AWS Snow Family Deprecatedsince 2015
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 signature device types have been offered: 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. The lineup has since been consolidated around Snowball Edge, which closed to new customers on November 7, 2025, and support in commercial regions is scheduled to end on December 31, 2026 (as of August 2026).
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 takes close to 10 days even with the line fully dedicated, and you should budget for more than 10 days once effective throughput and sharing with other traffic are taken into account, 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 has offered three device types for different needs. Snowcone was the smallest - a portable device that fits in a backpack. Available in 8 TB HDD and 14 TB SSD models, it was used for edge data collection on drones and vehicles. Snowball Edge comes in Storage Optimized (210 TB) and Compute Optimized (28 TB) models, covering large-scale data migration as well as on-site data preprocessing and local processing on virtual machines. The GPU-equipped Compute Optimized model is no longer offered, so configurations that assume GPU inference at the edge cannot be selected. Snowmobile, a container-trailer-sized device, was offered as an option for migrating up to 100 PB at once but has since been dropped from the lineup. Snowcone and the previous-generation Snowball were also discontinued in November 2024, leaving Snowball Edge as the only device that can still be ordered (as of August 2026, by existing customers only).
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 and software incorporate tamper-detection mechanisms, so traces of any unauthorized alteration made in transit can be detected. Snowball Edge also includes edge computing capabilities, running EC2-compatible instances 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
- Snow Family closed to new customers on November 7, 2025, and support in commercial regions is scheduled to end on December 31, 2026 (as of August 2026). Plan any migration backward from that deadline
References (Official AWS Resources)
The primary sources for this page are the official AWS website and documentation. Check the official pages below for the latest specifications and pricing.
If this page and the official documentation disagree, treat the official documentation as authoritative.
