Recover deleted Amazon EBS snapshots and EBS-backed AMIs with Recycle Bin - Amazon EBS
How does it work?Supported resourcesQuotasRelated servicesPricing

Recover deleted Amazon EBS snapshots and EBS-backed AMIs with Recycle Bin

Recycle Bin is a data recovery feature that enables you to restore accidentally deleted Amazon EBS snapshots and EBS-backed AMIs. When using Recycle Bin, if your resources are deleted, they are retained in the Recycle Bin for a time period that you specify before being permanently deleted.

You can restore a resource from the Recycle Bin at any time before its retention period expires. After you restore a resource from the Recycle Bin, the resource is removed from the Recycle Bin and you can use it in the same way that you use any other resource of that type in your account. If the retention period expires and the resource is not restored, the resource is permanently deleted from the Recycle Bin and it is no longer available for recovery.

Using Recycle Bin helps to ensure business continuity by protecting your business-critical data against accidental deletion.

Topics

How does it work?

To enable and use Recycle Bin, you must create retention rules in the AWS Regions in which you want to protect your resources. Retention rules specify the following:

  • The resource type that you want to protect.

  • The resources that you want to retain in the Recycle Bin when they are deleted.

  • The retention period for which to retain resources in the Recycle Bin before they are permanently deleted.

With Recycle Bin, you can create two types of retention rules:

  • Tag-level retention rules — A tag-level retention rule uses resource tags to identify the resources that are to be retained in the Recycle Bin. For each retention rule, you specify one or more tag key and value pairs. Resources of the specified type that are tagged with at least one of the tag key and value pairs that are specified in the retention rule are automatically retained in the Recycle Bin upon deletion. Use this type of retention rule if you want to protect specific resources in your account based on their tags.

  • Region-level retention rules — A Region-level retention rule does not have any resource tags specified. It applies to all of the resources of the specified type in the Region in which the rule is created, even if the resources are not tagged. Use this type of retention rule if you want to protect all resources of a specific type in a specific Region.

While a resource is in the Recycle Bin, you have the ability to restore it for use at any time.

The resource remains in the Recycle Bin until one of the following happens:

  • You manually restore it for use. When you restore a resource from the Recycle Bin, the resource is removed from the Recycle Bin and it immediately becomes available for use. You can use restored resources in the same way as any other resource of that type in your account.

  • The retention period expires. If the retention period expires, and the resource has not been restored from the Recycle Bin, the resource is permanently deleted from the Recycle Bin and it can no longer be viewed or restored.

Supported resources

Recycle Bin supports the following resource types:

  • Amazon EBS snapshots

    Important

    Recycle Bin retention rules also apply to archived snapshots in the archive storage tier. If you delete an archived snapshot that matches a retention rule, that snapshot is retained in the Recycle Bin for the period defined in the retention rule. Archived snapshots are billed at the rate for archived snapshots while they are in the Recycle Bin.

  • Amazon EBS-backed Amazon Machine Images (AMIs)

    Note

    Retention rules also apply to disabled AMIs.

Quotas

The following quotas apply to Recycle Bin.

Quota Default quota

Retention rules per Region

 250

Tag key and value pairs per retention rule

 50

Related services

Recycle Bin works with the following services:

Pricing

There are noadditional charges for using Recycle Bin and retention rules. For more information, see Amazon EBS pricing.

  • Amazon EBS snapshots — Snapshots in the Recycle Bin are billed at the same rate as regular snapshots in your account.

  • EBS-backed AMIs — AMIs in the Recycle Bin do not incur any additional charges.

Note

Some resources might still appear in the Recycle Bin console or in the AWS CLI and API output for a short period after their retention periods have expired and they have been permanently deleted. You are not billed for these resources. Billing stops as soon as the retention period expires.

You can use the following AWS generated cost allocation tags for cost tracking and allocation purposes when using AWS Billing and Cost Management.

  • Key: aws:recycle-bin:resource-in-bin

  • Value: true

For more information, see AWS-generated cost allocation tags in the AWS Billing and Cost Management User Guide.