# Snapshots Quickstart

Snapshots are on-demand disk images of DigitalOcean Droplets and volumes saved to your account. Use them to create new Droplets and volumes with the same contents.

## Snapshot Droplets and Volumes

To snapshot a Droplet:

1. Shut down the Droplet with `sudo shutdown -h now`.
2. From the [control panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com), click the Droplet you want to snapshot.
3. From the Droplet’s page, click **Snapshots**, then click **Take Snapshot**.

You can also take a live snapshot by following the same steps without powering down your Droplet.

To snapshot a volume:

1. From the [control panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com), click **Volumes**.
2. Open the **More** menu for the volume you want to snapshot, then click **Take Snapshot**.

## Create Droplets and Volumes from Snapshots

To create a new Droplet from a snapshot:

1. On the [Droplet create page](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/droplets/new), under **Choose an image**, select **Snapshots**.
2. Choose the snapshot you’d like to create the Droplet from.
3. Fill out the rest of the choices on the create page, then click **Create**.

To create a new volume from a snapshot:

1. From the [control panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com), click **Backups & Snapshots**, then **Snapshots**, and finally **Volumes**.
2. Select any volume snapshot, click its **More** menu, and click **Create Volume**.
3. In the window that opens, choose the size of the new volume, then click **Create Volume**.

## Delete Snapshots

To permanently delete a snapshot:

1. From the [control panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com), click **Backups & Snapshots**, then **Snapshots**.
2. From a snapshot’s **More** menu, click **Delete**.
3. Confirm the deletion by clicking **Delete Snapshot** in the window that opens.