Deleting EBS volumes not in use

Question

I was reviewing my AWS console and found that there are 7 EBS volumes that are not in use and other 5 are in use attached to ec2 instances. I was thinking to delete those not in use volumes but was not sure if they have any required data or not and there is no way to check it unless you attach it with ec2. Earlier the account was managed by other person who is not available so I am not sure if free volumes were ever used/attached with any instance. I will go ahead and delete those if someone can help me to understand following

1.Can I delete not in use volumes ? 2.If they were attached ever with any ec2 instance then will deleting the volume effect my system and is there any change that I will lose my current live data ? 3.If I will lose data then is there any way to take backup of these volumes

I tried to communicate with AWS support but didn't get any help, they just suggest same like attache it ec2 and then check the data etc but never answered if I will lose data or not.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

1. You can delete not in use volumes, in fact you can only delete those. (if not in used means not attached to an instance).
2. Only you or someone with access to your system knows if the data you have on your volume is needed. If they are not in use then they unlikely to hold any "current live data".
3. You can create a snapshot, but it's not the kind of backup you need.

You should really just attach it and see what's in there for yourself. No one else can do that for you or really answer if you will lose data without knowing what is in there.