The EBS Recycle Bin is an AWS data recovery feature that protects EBS snapshots and AMIs from accidental deletion. When a protected snapshot is deleted, it is moved to the Recycle Bin and can be recovered within a configurable retention period (1 day to 1 year) before it is permanently deleted.

Before the Recycle Bin existed, deleting an EBS snapshot was permanent and immediate — there was no way to recover it. The Recycle Bin adds a safety net that works similarly to the trash bin on your desktop OS. When a snapshot covered by a Recycle Bin retention rule is deleted, it is soft-deleted — moved to the Recycle Bin — rather than immediately destroyed. During the retention period, you can restore it. After the retention period expires, it is permanently deleted.

Key Concepts of the Recycle Bin

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Retention Rules — you define rules that specify which snapshots are protected and for how long (1 day to 1 year)
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Scope — rules can apply to ALL snapshots in the region or only snapshots with specific tags
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Retention period — configurable from 1 day to 365 days per rule
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Resources in Recycle Bin — cannot be used until restored (no attaching, no creating volumes from them)
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Cost — resources in the Recycle Bin are billed at the standard EBS snapshot rate during the retention period
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Supported resources — EBS snapshots and EBS-backed AMIs

Recycle Bin Workflow

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1. Create a retention rule targeting the snapshots you want to protect
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1. User or process accidentally deletes a protected snapshot
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1. AWS moves the snapshot to the Recycle Bin (soft delete)
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1. Administrator discovers the deletion and restores the snapshot within the retention period
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1. Snapshot is fully restored and available for use again
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1. If NOT restored within the retention period, the snapshot is permanently deleted

Managing the Recycle Bin via AWS CLI