AWS Snow Family

What it is

The AWS Snow Family is a set of ruggedized physical devices that AWS ships to you. You use them to move large amounts of data into or out of AWS offline, faster than the network allows, and to run compute at the edge where connectivity is limited.

Current status:

AWS Snowball Edge is no longer available to new customers, so AWS no longer offers any Snow Family devices for new customers to order.
AWS will discontinue support for Snowball devices on December 31, 2026 in all commercial AWS RegionA separate geographic area where AWS runs its services, such as us-east-1 in Northern Virginia, made up of several Availability Zones. Most resources live in one Region; you choose Regions for latency, data residency, and the services you need.Glossary entry (GovCloud and ADC Regions are not affected). After that date, the Snow console and Snowball resources are no longer available.
AWS recommends:
- AWS DataSync for online transfers.
- AWS Data Transfer Terminal for secure physical transfers: reserve a slot at an AWS facility and upload from your own devices (currently for Enterprise Support customers).
- AWS Partner solutions.
- AWS Outposts for edge computing. Outposts racks and servers run On-premisesIn data centers or offices that you run yourself, rather than in the cloud. Hybrid architectures connect on-premises systems to AWS, for example through AWS Direct Connect or a VPN.Glossary entry with the same EC2 API (Application programming interface)A defined way for one program to ask another for data or actions, such as a set of HTTPS requests and responses. Every AWS service is controlled through its API, which the console, the CLI, and the SDKs call for you.Glossary entry and VPC networking, and can operate without AWS connectivity for up to 7 days.

The exam still lists the Snow Family. When a question describes petabytes of data and too little bandwidth, or compute in a disconnected location, Snow is the expected answer.

How it worked

Snowball Edge Storage Optimized (210 TB): large-scale data transfer, with 210 TB of usable storage.
Snowball Edge Compute Optimized: the most compute, with up to 104 vCPUs and 416 GB of memory, for edge workloads such as processing sensor data or running EC2-compatible instances where there is no reliable connection.
A job:
1. Create an import or export job in the console.
2. AWS ships the device.
3. You copy data with the client or an S3-compatible interface.
4. You ship it back, and AWS imports the data into Amazon S3.
Data sent to a device is protected with TLS (Transport Layer Security)The protocol that encrypts traffic between a client and a server and lets the server prove its identity with a certificate. It replaced SSL, though the older name is still common; HTTPS is HTTP over TLS.Glossary entry in transit and SSE (Server-side encryption)Encryption that a service applies when it stores your data and removes when you read it back. Amazon S3 encrypts every new object with SSE-S3 by default; SSE-KMS uses keys in AWS KMS instead.Glossary entry at rest. After every job, AWS erases the device following the NIST 800-88 standard.
Older family members, Snowcone and Snowmobile, are no longer offered either.

When to ship data instead of sending it

A common exam rule of thumb: if transferring the data over your network would take more than about a week, consider shipping it. For example, 100 TB over a 100 Mbps link takes several months, while a device round trip takes days. Today, compare DataSync over Direct Connect, Data Transfer Terminal, and partner options. When the network is the limit but the data can't leave on devices, AWS recommends DataSync over a temporary Direct Connect hosted connection from a Direct Connect Delivery Partner, for the duration of the project.

Snow Family or another option?

If the requirement is	Choose
Petabytes to move with little bandwidth (exam wording)	AWS Snow Family (Snowball Edge)
Edge computing in a disconnected location (exam wording)	Snowball Edge Compute Optimized
Online file transfer into AWS, today	AWS DataSync
Link too slow for a one-time project, today	AWS DataSync over a temporary Direct Connect hosted connection
Bring your own storage devices to an AWS facility for fast upload	AWS Data Transfer Terminal
AWS infrastructure on premises for low-LatencyThe time between sending a request and receiving the response, usually measured in milliseconds. Distance and processing add to it; caching and serving users from nearby locations reduce it.Glossary entry or local processing	AWS Outposts

Reverse mindmap: when the question points here

Is it the AWS Snow Family?

Yes, on the exam, when the question says
- Petabytes of data, slow or expensive network leads to Snowball Edge
- Network transfer would take weeks leads to Snowball Edge
- Compute in a remote site with no connectivity leads to Snowball Edge Compute Optimized
Today
- New customers cannot order Snow devices leads to DataSync, Data Transfer Terminal, or partners
- Support ends December 31, 2026 leads to Plan alternatives
- Edge computing leads to AWS Outposts
- Too little bandwidth for the project leads to DataSync over a Direct Connect hosted connection
No, when the question says
- Enough bandwidth for the transfer leads to DataSync
- Partners send files over SFTP leads to Transfer Family

Key takeaways

Snow Family devices moved large datasets offline and ran compute at disconnected edge sites.
Snowball Edge came as Storage Optimized (210 TB) and Compute Optimized (up to 104 vCPUs).
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, imported into S3, and the device is erased to NIST 800-88 after each job.
Snow is closed to new customers, and support ends on December 31, 2026; AWS recommends DataSync, Data Transfer Terminal, partners, or Outposts.
On the exam, "too much data for the network" still points to Snow.