diff --git a/ec2-automate-backup/ec2-automate-backup.sh b/ec2-automate-backup/ec2-automate-backup.sh
index 6c61276..d29e59f 100755
--- a/ec2-automate-backup/ec2-automate-backup.sh
+++ b/ec2-automate-backup/ec2-automate-backup.sh
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ get_EBS_List()
 	fi
 	ebs_backup_list=`echo "$ebs_backup_list_complete" | grep ^VOLUME | cut -f 2`
 	#code to right will output list of EBS volumes to be backed up: echo -e "Now outputting ebs_backup_list:\n$ebs_backup_list"
+	ebs_backup_list_name=`echo "$ebs_backup_list_complete" | grep ^TAG | grep Name | cut -f 5`
+        ebs_backup_list_name_a=(${ebs_backup_list_name})
 }
 
 create_EBS_Snapshot_Tags()
@@ -216,10 +218,11 @@ fi
 #get_EBS_List gets a list of EBS instances for which a snapshot is desired. The list of EBS instances depends upon the selection_method that is provided by user input
 get_EBS_List
 
+icount=0
 #the loop below is called once for each volume in $ebs_backup_list - the currently selected EBS volume is passed in as "ebs_selected"
 for ebs_selected in $ebs_backup_list
 do
-	ec2_snapshot_description="ec2ab_${ebs_selected}_$date_current"
+	ec2_snapshot_description="ec2ab_${ebs_backup_list_name_a[$icount]}_${ebs_selected}_$date_current"
 	ec2_create_snapshot_result=`ec2-create-snapshot --region $region -d $ec2_snapshot_description $ebs_selected 2>&1`
 	if [[ $? != 0 ]]
 		then echo -e "An error occured when running ec2-create-snapshot. The error returned is below:\n$ec2_create_snapshot_result" 1>&2 ; exit 70
@@ -227,10 +230,11 @@ do
 		ec2_snapshot_resource_id=`echo "$ec2_create_snapshot_result" | cut -f 2`
 	fi	
 	create_EBS_Snapshot_Tags
+	icount=$(($icount+1))
 done
 
 #if purge_snapshots is true, then run purge_EBS_Snapshots function
 if $purge_snapshots
 	then echo "Snapshot Purging is Starting Now."
 	purge_EBS_Snapshots
-fi
\ No newline at end of file
+fi
diff --git a/ec2-automate-backup/ec2-automate-instance-backup.sh b/ec2-automate-backup/ec2-automate-instance-backup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..81332ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ec2-automate-backup/ec2-automate-instance-backup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,248 @@
+#!/bin/bash -
+# Author: Z
+# Date: 2013-05-02
+# Version 1.0
+# License Type: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE, Version 3
+#
+#confirms that executables required for succesful script execution are available
+prerequisite_check()
+{
+	for prerequisite in basename ec2-create-image ec2-create-tags ec2-describe-instances date
+	do
+		#use of "hash" chosen as it is a shell builtin and will add programs to hash table, possibly speeding execution. Use of type also considered - open to suggestions.
