# StorageFull: Cannot create snapshot, your RDS instance has exceeded the maximum allocated storage for manual snapshots

- **ID:** `aws/rds-snapshot-storage-limit`
- **Domain:** aws
- **Category:** resource_error
- **Error Code:** `StorageFull`
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 85%

## Root Cause

RDS manual snapshot storage has reached the account-level limit of 100% of allocated storage for the DB instance's region.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| RDS MySQL 8.0 | active | — | — |
| RDS PostgreSQL 15 | active | — | — |
| AWS CLI 2.14.0 | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **Delete old manual snapshots to free up storage:
aws rds delete-db-snapshot --db-snapshot-identifier my-old-snapshot-2023
# List all snapshots first:
aws rds describe-db-snapshots --db-instance-identifier my-db --snapshot-type manual** (90% success)
   ```
   Delete old manual snapshots to free up storage:
aws rds delete-db-snapshot --db-snapshot-identifier my-old-snapshot-2023
# List all snapshots first:
aws rds describe-db-snapshots --db-instance-identifier my-db --snapshot-type manual
   ```
2. **Request a service quota increase for manual snapshot storage via AWS Support Center:
https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/home#/case/create?issueType=service-limit-increase&limitType=service-code-rds** (70% success)
   ```
   Request a service quota increase for manual snapshot storage via AWS Support Center:
https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/home#/case/create?issueType=service-limit-increase&limitType=service-code-rds
   ```
3. **Use automated snapshots instead of manual ones; automated snapshots have a separate, higher limit:
aws rds modify-db-instance --db-instance-identifier my-db --backup-retention-period 7** (85% success)
   ```
   Use automated snapshots instead of manual ones; automated snapshots have a separate, higher limit:
aws rds modify-db-instance --db-instance-identifier my-db --backup-retention-period 7
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **Increase the allocated storage for the RDS instance** — The limit is based on a percentage of allocated storage, so increasing storage also raises the limit, but the error persists if you're still at 100%. (80% fail)
- **Create a new RDS instance with larger storage and migrate data** — This does not resolve the snapshot storage limit; the new instance will also hit the same limit if old snapshots are not deleted. (90% fail)
- **Request a service limit increase for RDS snapshots** — The snapshot storage limit is a hard default that can be increased, but many users don't request it and the increase takes time. (60% fail)