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Unarchived Long-Term EBS Snapshots

The short version

EBS Snapshot Archive is a lower-cost storage tier for rarely accessed snapshots retained for compliance, regulatory, or long-term backup purposes.

Kyler Rupe

Cloud FinOps Engineer @ Koch

AWS service
AWS EBS
Category
Storage
Reference
CER-0044
Type
Suboptimal Tier or SKU

Explanation

Why the waste happens and who it affects.

Archiving snapshots that do not require frequent or fast retrieval can reduce snapshot storage costs by up to 75%. Despite this, many organizations retain large volumes of snapshots in the standard tier long after their operational value has expired.

Billing model

The pricing dimensions that drive this cost.

Charged per GB-month of snapshot data stored, with pricing dependent on whether the snapshot is in the standard tier or the lower-cost archive tier. Archived snapshots are stored as full (not incremental) snapshots and billed at $0.0125 per GB-month, compared with $0.05 per GB-month in the standard tier (rates shown in the AWS documentation; they vary by Region). The archive tier has a 90-day minimum archive period (deleting or permanently restoring earlier is billed pro rata for the remaining days) and a restore fee of $0.03 per GB. Archiving an incremental snapshot whose data is still referenced by later snapshots can therefore increase total cost; the best candidates are the only snapshot of a volume or standalone full snapshots kept for compliance.

How to detect

4 checks to find it in your estate.

  • Identify EBS snapshots that are more than 90 days old and have not been accessed or restored
  • Review backup policies or compliance requirements that justify long-term retention
  • Evaluate whether snapshots are one-time or periodic backups that are unlikely to be used operationally (e.g., end-of-project, monthly compliance snapshots)
  • Check for large volumes of retained snapshots from now-defunct workloads or projects

How to fix

4 ways to remove the waste.

  • Archive eligible snapshots using the `ModifySnapshotTier` API, AWS CLI, or console
  • Confirm organizational retention policies before archiving
  • Ensure teams understand how to restore archived snapshots and the longer retrieval times involved
  • Educate teams on snapshot lifecycle and the impact of incremental chaining for efficient archive selection

Documentation

Vendor references for pricing and configuration.

Browse the library

  • AWS EBSCER-0154

    Delete-on-Termination Disabled for EBS Volume

    When EC2 instances are provisioned, each attached EBS volume has a `DeleteOnTermination` flag that determines whether it will be deleted when the instance is terminated. If this flag is set to `false` - often unintentionally in custom...

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  • AWS EBSCER-0162

    Outdated Provisioned IOPS Volume Type for High-I/O Workloads

    Many environments continue using io1 volumes for high-performance workloads due to legacy provisioning or lack of awareness of io2 benefits. io2 volumes provide equivalent or better performance and durability with reduced cost at scale....

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  • AWS EBSCER-0178

    Overprovisioned EBS Volume

    EBS volumes often remain significantly overprovisioned compared to the actual data stored on them. Because billing is based on the total provisioned capacity - not actual usage - this creates ongoing waste when large volumes are only...

    Storage