EBS Overview and Volume Types
Explore Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) and the different volume types to make informed choices based on application needs, balancing performance and cost.
Modern cloud applications need fast, reliable, and scalable storage. Whether it's a database requiring consistent IOPS (input/output operations per second) or a big data application that needs massive throughput, EBS offers the flexibility to tailor storage to our needs. Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) provides persistent block storage volumes for use with Amazon EC2 instances. Think of EBS volumes as hard drives in the cloud that can scale dynamically with storage requirements. EBS is particularly useful when applications require persistent, low-latency block storage with high durability and availability within a single AZ. For Multi-AZ redundancy or long-term object storage, Amazon S3 may be more appropriate.
EBS volumes are designed to deliver predictable, high-performance storage that can back up everything from simple file systems to complex, transactional databases. One standout feature of EBS is its persistence; even if an EC2 instance stops, the data stored on an EBS volume remains intact.
EBS supports features like snapshotting for backups, encryption for security, and Multi-Attach for sharing a single volume across multiple instances (in some cases). This versatility makes it a core building block for AWS-based architectures.
Understanding EBS volume types
AWS provides multiple EBS volume types, each optimized for specific use cases. Understanding their characteristics helps developers select the right type for their application needs.
Volume Type | Baseline Performance | Use Cases | Key Features | Best for |
General Purpose SSD ( | 3,000 IOPS and 125 MiB/s (scalable to 16,000 IOPS and 1,000 MiB/s) | Boot volumes, small to medium databases, and dev/test environments | Predictable performance, independent provisioning of IOPS and throughput, | Web/app servers, balanced performance-cost needs, default for new volumes |
Provisioned IOPS SSD ( | Up to 64,000 IOPS and 1,000 MiB/s | Large relational/NoSQL databases (e.g., Oracle, SQL Server, and MongoDB) | Custom IOPS provisioning, fine-grained performance control | Mission-critical apps, SAP workloads, high-performance databases |
Throughput Optimized HDD ( | Up to 500 MiB/s throughput | Big data, data warehouses, and log processing | Low-cost, optimized for large, sequential I/O | Workloads focused on sustained throughput rather than low latency |
Cold HDD ( | Up to 250 MiB/s throughput | Cold data storage, backups, and archives | Most cost-effective, designed for infrequent access | Backup storage, archived files, and disaster recovery with minimal access needs |
Comparing volume types
Choosing the right EBS volume is often about balancing performance and cost. Here’s a quick ...