pod is recreated. The split is deliberate: a PersistentVolume declares capacity that exists, a PersistentVolumeClaim requests capacity that is needed, and a controller matches one to the other. With a StorageClass the claim can create its own volume through a provisioner, so nobody has to pre-build the storage. ...