I Thought EBS Snapshots Were Full Backups… Until I Understood This

🚫 My Mistake: I Thought Every EBS Snapshot Was a Full Copy

When I started using AWS, I was trying to figure out how to back up my data. I came across Amazon EBS Snapshots and thought, “Okay, every time I take a snapshot, AWS must be creating a full backup of the entire volume.”

So I did what any cautious developer would do — I created snapshots frequently. But then I panicked. “Aren’t these going to take up a ton of storage and cost me a fortune?”

Turns out, I misunderstood how EBS Snapshots actually work.

✅ What I Learned: EBS Snapshots Are Incremental, Not Full Backups

Here’s the reality that changed the way I manage data backups on AWS:

• The first snapshot of an EBS volume is a full copy of the volume.

• Subsequent snapshots are incremental, meaning they only save changes made since the last snapshot.

• Even though each snapshot looks like a full backup in the console, AWS handles the storage optimization behind the scenes.

This means:

• You only pay for changed data, not for duplicating the whole volume.

• Deleting a snapshot doesn’t necessarily delete all the data, unless it holds unique blocks not referenced by others.

📌 Snapshot Best Practices I Now Follow

1. Tag your snapshots with volume ID, project name, or creation time to organize them.

2. Use Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) to automate snapshot creation and deletion.

3. Don’t delete snapshots randomly — you may be breaking the chain used for incremental backup.

4. Use snapshots to create new EBS volumes, restore data, or launch AMIs.

💡 Final Thought

Understanding how EBS incremental snapshots work helped me not only cut costs but also build a smarter backup strategy. If you’re starting out with AWS EC2 and Amazon EBS, don’t treat snapshots like traditional full backups. They’re smarter—and so should you be!