ECH no backups of found-snapshots

[stefnestor]

Summary

Speaking towards an infrequent high severity question, this delineates that for our built-in ECH found-snapshots, Elastic does not by default enable that some cloud hosts allow you to do backups of the data directory. And we don't do that (as would increase billing). So if users delete their (searchable) snapshots, that is a permanent deletion in our eyes and also was self-inflicted. Users can compensate for this by having backup redundancies.

Generative AI disclosure

1. Did you use a generative AI (GenAI) tool to assist in creating this contribution?

• Yes
• No

[github-actions]

Elastic Docs AI PR menu

Check the box to run an AI review for this pull request.

• Review docs changes (docs-review). Status: queued.

Powered by GitHub Agentic Workflows and docs-actions. For more information, reach out to the docs team.

[github-actions]

🔍 Preview links for changed docs

• deploy-manage/tools/snapshot-and-restore/elastic-cloud-hosted.md

[github-actions]

✅ Elastic Docs Style Checker (Vale)

No issues found on modified lines!

---

The Vale linter checks documentation changes against the Elastic Docs style guide. To use Vale locally or report issues, refer to Elastic style guide for Vale.

[github-actions]

Docs review summary

Focus areas

• Style and clarity: One actionable finding on the new bullet — see inline comment. The sentence has a vague subject ("All changes made"), awkward phrasing ("reset to earlier time periods"), and a discouraged modal ("should"). Suggested replacement provided inline.
• Jargon: "cloud host level backups" is Elastic-internal phrasing that external users may not recognize; "host-level backups" is clearer and more universal.
• Frontmatter and applies_to: No frontmatter changes in this PR. Pre-existing missing description field not introduced here.
• Content type fit: Adding a considerations bullet is well-suited to this page.
• Parent issue satisfaction: The PR's stated goal — documenting that Elastic does not take host-level backups of found-snapshots and that deletions are permanent — is addressed by the new bullet. The inline suggestion tightens the phrasing without changing the meaning.

Generated by Docs review agent for issue #7212 · 42.3 AIC · ⌖ 8.32 AIC · ⊞ 10.7K