View Amazon EBS snapshot information - Amazon EBS
Snapshot states

View Amazon EBS snapshot information

You can view detailed information about your snapshots using one of the following methods.

Console
To view snapshot information using the console

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Snapshots.

  3. To view only your snapshots that you own, in the top-left corner of the screen, choose Owned by me. You can also filter the list of snapshots using tags and other snapshot attributes. In the Filter field, select the attribute field, and then select or enter the attribute value. For example, to view only encrypted snapshots, select Encryption, and then enter true.

  4. To view more information about a specific snapshot, choose its ID in the list.

AWS CLI
To view snapshot information using the AWS CLI

Use the describe-snapshots command.

Example 1: Filter based on tags

The following command describes the snapshots with the tag Stack=production.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots --filters Name=tag:Stack,Values=production
Example 2: Filter based on volume

The following command describes the snapshots created from the specified volume.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots --filters Name=volume-id,Values=vol-049df61146c4d7901
Example 3: Filter based on snapshot age

With the AWS CLI, you can use JMESPath to filter results using expressions. For example, the following command displays the IDs of all snapshots created by your AWS account (represented by 123456789012) before the specified date (represented by 2020-03-31). If you do not specify the owner, the results include all public snapshots.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots --filters Name=owner-id,Values=123456789012 --query "Snapshots[?(StartTime<='2020-03-31')].[SnapshotId]" --output text

The following command displays the IDs of all snapshots created in the specified date range.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots --filters Name=owner-id,Values=123456789012 --query "Snapshots[?(StartTime>='2019-01-01') && (StartTime<='2019-12-31')].[SnapshotId]" --output text
Tools for Windows PowerShell
To view snapshot information using the Tools for Windows PowerShell

Use the Get-EC2Snapshot command.

PS C:\> Get-EC2Snapshot -SnapshotId snapshot_id

Snapshot states

An Amazon EBS snapshot transitions through different states from the moment it is created until it is permanently deleted.

The following illustration shows the transitions between snapshot states. When you create a snapshot, it enters the pending state. After the snapshot is ready for use, it enters the completed state. When you've decided that you no longer need a snapshot, you can delete it. If you delete a snapshot that matches a Recycle Bin retention rule, it is retained in the Recycle Bin and it enters the recoverable state. If you recover a snapshot from the Recycle Bin, it enters the recovering state and then the completed state. Otherwise, it is permanently deleted.

Snapshot with allocated blocks

The following table summarizes the snapshot states.

Status Description
pending

The snapshot creation process is still in progress. A snapshot can't be used while it is in the pending state.
completed The snapshot creation process has completed and the snapshot is ready for use.
recoverable The snapshot is currently in the Recycle Bin. To use the snapshot, you must first recover it from the Recycle Bin.
recovering The snapshot is being recovered from the Recycle Bin. After the snapshot has been recovered, it transitions to the completed state and becomes ready for use.
error The snapshot creation process has failed. A snapshot can't be used if it is in the error state.