+		hash $prerequisite &> /dev/null
+		if [[ $? == 1 ]] #has exits with exit status of 70, executable was not found
+			then echo "In order to use `basename $0`, the executable \"$prerequisite\" must be installed." 1>&2 ; exit 70
+		fi
+	done
+}
+
+#get_EBS_List gets a list of available EBS instances depending upon the selection_method of EBS selection that is provided by user input
+get_EBS_List()
+{
+	case $selection_method in
+		volumeid)
+			if [[ -z $volumeid ]]
+				then echo "The selection method \"volumeid\" (which is $app_name's default selection_method of operation or requested by using the -s volumeid parameter) requires a volumeid (-v volumeid) for operation. Correct usage is as follows: \"-v vol-6d6a0527\",\"-s volumeid -v vol-6d6a0527\" or \"-v \"vol-6d6a0527 vol-636a0112\"\" if multiple volumes are to be selected." 1>&2 ; exit 64
+			fi
+			ebs_selection_string="$volumeid"
+			;;
+		tag) 
+			if [[ -z $tag ]]
+				then echo "The selected selection_method \"tag\" (-s tag) requires a valid tag (-t key=value) for operation. Correct usage is as follows: \"-s tag -t backup=true\" or \"-s tag -t Name=my_tag.\"" 1>&2 ; exit 64
+			fi
+			ebs_selection_string="--filter tag:$tag"
+			;;
+		*) echo "If you specify a selection_method (-s selection_method) for selecting EBS volumes you must select either \"volumeid\" (-s volumeid) or \"tag\" (-s tag)." 1>&2 ; exit 64 ;;
+	esac
+	#creates a list of all ebs volumes that match the selection string from above
+	ebs_backup_list_complete=`ec2-describe-instances --region $region $ebs_selection_string 2>&1`
+	#takes the output of the previous command 
+	ebs_backup_list_result=`echo $?`
+	if [[ $ebs_backup_list_result -gt 0 ]]
+		then echo -e "An error occured when running ec2-describe-volumes. The error returned is below:\n$ebs_backup_list_complete" 1>&2 ; exit 70
+	fi
+	ebs_backup_list=`echo "$ebs_backup_list_complete" | grep ^INSTANCE | cut -f 2`
+	ebs_backup_list_name=`echo "$ebs_backup_list_complete" | grep ^TAG | grep Name | cut -f 5`
+	ebs_backup_list_name_a=(${ebs_backup_list_name})
+	#code to right will output list of EBS volumes to be backed up: 
+	echo -e "Now outputting ebs_backup_list:\n$ebs_backup_list"
+}
+
+create_EBS_Snapshot_Tags()
+{
+	#snapshot tags holds all tags that need to be applied to a given snapshot - by aggregating tags we ensure that ec2-create-tags is called only onece
+	snapshot_tags=""
+	#if $name_tag_create is true then append ec2ab_${ebs_selected}_$date_current to the variable $snapshot_tags
+	if $name_tag_create
+		then
+		ec2_snapshot_resource_id=`echo "$ec2_create_snapshot_result" | cut -f 2`
+		snapshot_tags="$snapshot_tags --tag Name=ec2ab_${ebs_selected}_$date_current"
+	fi
+	#if $purge_after_days is true, then append $purge_after_date to the variable $snapshot_tags
+	if [[ -n $purge_after_days ]]
+		then
+		snapshot_tags="$snapshot_tags --tag PurgeAfter=$purge_after_date --tag PurgeAllow=true"
+	fi
+
+	#if $user_tags is true, then append Volume=$ebs_selected and Created=$current_date to the variable $snapshot_tags
+	if $user_tags
+		then
+		snapshot_tags="$snapshot_tags --tag Volume=${ebs_selected} --tag Created=$date_current"
+	fi
+
+	#if $snapshot_tags is not zero length then set the tag on the snapshot using ec2-create-tags
+	if [[ -n $snapshot_tags ]]
+		then echo "Tagging Snapshot $ec2_snapshot_resource_id with the following Tags:"
+		ec2-create-tags $ec2_snapshot_resource_id --region $region $snapshot_tags
+	fi
+}
+
+date_binary_get()
+{
