AWS DataSync

AWS DataSync is an Amazon Web Services service that migrates data between AWS storage services and between on-premises storage systems and the cloud.

Key points

On-premises sources: Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB), Hadoop Distributed File Systems (HDFS), and self-managed object storage.
AWS storage destinations/sources: Amazon S3, Amazon Elastic File System (EFS), Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, Amazon FSx for Lustre, Amazon FSx for OpenZFS, and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP.
Also transfers to and from other cloud object storage, including Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage and Azure Files, and several S3-compatible clouds (Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage, and others).
Used alongside Amazon FSx for Windows File Server to migrate self-managed file systems into a Windows file storage system.
Removes the need for custom scripts or manually managed transfer infrastructure when moving large datasets into AWS.
Transfers data online, over a network connection; unlike AWS Snowball, which moves data offline on physical devices when there is no reliable internet connection for petabyte-scale migrations (AWS Snowmobile, once the physical option for exabyte-scale transfers, was discontinued in 2024).
Distinct from AWS Storage Gateway, which gives ongoing on-premises access to cloud storage rather than performing a one-time or scheduled data transfer job.