EBS Snapshot Recycle Bin for Accidental Deletion Prevention

SAA-C03 By islever Editorial Last updated Oct 15, 2026

Determine appropriate data security controls.

Short answer

C Create a 7-day EBS snapshot retention rule in Recycle Bin and apply the rule for all snapshots.

Question

A company runs a self-managed Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS). Daily snapshots are taken of the EBS volumes. Recently, all the company’s EBS snapshots were accidentally deleted while running a snapshot cleaning script that deletes all expired EBS snapshots. A solutions architect needs to update the architecture to prevent data loss without retaining EBS snapshots indefinitely. Which solution will meet these requirements with the LEAST development effort?

Change the IAM policy of the user to deny EBS snapshot deletion.
Copy the EBS snapshots to another AWS Region after completing the snapshots daily.
Create a 7-day EBS snapshot retention rule in Recycle Bin and apply the rule for all snapshots. Correct Answer
Copy EBS snapshots to Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA).

Key Takeaways

The core concept is using AWS EBS Recycle Bin to create a safety net against accidental deletions while maintaining control over snapshot lifecycle and storage costs.

This question examines how to prevent accidental deletion of EBS snapshots using AWS Recycle Bin, balancing data protection with retention policies. The correct solution leverages a managed service feature to allow recovery without indefinite storage costs.

Common mistake: Candidates often choose IAM policy changes (Option A) because they seem like a direct security control, but this prevents legitimate administrative tasks and does not recover already deleted data.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

AWS EBS Recycle Bin allows you to set retention rules for EBS snapshots. When a snapshot is deleted, it is moved to the Recycle Bin instead of being permanently removed. Within the specified retention period (e.g., 7 days), the snapshot can be restored. This meets the requirement of preventing data loss from accidental deletion scripts while avoiding the need to retain snapshots indefinitely or manage complex cross-region replication.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option A (IAM Deny) would prevent all deletions, including intentional ones, which violates the principle of least privilege and operational flexibility. Option B (Copy to another Region) adds significant development effort for replication logic and increases storage costs across regions, failing the 'least development effort' constraint. Option D (Copy to S3) is technically invalid as EBS snapshots are block-level backups stored in Amazon S3 infrastructure but cannot be directly copied as objects to an S3 bucket by users; additionally, this requires custom scripting.

Community Comment Notes

The community consensus strongly supports Option C. Users highlight that Recycle Bin provides a necessary 'safety net' against accidental deletions. As noted by user FlyingHawk, the feature specifically moves deleted resources to a recoverable state rather than destroying them immediately. Multiple comments confirm that the 7-day retention period effectively protects against the described script error without long-term cost implications.

Official Reference

These links open the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

When asked for the 'least development effort' to prevent accidental data loss, look for native AWS management features like Recycle Bin or Versioning rather than custom code or strict IAM denies. Always weigh the operational overhead of cross-region replication against simpler local recovery mechanisms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I restore snapshots from Recycle Bin?

Yes, within the retention period, you can restore any EBS snapshot moved to Recycle Bin back to its original state.

Does Recycle Bin increase storage costs?

Snapshots remain in Recycle Bin during the retention period, so you pay standard EBS snapshot storage fees until they are automatically deleted after the period expires.

More SAA-C03 FAQ →

Community Votes

100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer C. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 7 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 7

FlyingHawk 👍 1 Answered C

AWS Recycle Bin allows you to set retention rules for EBS snapshots, preventing them from being permanently deleted for a specified period (e.g., 7 days). If a snapshot is accidentally deleted, it is moved to the Recycle Bin and can be restored within the retention period. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ebs/latest/userguide/recycle-bin.html
pujithacg8 👍 1

C, AWS Recycle Bin allows you to recover resources like EBS snapshots that were accidentally deleted.
AnasAWS 👍 1 Answered C

7 Days retention period will protect snapshots from being accedently perminantly deleted.
example_ 👍 1 Answered C

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-recycle-bin-for-ebs-snapshots/
dhewa 👍 1 Answered C

Provides a safety net against accidental deletions

Show 2 more comments

progounick 👍 1 Answered C

C. Snapshot can be recovered if accidently deleted
Ricksaurus 👍 1 Answered C

Snapshot can be recovered if accidently deleted

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