Replace an Amazon EBS volume using a snapshot - Amazon EBS

Replace an Amazon EBS volume using a snapshot

Amazon EBS snapshots are the preferred backup tool on Amazon EC2 because of their speed, convenience, and cost. When creating a volume from a snapshot, you recreate its state at a specific point in time with the data saved up to that specific point intact. By attaching a volume created from a snapshot to an instance, you can duplicate data across Regions, create test environments, replace a damaged or corrupted production volume in its entirety, or retrieve specific files and directories and transfer them to another attached volume. For more information, see Amazon EBS snapshots.

You can use one of the following procedures to replace an Amazon EBS volume with another volume created from a previous snapshot of that volume.

Requirement

You must create the volume in the same Availability Zone as the instance. Volumes must be attached to instances in the same Availability Zone.

Console
To replace a volume

  1. Create a volume from the snapshot and write down the ID of the new volume. For more information, see Create an Amazon EBS volume.

  2. On the Instances page, select the instance on which to replace the volume and write down the instance ID.

    With the instance still selected, choose the Storage tab. In the Block devices section, find the volume to replace and write down the device name for the volume, for example /dev/sda1.

  3. On the Storage tab, choose the volume ID, and then unmount and detach the volume from the instance.

  4. Select the new volume that you created in step 1 and choose Actions, Attach volume.

    For Instance and Device name, enter the instance ID and device name that you wrote down in Step 2, and then choose Attach volume.

  5. Connect to your instance and mount the volume. For more information, see Make an Amazon EBS volume available for use.

AWS CLI
To replace a volume

  1. Create a new volume from the snapshot. Use the create-volume command with the --snapshot-id option. For --availability-zone, specify the same Availability Zone as the instance. Note the ID of the new volume in the output.

    aws ec2 create-volume \
    --volume-type gp3 \
    --snapshot-id snap-0abcdef1234567890 \
    --availability-zone us-east-1a

  2. Get the device name of the volume to replace. Use the describe-instances command. For --instance-ids, specify the ID of the instance on which to replace the volume. Note the device name and volume ID of the volume to replace.

    aws ec2 describe-instances \
    --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 \
    --query Reservations[].Instances[].BlockDeviceMappings

  3. Detach the volume to replace from the instance. Use the detach-volume command.

    aws ec2 detach-volume --volume-id vol-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  4. Attach the replacement volume to the instance. Use the attach-volume command. For --volume-id, specify the ID of the replacement volume. For --instance-id, specify the ID of the instance on which to attach the volume. For --device, specify the same device name that you noted previously.

    aws ec2 attach-volume \
    --volume-id vol-01234567890abcdef \
    --instance-id i-1234567890abcdef0 \
    --device /dev/sdf

  5. Connect to your instance and mount the volume. For more information, see Make an Amazon EBS volume available for use.

PowerShell
To replace a volume

  1. Create a new volume from the snapshot. Use the New-EC2Volume cmdlet with the -SnapshotId option. For -AvailabilityZone, specify the same Availability Zone as the instance. Note the ID of the new volume in the output.

    New-EC2Volume `
    -VolumeType gp3 `
    -SnapshotId snap-0abcdef1234567890 `
    -AvailabilityZone us-east-1a

  2. Get the device name of the volume to replace. Use the Get-EC2Instance cmdlet. For -InstanceId, specify the ID of the instance on which to replace the volume. Note the device name and volume ID of the volume to replace.

    (Get-EC2Instance `
    -InstanceId i-1234567890abcdef0).Instances.BlockDeviceMappings | `
     Format-Table DeviceName, @{Name="VolumeId";Expression={$_.Ebs.VolumeId}}

  3. Detach the volume to replace from the instance. Use the Dismount-EC2Volume cmdlet.

    DismountEC2Volume -VolumeId vol-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  4. Attach the replacement volume to the instance. Use the Add-EC2Volume cmdlet. For -VolumeId, specify the ID of the replacement volume. For -InstanceId, specify the ID of the instance on which to attach the volume. For -Device, specify the same device name that you noted previously.

    Add-EC2Volume`
    -VolumeId vol-01234567890abcdef `
    -InstanceId i-1234567890abcdef0 `
    -Device /dev/sdf

  5. Connect to your instance and mount the volume. For more information, see Make an Amazon EBS volume available for use.