Store Your Files in the Cloud

This step-by-step guide will help you store your files in the cloud using Amazon S3. We will go through how to create a bucket, upload a file, retrieve a file and delete a file. Everything done in this tutorial is free-tier eligible.

When you click here, the AWS management console will open in a new browser window, so you can keep this step-by-step guide open. When this screen loads, enter your user name and password to get started. Then find S3 under Storage & Content Delivery, and double click to open the dashboard.

Now you are in the S3 dashboard, click Create Bucket button. Enter a Bucket Name (must be unique and all lower case) and make sure the Region is set to US Standard. Then press the Create button.

Note: there are a number of restrictions on S3 bucket names; you can see the full list here.

a. Select your newly created bucket yourname-backup-bucket, then click the Upload button.

b. Click Add Files and choose a file that you would like to backup. Then, click the Start Upload button to begin the upload of the file you selected.

c. You will see your bucket's home screen again along with the progress bars on the right column showing the upload status.

a. Select the checkbox next to the file you would like to download, then click the Actions button and select Download.

b. Follow the instructions on your screen to Please right-click the download link below and choose Save Link As… to download the file you backed up.

Note: if you click the Download link instead or right-clicking, the file will open in your browser.

After you save your download, click OK to close this menu.

Select the checkbox next to the file you would like to delete, then click the Actions button and select Delete. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the file you selected.