When you want to free up space or when the maximum number of snapshots has been reached,
you can delete snapshots that are no longer needed. This topic describes how to delete
snapshots in the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) console. This procedure applies to
both manual snapshots and automatic snapshots.
Background information
The following limits apply to different snapshot deletion scenarios:
Notice You can check region-specific snapshot sizes on the Overview page of the ECS console
and switch to regions where snapshots are present to delete snapshots based on your
needs. After snapshots in all regions are deleted, you are no longer charged for snapshots.
For information about snapshot billing, see
Snapshots.
Delete a snapshot
- Log on to the ECS console.
- In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
- In the top navigation bar, select a region.
- On the Disk Snapshots tab, find the snapshot that you want to delete and choose in the Actions column.
You can select multiple snapshots that you want to delete and click Delete Snapshot below the snapshot list.
- In the Delete Snapshot dialog box, confirm snapshot information and click Next.
- Confirm that snapshot information is correct and click OK.
Delete a snapshot that has been used to create disks
- Log on to the ECS console.
- In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
- In the top navigation bar, select a region.
- On the Disk Snapshots tab, find the snapshot that you want to delete and choose in the Actions column.
You can select multiple snapshots that you want to delete and click Delete Snapshot below the snapshot list.
- In the Delete Snapshot dialog box, read risk information, select Proceed to Force Delete, and then click Next.
You can click
Disks to view disk information on the Disks page.
Notice To delete a snapshot that has been used to create disks, you must read risk information
before you select
Proceed to Force Delete. If the snapshot is deleted, you cannot perform operations on business that depends
on the snapshot. For example, disks created from the snapshot can no longer be re-initialized.
For more information, see
Re-initialize a system disk.

- Confirm that snapshot information is correct and click OK.
Delete a snapshot that has been used to create custom images
- Log on to the ECS console.
- In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
- In the top navigation bar, select a region.
- On the Disk Snapshots tab, find the snapshot that you want to delete and choose in the Actions column.
You can select multiple snapshots that you want to delete and click Delete Snapshot below the snapshot list.
- In the Delete Snapshot dialog box, a message appears indicating that the snapshot has been used to create
custom images. You must delete the custom images before you can delete the snapshot.
You can click
Images to delete the corresponding custom images on the Images page. For more information,
see
Delete a custom image.
Notice After the custom images are deleted, you can no longer use the images to create instances.
The instances that were created from the images remain available but cannot have their
system disks re-initialized. For more information, see
Re-initialize a system disk.

- After the associated images are deleted, delete the snapshot. In the Delete Snapshot
dialog box, click Next.
- Confirm that snapshot information is correct and click OK.