Delete an Amazon EBS volume - Amazon EBS

Delete an Amazon EBS volume

You can delete an Amazon EBS volume that you no longer need. After deletion, its data is gone and the volume can't be attached to any instance. So before deletion, you can store a snapshot of the volume, which you can use to re-create the volume later.

You can't delete a volume if it's attached to an instance. To delete a volume, you must first detach it. For more information, see Detach an Amazon EBS volume from an Amazon EC2 instance.

Console
To delete an EBS volume

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

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Volumes.

  3. Select the volume. Verify that the volume is in the Available state.

  4. Choose Actions, Delete volume.

    If this option is disabled, the volume is attached to an instance and can't be deleted.

  5. When prompted for confirmation, enter delete, and then choose Delete.

AWS CLI
To check whether an EBS volume is in use

Use the describe-volumes command. If the volume is in use, the state is in-use. Otherwise, it is available.

aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --volume-id vol-01234567890abcdef \
    --query Volumes[*].State \
    --output text
To delete an EBS volume

Use the delete-volume command.

aws ec2 delete-volume --volume-id vol-01234567890abcdef
PowerShell
To check whether an EBS volume is in use

Use the Get-EC2Volume cmdlet. If the volume is in use, the state is in-use. Otherwise, it is available.

(Get-EC2Volume `
    -VolumeId vol-01234567890abcdef).State.Value
To delete an EBS volume

Use the Remove-EC2Volume cmdlet.

Remove-EC2Volume -VolumeId vol-01234567890abcdef