+	#`uname -o (operating system) would be ideal, but OS X / Darwin does not support to -o option`
+	#`uname` on OS X defaults to `uname -s` and `uname` on GNU/Linux defaults to `uname -s`
+	uname_result=`uname`
+	case $uname_result in
+		Darwin) date_binary="osx-posix" ;;
+		Linux) date_binary="linux-gnu" ;;
+		*) date_binary="unknown" ;;
+	esac
+}
+
+get_purge_after_date()
+{
+#based on the date_binary variable, the case statement below will determine the method to use to determine "purge_after_days" in the future
+case $date_binary in
+	linux-gnu) echo `date -d +${purge_after_days}days -u +%Y-%m-%d` ;;
+	osx-posix) echo `date -v+${purge_after_days}d -u +%Y-%m-%d` ;;
+	*) echo `date -d +${purge_after_days}days -u +%Y-%m-%d` ;;
+esac
+}
+
+get_purge_after_date_epoch()
+{
+#based on the date_binary variable, the case statement below will determine the method to use to determine "purge_after_date_epoch" in the future
+case $date_binary in
+	linux-gnu) echo `date -d $purge_after_date +%s` ;;
+	osx-posix) echo `date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d" $purge_after_date "+%s"` ;;
+	*) echo `date -d $purge_after_date +%s` ;;
+esac
+}
+
+get_date_current_epoch()
+{
+#based on the date_binary variable, the case statement below will determine the method to use to determine "date_current_epoch" in the future
+case $date_binary in
+	linux-gnu) echo `date -d $date_current +%s` ;;
+	osx-posix) echo `date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d" $date_current "+%s"` ;;
+	*) echo `date -d $date_current +%s` ;;
+esac
+}
+
+purge_EBS_Snapshots()
+{
+	#snapshot_tag_list is a string that contains all snapshots with either the key PurgeAllow or PurgeAfter set
+	snapshot_tag_list=`ec2-describe-tags --show-empty-fields --region $region --filter resource-type=image --filter key=PurgeAllow,PurgeAfter`
+	#snapshot_purge_allowed is a list of all snapshot_ids with PurgeAllow=true
+	snapshot_purge_allowed=`echo "$snapshot_tag_list" | grep .*PurgeAllow'\s'true | cut -f 3`
+	
+	for snapshot_id_evaluated in $snapshot_purge_allowed
+	do
+		#gets the "PurgeAfter" date which is in UTC with YYYY-MM-DD format (or %Y-%m-%d)
+		purge_after_date=`echo "$snapshot_tag_list" | grep .*$snapshot_id_evaluated'\s'PurgeAfter.* | cut -f 5`
+		#if purge_after_date is not set then we have a problem. Need to alert user.
+		if [[ -z $purge_after_date ]]
+			#Alerts user to the fact that a Snapshot was found with PurgeAllow=true but with no PurgeAfter date.
+			then echo "A Snapshot with the Snapshot ID $snapshot_id_evaluated has the tag \"PurgeAllow=true\" but does not have a \"PurgeAfter=YYYY-MM-DD\" date. $app_name is unable to determine if $snapshot_id_evaluated should be purged." 1>&2
+		else
+			#convert both the date_current and purge_after_date into epoch time to allow for comparison
+			date_current_epoch=`get_date_current_epoch`
+			purge_after_date_epoch=`get_purge_after_date_epoch`
+			#perform compparison - if $purge_after_date_epoch is a lower number than $date_current_epoch than the PurgeAfter date is earlier than the current date - and the snapshot can be safely removed
+			if [[ $purge_after_date_epoch < $date_current_epoch ]]
+				then
+				echo "The ami \"$snapshot_id_evaluated\" with the Purge After date of $purge_after_date will be deleted."
+				image_snapshot=`ec2-describe-images --region $region $snapshot_id_evaluated | grep EBS | cut -f 5` 
+				echo "The snapshot \"$image_snapshot\" is with the current ami \"$snapshot_id_evaluated\" and will be deleted."
