# Snapshots

A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a volume. Learn how snapshots connect volumes to new volumes and images, and find the snapshot tasks.

A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a volume’s data. Snapshots let you reuse that data: as the starting point of a new volume, or as the source of an image that you launch instances from. A snapshot depends on its volume’s stored data, so a volume can’t be deleted while any of its snapshots exists.

The path from a volume to a usable clone source, and what you can create from it:

1. Create a snapshot of a volume.
1. Protect the snapshot.
1. From the `PROTECTED` snapshot, create a new volume, or create an image and launch instances from it.

## Key concepts [#key-concepts]

| Concept | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Snapshot states | A snapshot reports a `status` for the copy itself and a `protectionStatus`. Only a snapshot that is `COMPLETED` and `PROTECTED` can be used as a clone source. See [Snapshot states](/docs/storage/snapshots/snapshot-states). |
| Protection | An explicit step after creation that makes a snapshot usable as a clone source. A protected snapshot can’t be deleted until you unprotect it. See [Create and protect a snapshot](/docs/storage/snapshots/create-and-protect). |
| Crash consistency | A snapshot of an attached volume is taken while the instance runs. It captures the disk as a sudden power-off would. |

## What you can do [#what-you-can-do]

- [Create and protect a snapshot](/docs/storage/snapshots/create-and-protect)
- [Create a volume from a snapshot](/docs/storage/volumes/create#create-a-volume-from-a-snapshot)
- [Create an image from a protected snapshot](/docs/compute/images/create) (a compute operation)
- [Delete a snapshot](/docs/storage/snapshots/delete)

## Limits and quotas [#limits-and-quotas]

The number of snapshots is capped per organization and, where set, per project. Completed snapshots are billed for the size of the volume they were taken from. See [Limits](/docs/platform/reference/limits) and [Pricing](/docs/pricing).

The list price of a completed snapshot is €0.000045644 per GiB-hour, about €0.033 per GiB-month at 730 hours (EUR, excluding VAT, as of 2026-10-13). Check the [price list](/docs/pricing/reference/price-list-api#storage_snapshot) for current values.

## Related [#related]

- [Volumes](/docs/storage/volumes)
- [`origin storage` commands](/docs/storage/reference/cli)
- [Troubleshoot storage](/docs/storage/troubleshooting)