Managing Amazon EBS Volumes and Snapshots Across Regions

In this blog, we’ll walk through how to create, modify, snapshot, copy, and attach Amazon EBS volumes across different AWS regions (from ap-south-2 Hyderabad to ap-south-1 Mumbai).

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1. Creating an EC2 Instance and Increasing Volume Size

1. Create an EC2 instance as usual.

2. During or after instance creation, go to Storage.

3. Select the attached volume.

4. Click Actions → Modify Volume.

5. Increase the volume size as required.

⚠️ Note:
EBS volume size can only be increased, not decreased.

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2. Creating a New EBS Volume

1. Go to EC2 Dashboard → Volumes.

2. Click Create Volume.

3. Provide:

   • Volume name

   • Volume size

   • Availability Zone

4. Click Create Volume.

This will create a standalone EBS volume.

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3. Attaching the Volume to an Instance

1. Select the created volume.

2. Click Actions → Attach Volume.

3. Select the target EC2 instance.

4. Attach the volume.

The volume is now connected to the instance.

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4. Creating a Snapshot from a Volume

1. Select the EC2 instance.

2. Go to Volumes.

3. Select the volume.

4. Click Actions → Create Snapshot.

This snapshot is a backup of the volume at that point in time.

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5. Copying Snapshot to Another Region

Once the snapshot is created:

1. Select the snapshot.

2. Click Actions → Copy Snapshot.

3. Choose the destination region.

Example:

• Source Region: ap-south-2 (Hyderabad)

• Destination Region: ap-south-1 (Mumbai)

The snapshot will be copied to Mumbai.

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6. Creating an EBS Volume from a Snapshot

1. Go to Snapshots in the destination region (ap-south-1).

2. Select the copied snapshot.

3. Click Actions → Create Volume.

4. Choose:

   • Availability Zone

   • Volume size (optional modification)

This creates a new EBS volume in Mumbai.

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7. Creating a New EC2 Instance in ap-south-1 (Mumbai)

1. Launch a new EC2 instance in ap-south-1 (Mumbai) region.

2. Complete the instance creation normally.

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8. Detaching the Default Root Volume

Before attaching the snapshot-based volume, the instance must be stopped.

Steps to Detach Default Volume:

1. Select the EC2 instance.

2. Click Stop Instance.

3. Once stopped, go to Volumes.

4. Select the default root volume.

5. Click Actions → Detach Volume.

This removes the default volume from the instance.

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9. Attaching the Snapshot-Based Volume

1. Select the volume created from the snapshot.

2. Click Actions → Attach Volume.

3. Choose the stopped EC2 instance.

4. Attach the volume.

5. Start the instance.

The instance will now use the volume created from the snapshot.

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Conclusion

Using EBS snapshots, AWS allows easy data migration and recovery across regions. This method is especially useful for:

• Disaster recovery

• Cross-region backups

• Cloning environments

By following these steps, you can safely move volumes from Hyderabad to Mumbai and attach them to new EC2 instances.