How To Copy Data From S3 into Glacier?

Pre-requisite: S3 and Glacier

This article intends to make the readers aware of the data transfer process from S3 to Glacier. Before going into the process, let us examine the circumstances that necessitate this data transfer before proceeding with the process. In general, we maintain multiple copies of data in various spaces to ensure that the data can never be lost. As if one instance of the data is not being retrieved, we can use the other one. A few of the scenarios are discussed below, although there may be others.

• Cost Savings: Glacier is a low-cost storage solution for data that is infrequently accessed. Moving data from S3 to Glacier can help reduce storage costs.
• Data Archiving: Glacier is designed for long-term storage and data preservation, making it a suitable option for data that is no longer actively used but needs to be kept for compliance, regulatory, or historical reasons.
• Disaster Recovery: By storing data in multiple locations, organizations can protect themselves against data loss due to unexpected events such as natural disasters or equipment failures. Moving data from S3 to Glacier can provide an additional layer of protection for critical data.

Note: Retrieving data from Glacier takes more time and costs more than retrieving data from S3. Therefore, it is crucial to think carefully about how you will be accessing your data before you choose to store it in Glacier. 

Steps to Copy Data from S3 to Glacier

Step 1: First, login into your AWS account and search "S3" on the AWS Management Console, i.e. the primary screen.

Step 2: After being redirected to the S3 console, click on the S3 bucket you want to archive to S3 Glacier. If you have no buckets present you can create an S3 bucket.

Step 3: Next being redirected to the respective S3 bucket page, click on the "Objects" you want to archive to S3 Glacier.

Step 4: Then, we will be redirected to this object's property page. On this page, navigate using scroller and edit the "Storage Class" field here.

Step 5: Here, we can see that by default the Standard Storage Class option. We can edit the same by selecting "Glacier Flexible Retrieval". Once done, finally click "Save Changes".

We have successfully copied data from S3 to Glacier.