+				ec2-deregister --region $region $snapshot_id_evaluated
+				ec2-delete-snapshot --region $region $image_snapshot 
+			fi
+		fi
+	done
+}
+
+app_name=`basename $0`
+
+#sets defaults
+selection_method="volumeid"
+
+#date_binary allows a user to set the "date" binary that is installed on their system and, therefore, the options that will be given to the date binary to perform date calculations
+date_binary=""
+
+#sets the "Name" tag set for a snapshot to false - using "Name" requires that ec2-create-tags be called in addition to ec2-create-snapshot
+name_tag_create=false
+#sets the user_tags feature to false - user_tag creates tags on snapshots - by default each snapshot is tagged with volume_id and current_data timestamp
+user_tags=false
+#sets the Purge Snapshot feature to false - this feature will eventually allow the removal of snapshots that have a "PurgeAfter" tag that is earlier than current date
+purge_snapshots=false
+#handles options processing
+while getopts :s:c:r:v:t:k:pnu opt
+	do
+		case $opt in
+			s) selection_method="$OPTARG";;
+			c) cron_primer="$OPTARG";;
+			r) region="$OPTARG";;
+			v) volumeid="$OPTARG";;
+			t) tag="$OPTARG";;
+			k) purge_after_days="$OPTARG";;
+			n) name_tag_create=true;;
+			p) purge_snapshots=true;;
+			u) user_tags=true;;
+			*) echo "Error with Options Input. Cause of failure is most likely that an unsupported parameter was passed or a parameter was passed without a corresponding option." 1>&2 ; exit 64;;
+		esac
+	done
+
+#sources "cron_primer" file for running under cron or other restricted environments - this file should contain the variables and environment configuration required for ec2-automate-backup to run correctly
+if [[ -n $cron_primer ]]
+	then if [[ -f $cron_primer ]] 
+		then source $cron_primer
+	else
+		echo "Cron Primer File \"$cron_primer\" Could Not Be Found." 1>&2 ; exit 70
+	fi
+fi
+
+#if region is not set then:
+if [[ -z $region ]]
+	#if the environment variable $EC2_REGION is not set set to us-east-1
+	then if [[ -z $EC2_REGION ]]
+		#if both 
+		then region="us-east-1"
+	else
+		region=$EC2_REGION
+	fi
+fi
+
+#calls prerequisitecheck function to ensure that all executables required for script execution are available
+prerequisite_check
+
+#sets date variable
+date_current=`date -u +%Y-%m-%d`
+time_current=`date -u +%k-%M-%S`
+#sets the PurgeAfter tag to the number of days that a snapshot should be retained
+if [[ -n $purge_after_days ]]
+	then
+	#if the date_binary is not set, call the date_binary_get function
+	if [[ -z $date_binary ]]
+		then date_binary_get
+	fi
+	purge_after_date=`get_purge_after_date`
+	echo "Snapshots taken by $app_name will be eligible for purging after the following date: $purge_after_date."
+fi
+
+#get_EBS_List gets a list of EBS instances for which a snapshot is desired. The list of EBS instances depends upon the selection_method that is provided by user input
+get_EBS_List
+
+icount=0
+#the loop below is called once for each volume in $ebs_backup_list - the currently selected EBS volume is passed in as "ebs_selected"
+for ebs_selected in $ebs_backup_list
+do
+	ec2_snapshot_name_org="ec2ab-${ebs_backup_list_name_a[$icount]}-${ebs_selected}-$date_current-$time_current"
+	ec2_snapshot_name_a=${ec2_snapshot_name_org// /-}
+	ec2_snapshot_name=${ec2_snapshot_name_a//_/-}
+	ec2_snapshot_description="ec2ab_${ebs_backup_list_name_a[$icount]}_${ebs_selected}_$date_current"
+	ec2_create_snapshot_result=`ec2-create-image --no-reboot --region $region -n $ec2_snapshot_name -d $ec2_snapshot_description $ebs_selected 2>&1`
+	if [[ $? != 0 ]]
+		then echo -e "An error occured when running ec2-create-snapshot. The error returned is below:\n$ec2_create_snapshot_result" 1>&2 ; exit 70
+	else
+		ec2_snapshot_resource_id=`echo "$ec2_create_snapshot_result" | cut -f 2`
+	fi	
+	create_EBS_Snapshot_Tags
+	icount=$(($icount+1))
+done
+
+#if purge_snapshots is true, then run purge_EBS_Snapshots function
+if $purge_snapshots
+	then echo "Snapshot Purging is Starting Now."
+	purge_EBS_Snapshots
+fi