Uploading an Archive in Amazon S3 Glacier - Amazon S3 Glacier
Options for Uploading an Archive
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

This page is only for existing customers of the S3 Glacier service using Vaults and the original REST API from 2012.

If you're looking for archival storage solutions we suggest using the S3 Glacier storage classes in Amazon S3, S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and S3 Glacier Deep Archive. To learn more about these storage options, see S3 Glacier storage classes and Long-term data storage using S3 Glacier storage classes in the Amazon S3 User Guide. These storage classes use the Amazon S3 API, are available in all regions, and can be managed within the Amazon S3 console. They offer features like Storage Cost Analysis, Storage Lens, security features including multiple encryption options, and more.

Uploading an Archive in Amazon S3 Glacier

Amazon S3 Glacier (S3 Glacier) provides a management console, which you can use to create and delete vaults. However, you cannot upload archives to S3 Glacier by using the management console. To upload data, such as photos, videos, and other documents, you must either use the Amazon CLI or write code to make requests, by using either the REST API directly or by using the Amazon SDKs.

For information about using S3 Glacier with the Amazon CLI, go to Amazon CLI Reference for S3 Glacier. To install the Amazon CLI, go to Amazon Command Line Interface. The following Uploading topics describe how to upload archives to S3 Glacier by using the Amazon SDK for Java, the Amazon SDK for .NET, and the REST API.

Topics

Options for Uploading an Archive to Amazon S3 Glacier

Depending on the size of the data you are uploading, S3 Glacier offers the following options:

  • Upload archives in a single operation – In a single operation, you can upload archives from 1 byte to up to 4 GB in size. However, we encourage S3 Glacier customers to use multipart upload to upload archives greater than 100 MB. For more information, see Uploading an Archive in a Single Operation.

  • Upload archives in parts – Using the multipart upload API, you can upload large archives, up to about 40,000 GB (10,000 * 4 GB).

    The multipart upload API call is designed to improve the upload experience for larger archives. You can upload archives in parts. These parts can be uploaded independently, in any order, and in parallel. If a part upload fails, you only need to upload that part again and not the entire archive. You can use multipart upload for archives from 1 byte to about 40,000 GB in size. For more information, see Uploading Large Archives in Parts (Multipart Upload).

Important

The S3 Glacier vault inventory is only updated once a day. When you upload an archive, you will not immediately see the new archive added to your vault (in the console or in your downloaded vault inventory list) until the vault inventory has been updated.

Using the Amazon Snowball Service

Amazon Snowball accelerates moving large amounts of data into and out of Amazon using Amazon-owned devices, bypassing the internet. For more information, see Amazon Snowball detail page.

To upload existing data to Amazon S3 Glacier (S3 Glacier), you might consider using one of the Amazon Snowball device types to import data into Amazon S3, and then move it to the S3 Glacier storage class for archival using lifecycle rules. When you transition Amazon S3 objects to the S3 Glacier storage class, Amazon S3 internally uses S3 Glacier for durable storage at lower cost. Although the objects are stored in S3 Glacier, they remain Amazon S3 objects that you manage in Amazon S3, and you cannot access them directly through S3 Glacier.

For more information about Amazon S3 lifecycle configuration and transitioning objects to the S3 Glacier storage class, see Object Lifecycle Management and Transitioning Objects in the Amazon Simple Storage Service User Guide.