---
title: "Get started with TIR Snapshots"
description: "Take a snapshot of a TIR VM, watch it become Ready, start a new VM from it, check your files there, and delete what you made."
content_type: "get-started"
product: "tir-snapshots"
platform: "TIR"
url: "/tir/tir-snapshots/get-started/"
---

# Get started with TIR Snapshots

Take a snapshot of a VM, start a second VM from it, check that your files came across, and clean
up. You need a TIR VM that is **Running** or **Stopped**; to create one, see [Get started
with TIR Virtual Machines](/tir/tir-vm/get-started/) first. To have something to look for later,
sign in to the VM and create a file, for example with `echo hello > /root/snapshot-test.txt`.

## Take the snapshot

1. In TIR, open your project. In the side menu, under **Compute**, select **Virtual Machines**.
2. Open the VM, then open its **Snapshots** tab.
3. Select **Create Snapshot**, keep the suggested **Snapshot Name**, and select **Create**.

The snapshot starts at once. [Create a VM
snapshot](/tir/tir-snapshots/how-to/create-a-vm-snapshot/) covers the other ways to take one.

## Wait until it is Ready

In the side menu, under **Storage**, select **Snapshots**. The new snapshot shows **In progress**
under **Status**, then **Ready**. The status changes by itself. Once it shows **Ready**, you can
start a new VM from it.

## Start a new VM from it

1. In the **Actions** menu of the snapshot, select **Create VM**.
2. The snapshot's image and version are already chosen. Fill in the rest as for any VM, and give the disk a size at least as large as the snapshot's **Disk Size**.
3. Select **Launch VM**.

The new VM starts with the snapshot's disk. See
[Create a VM from a snapshot](/tir/tir-snapshots/how-to/create-a-vm-from-a-snapshot/) for each
choice on the form.

## Check your files

When the new VM shows **Running**, sign in to it over SSH, as in [Connect to a VM over
SSH](/tir/tir-vm/how-to/connect-to-a-vm-over-ssh/), and look for the file you made:

```bash
cat /root/snapshot-test.txt
```

It prints `hello`: the new VM has the disk as it was when you took the snapshot.

## Delete what you made

A snapshot is billed for its storage until you delete it, and so is the new VM until you delete it.
To stop both charges:

1. Delete the new VM; see [Delete a VM](/tir/tir-vm/how-to/delete-a-vm/).
2. On **Storage** > **Snapshots**, open the **Actions** menu of the snapshot, select **Delete
   Snapshot**, and select **Delete**.

## What to do next

- [Schedule VM snapshots](/tir/tir-snapshots/how-to/schedule-vm-snapshots/) to take snapshots
  automatically.
- [Restore a VM from a snapshot](/tir/tir-snapshots/how-to/restore-a-vm-from-a-snapshot/) to put a
  VM's own disk back.
- [How snapshots work](/tir/tir-snapshots/concepts/how-snapshots-work/) explains what a snapshot
  holds.
- [Troubleshooting TIR Snapshots](/tir/tir-snapshots/troubleshooting/tir-snapshots/) when a snapshot
  shows **Failed** or an action is unavailable.