What are orphaned EBS volumes?

Orphaned EBS volumes are volumes in the "available" state, meaning they are not attached to any EC2 instance. They typically get left behind when an instance is terminated but its volumes were not set to delete on termination.

Is it safe to migrate gp2 to gp3?

Yes. Migrating from gp2 to gp3 is a non-disruptive operation using Elastic Volumes. The volume remains online during the migration. gp3 provides a consistent 3,000 IOPS baseline at a 20% lower per-GiB price.

How do I prevent orphaned volumes in the future?

Set the "Delete on Termination" flag on EBS volumes when launching EC2 instances. For existing instances, you can modify the attribute using the AWS CLI. This ensures volumes are automatically deleted when the instance is terminated.

Storage

Amazon EBS Cost Optimization

EBS volumes are often the hidden cost multiplier on EC2 bills. When instances are terminated, their volumes can be left behind as orphaned storage. Teams default to gp2 when gp3 is cheaper at the same performance. Snapshots pile up over months with no cleanup policy.

Common EBS cost waste patterns

high impact

Orphaned volumes

EBS volumes that are no longer attached to any instance. These are typically left behind after EC2 instances are terminated and continue to incur storage charges.

high impact

Using gp2 instead of gp3

gp3 volumes are 20% cheaper per GiB than gp2 and provide a consistent 3,000 IOPS baseline regardless of volume size. gp2 scales at 3 IOPS/GiB. Migrating is a non-disruptive volume type change.

medium impact

Old snapshots

Manual and automated snapshots from months or years ago. Each snapshot stores incremental blocks but costs add up across hundreds of snapshots.

medium impact

Over-provisioned IOPS

io1/io2 volumes provisioned with high IOPS that actual workloads never consume. Provisioned IOPS are charged whether you use them or not.

How to reduce your EBS costs

Delete orphaned volumes

Save 100% easy

Find EBS volumes in "available" state (not attached to any instance). Verify they are not needed, snapshot them if necessary, then delete. This is usually the quickest EBS win.

Migrate gp2 to gp3

Save 20% easy

Change the volume type from gp2 to gp3 using the EC2 console or CLI. This is a non-disruptive operation that saves 20% with no performance impact for most workloads.

Clean up old snapshots

Save 10-30% easy

Delete snapshots older than your retention requirement. Use Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) to automate snapshot creation and expiration going forward.

Right-size provisioned IOPS

Save 20-50% medium

Check CloudWatch VolumeReadOps and VolumeWriteOps to see actual IOPS usage. Reduce provisioned IOPS to match peak usage with a reasonable buffer.

How ZapStack finds EBS waste

ZapStack automatically scans your AWS environment and surfaces EBS cost savings you can action immediately.

Identifies orphaned EBS volumes (available state)
Flags gp2 volumes that should be migrated to gp3
Finds old snapshots with deletion recommendations
Detects over-provisioned IOPS on io1/io2 volumes
Calculates per-volume savings from type changes

Cost Optimization 7 min read

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EC2-Other is the mystery line item hiding 15-30% of your EC2 spend. Learn exactly what's in it - data transfers, EBS, NAT Gateways, Elastic IPs, load balancers - and how to optimize each one.

Feb 20, 2026

Frequently asked questions about EBS costs

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