EBS Snapshots:
- Snapshots are point-in-time backups of EBS volumes that are stored in S3.
Snapshot Properties:
- Snapshots are incremental in nature.
- A snapshot only stores the changes since the most recent snapshot, thus reducing cost (by only having to pay for storage for the "incremental changes" between snapshots).
- However, if the "original" snapshot is deleted, all data is still available in all the other snapshots.
- Even though snapshot storage only charges you for the amount of incremental data in each snapshot, all prior data is still there.
- Snapshots can be used to create fully restored EBS volumes.
- The first snapshot will be charged for ALL the data that is currently on the EBS volume.
A few other important snapshot notes:
- Frequent snapshots of your data increases data durability - so highly recommended.
- When a snapshot is being taken against the EBS volume, it can degrade performance so snapshots should occur during non-production or non-peak load hours.