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What is difference between snapshot and image in AWS?

Last updated on September 25, 2022 @ 6:03 pm

Snapshots and images are two different types of data storage in Amazon AWS. A snapshot captures the state of a data store at a particular point in time, while an image stores a data store as a set of files.

Snapshots are helpful for taking a “snapshot” of a data store, so you can revert to a previous state if something goes wrong. For example, if you accidentally deleted a file from a data store, you can take a snapshot of the data store before you deleted the file, and then restore the snapshot to restore the file.

PRO TIP: Please be aware that there are significant differences between snapshots and images in AWS. Snapshots are incremental backups of your EBS volume that are stored in S3, whereas images are full copies of your EBS volume (including the data on any attached instance store volumes) that are stored in E3. Images take longer to create than snapshots, but they can be used to launch new instances.

Images, on the other hand, are used to store data permanently. When you create an image, you create a copy of the data store that you can access and use forever.

Images are useful for storing data that you don’t want to lose, or for storing data that you want to share with other people.

Drew Clemente

Drew Clemente

Devops & Sysadmin engineer. I basically build infrastructure online.