# SUS04-BP08 Back up data only when difficult to recreate
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 To minimize storage consumption, only back up data that has business value or is needed to satisfy compliance requirements. Examine backup policies and exclude ephemeral storage that doesn’t provide value in a recovery scenario. 

 **Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established:** Low 

## Implementation guidance
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+  Use your data classification to establish what data needs to be backed up. 
+  Exclude data that you can easily recreate. 
+  Exclude ephemeral data from your backups. 
+  Exclude local copies of data, unless the time required to restore that data from a common location exceeds your service level agreements (SLAs). 

## Resources
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 **Related documents:** 
+  [Using AWS Backup to back up and restore Amazon EFS file systems](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/efs/latest/ug/awsbackup.html) 
+  [Amazon EBS snapshots](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EBSSnapshots.html) 
+  [Working with backups on Amazon Relational Database Service](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_WorkingWithAutomatedBackups.html)