AWS Snow Family Specialized2015年〜
A family of physical devices for offline migration of large data volumes to AWS
What It Does
AWS Snow Family is a set of services for migrating massive amounts of data to AWS offline using physical storage devices - when network transfer would take too long. Three device types are available: Snowcone (8 TB / 14 TB), Snowball Edge (up to 210 TB), and Snowmobile (up to 100 PB). All devices feature shock-resistant, vibration-resistant designs with 256-bit encryption for data security.
Use Cases
Large-scale data migration during data center decommissioning, data collection in remote locations with limited connectivity (ships, mines), disaster recovery backups, transferring large media production files, bulk migration of scientific research data, and local processing in edge computing environments.
Everyday Analogy
Think of a moving truck. A few boxes can go by parcel delivery (network transfer), but shipping an entire house worth of stuff by parcel would take hundreds of trips. A moving truck (Snow device) carries everything safely in one go. Snow Family works the same way - physically transporting data is many times faster than network transfer for large volumes.
What Is Snow Family?
AWS Snow Family is the collective name for physical device-based data transfer and edge computing services. On a 1 Gbps internet connection, transferring 100 TB would theoretically take over 10 days, but a Snowball Edge device can deliver data to AWS in just a few days. Order a device from the AWS Management Console, and it ships to your specified address. Copy your data, ship the device back, and AWS imports the data into S3.
Device Types and Selection
Snow Family offers three device types for different needs. Snowcone is the smallest - a portable device that fits in a backpack. Available in 8 TB HDD and 14 TB SSD models, it's ideal for edge data collection on drones or vehicles. Snowball Edge comes in Storage Optimized (210 TB) and Compute Optimized (28 TB + GPU) models for large-scale data migration or edge ML inference. Snowmobile is a container-trailer-sized device that can migrate up to 100 PB at once. For detailed guidance on device types and selection, books on Amazon cover the topic in depth.
Security and Edge Computing
Snow Family devices are built with comprehensive data security measures. All data is protected with 256-bit encryption, and encryption keys are managed by AWS KMS. Device enclosures are tamper-resistant - unauthorized opening triggers automatic data erasure. Snowball Edge and Snowcone also include edge computing capabilities, running EC2-compatible instances and Lambda functions directly on the device. This enables local data processing at sites with limited connectivity, sending only results to the cloud.
Things to Watch Out For
- Device rental periods have limits - exceeding them incurs additional charges, so plan your data copy schedule in advance
- Snowmobile is designed for 10 PB+ migrations. For smaller volumes, using multiple Snowball Edge devices is more cost-effective
