# Creating user-initiated backups


In addition to automatic daily file system backups, you can create a user-initiated file system backup at anytime, using the Amazon FSx console as described in the following procedure.

**To create a user-initiated file system backup**

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

1. From the console dashboard, choose the name of the file system that you want to back up.

1. From **Actions**, choose **Create backup**.

1. In the **Create backup** dialog box that opens, provide a name for your backup. Backup names can be a maximum of 256 Unicode characters, including letters, white space, numbers, and the special characters . \$1 - = \$1 : /

1. Choose **Create backup**.

You have now created your file system backup. You can find a table of all your backups in the Amazon FSx console by choosing **Backups** in the left side navigation. Your new user-initiated backup has the type `USER_INITIATED`, and its status is `CREATING` until it becomes `AVAILABLE`. For more information, see [Working with user-initiated backups](using-backups.md#user-initiated-backups).