# Unarchived Long-Term EBS Snapshots

Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/unarchived-long-term-ebs-snapshots

[Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) 

# Unarchived Long-Term EBS Snapshots

## Explanation

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

## Relevant Billing Model

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

## Detection

- 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

## Remediation

- 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

## Relevant Documentation

[EBS Snapshot Archive Overview](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ebs/latest/userguide/snapshot-archive.html) 
[How EBS Snapshots Work](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ebs/latest/userguide/how_snapshots_work.html) 
[EBS Snapshot Archive FAQ](https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/snapshots/faqs/#topic-3)

[Submit Feedback](https://hub.pointfive.co/inefficiencies/unarchived-long-term-ebs-snapshots)

## At a glance

Reference

CER-0044

Cloud provider

AWS

Service

AWS EBS

Category

[Storage](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/storage)

Inefficiency type

Suboptimal Storage Tier

## Contributed by

- Kyler Rupe 

### Kyler Rupe

Cloud FinOps Engineer @ Koch

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyler-rupe-8b802a190/)

---
Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.