Developer asks 'what's the difference between RDS backups and snapshots?' expert unleashes 10k-word odyssey of incremental diagrams and doomsday scenarios

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides two types of backups for its Relational Database Service (RDS): automated backups and manual snapshots. Automated backups are incremental, meaning they store only the changes made since the last backup, and are used for point-in-time recovery. Manual snapshots, on the other hand, are full copies of the database and can be used for disaster recovery and long-term retention. Understanding the differences between these two types of backups is crucial for effective database management. Automated backups are ideal for recovering from recent accidents, while manual snapshots are better suited for major changes, such as deployments and migrations. By leveraging incremental technology, both automated backups and manual snapshots can significantly reduce storage costs. For a 100 GB database, automated backups with 7-day retention can cost as little as $1.71 per month, while manual snapshots can cost around $10.83 per month. By implementing a combination of automated backups and manual snapshots, users can ensure reliable and cost-effective database backup and recovery.