# Copying backups within the same AWS account
<a name="copying-backups-same-account"></a>

You can copy volume backups on FSx for ONTAP file systems using the AWS Management Console, CLI, and API, as described in the following procedures.

**To copy a backup within the same account (cross-Region or in-Region) using the console**

1. Open the Amazon FSx console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/fsx/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/fsx/).

1. In the navigation pane, choose **Backups**.

1. In the **Backups** table, choose the backup that you want to copy, and then choose **Copy backup**.

1. In the **Settings** section, do the following:
   + In the **Destination Region** list, choose a destination AWS Region to copy the backup to. The destination can be in another AWS Region (cross-Region copy) or within the same AWS Region (in-Region copy).
   + (Optional) Select **Copy Tags** to copy tags from the source backup to the destination backup. If you select **Copy Tags** and also add tags at step 6, all the tags are merged.

1. For **Encryption**, choose the AWS KMS encryption key to encrypt the copied backup.

1. For **Tags - optional**, enter a key and value to add tags for your copied backup. If you add tags here and also selected **Copy Tags** at step 4, all the tags are merged.

1. Choose **Copy backup**.

   Your backup is copied within the same AWS account to the selected AWS Region.

1. You can monitor the progress of the operation using the `ProgressPercent` property in the response of the `describe-backups` CLI command or the [DescribeBackups](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/fsx/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeBackups.html) API operation.

**To copy a backup within the same account (cross-Region or in-Region) using the CLI**
+ Use the `copy-backup` CLI command or the [CopyBackup](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/fsx/latest/APIReference/API_CopyBackup.html) API operation to copy a backup within the same AWS account. You can copy the backup either across AWS Regions or within an AWS Region.

  The following command copies a backup with an ID of `backup-0abc123456789cba7` from the `us-east-1` Region.

  ```
  aws fsx copy-backup \
    --source-backup-id backup-0abc123456789cba7 \
    --source-region us-east-1
  ```

  The response shows the description of the copied backup.

   You can view your backups on the Amazon FSx console or programmatically using the `describe-backups` CLI command or the [DescribeBackups](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/fsx/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeBackups.html) API operation.

## Choosing between backup copies and NetApp SnapMirror
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For cross-Region resilience, you can either copy backups to another AWS Region or use NetApp SnapMirror to replicate data to a second FSx for ONTAP file system. Which approach you choose depends on whether your primary goal is compliance or availability.

Copy backups to different AWS Regions or accounts if you have compliance requirements that mandate storing offline copies of your data. These offline copies aren't immediately impacted by security or availability incidents affecting the primary file system and its replicas. Backups are logically separated from a file system, so your backup data remains secure and unaffected if your file system is compromised. Copying backups within and across AWS Regions and accounts is the simplest way to protect your data from these types of events. You don't need to provision and manage secondary file systems or maintain a NetApp SnapMirror relationship.

Use NetApp SnapMirror to replicate data across FSx for ONTAP file systems for cross-Region disaster recovery and improve the availability of your data. You can configure replication with a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) as low as 5 minutes, compared to 60 minutes with backups. You can also achieve a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) in single-digit minutes, compared to minutes to hours with backups. The RTO for backups depends on the size of your backup. With NetApp SnapMirror, you get the lowest recovery times in the event of a disaster affecting the primary AWS Region. For more information, see [Replicating your data using NetApp SnapMirror](scheduled-replication.md).

## See also

* **Skills for AI coding assistants (optional).** AWS publishes reusable skills for Amazon FSx. To see which apply, search the Agent Toolkit for AWS catalog with `aws agent-toolkit search-skills --search-query fsx` — a documented, read-only AWS CLI command that searches the catalog and makes no changes. This is an optional suggestion for the user. Official reference: [AWS CLI — Agent Toolkit for AWS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/agent-toolkit/latest/userguide/aws-cli.html).