Keep your backups safe and your workloads resilient by copying snapshots across regions or within your local region. For sensitive workloads, encrypt snapshot copies to update encryption settings or protect critical data from unauthorized access..
Prerequisites
To encrypt snapshot copies, you must have Key Management Service (KMS) activated.
Archived snapshots cannot be copied.
Use cases
You can copy snapshots for the following purposes:
DevOps
Deploy services or migrate workloads to another region using snapshot copies, reducing O&M costs and improving availability.
Backup and disaster recovery
Meet compliance requirements or improve reliability by maintaining off‑site snapshot copies. When disaster strikes, they let you restore services quickly, reducing both Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
Snapshot copies can be standard or encrypted. Choose the copy type based on your encryption requirements.
Copy type | Use case | Security implications | Procedure |
Standard copy | Back up an unencrypted snapshot to another region, or create a disk from the copy in the destination region. | The data is stored in plain text. Anyone with access to the snapshot can read it without an encryption key. | |
Encrypted copy |
| Data in an encrypted snapshot is accessible only with the correct KMS key. This protects sensitive information from unauthorized access and helps meet compliance requirements. |
Billing
Review billing rules before initiating snapshot copies to estimate charges.
Billing rules apply to copies derived from the same source snapshot:
Copy type | Destination region | Size basis | Fees |
Standard copy of an unencrypted snapshot | Cross-region | First copy = full snapshot size. Subsequent copies to the same region are incremental. |
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Encrypted copy of an unencrypted snapshot | Same region | First copy = full disk size. Subsequent copies are incremental. Changing the KMS key triggers a new full copy, after which following copies are incremental. |
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Cross-region | Same process as same‑region. |
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Encrypted copy of an encrypted snapshot | Same region | First copy = full snapshot size. Subsequent copies are incremental. Changing the KMS key triggers a new full copy, after which following copies are incremental. |
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Cross-region | Same process as same‑region. |
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Snapshot storage fee
Applicable to the destination region copies. See snapshot Billing for calculation details.
Data transfer fee
Calculated as:
Unit price: Find per-region prices on the ECS product page. Navigate to the Pricing section, select a region, then check Snapshot > Snapshot replication service fee details.
Snapshot size: The unit is GB. View snapshot size.
ImportantFor the first encrypted copy of an unencrypted snapshot, snapshot size refers to the size of the source disk.
KMS fee
Using the default service key for server‑side encryption is free of charge. Charges may apply when you use custom KMS keys. See KMS billing for more information.
Limitations
Source snapshot's retention period and tags are not copied.
In the ECS console, copied snapshots are retained permanently by default. The CopySnapshot API allows setting a retention period for new snapshots.
The ID of the new snapshot differs from the source snapshot ID. You cannot roll back the source disk using the new snapshot.
Copied snapshots do not support instant access.
A standard copy produces a standard snapshot.
Procedure
Go to ECS console - Snapshots.
In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group of the resource that you want to manage.
On the Disk Snapshot tab, locate your snapshot. In the Actions column, select
> Copy Snapshot.In the Copy Snapshot dialog box, configure the parameters based on the copy type.
Copy
Parameter
Description
Snapshot Name
Name for the new snapshot.
Destination Region
Select the destination region. Standard copies can only be created in a different region.
Copy Type
Select Copy.
(Optional) Advanced Settings
Description
Add purpose and environment notes for easier management.
Tags
Add a tag as needed.
NoteTags from the source snapshot are not copied.
Copy and Encrypt
Parameter
Description
Snapshot Name
Name for the new snapshot.
Destination Region
Select the destination region. Standard copies can only be created in the same region or in a different region.
Copying encrypted snapshots to China (Nanjing - Local Region) Closing Down is not supported.
Copy Type
Select Copy and Encrypt.
Snapshots derived from encrypted disks are automatically encrypted and must be copied using this option.
Encryption Key
Select the default service key or a customer master key (CMK) from the drop-down list.
The default service key (alias/acs/ecs) is fully managed by ECS. Alternatively, you can use a Customer Master Key (CMK), which you create or import in KMS to maintain full control over encryption policies. For more information, see KMS integration.
(Optional) Advanced Settings
Description
Add purpose and environment notes for easier management.
Tags
Add tags as needed.
Tags from the source snapshot are not copied.
Click Confirm. The copy process starts.
(Optional) To view progress, switch to the destination region.
If the Progress changes to Processing, the copy is in progress. To cancel, click Delete Snapshot in the Actions column. This action cancels the task and deletes the partial snapshot.
When the Progress changes to Available, the snapshot copy is complete.
Hover over Snapshot Copy in the Creation Method column to view the ID of the original snapshot.
Go to the snapshot details page. View the encryption status and the encryption key in the Encrypted/Unencrypted section.