diff --git a/charts/rancher-turtles/templates/rancher-turtles-exp-etcdrestore-components.yaml b/charts/rancher-turtles/templates/rancher-turtles-exp-etcdrestore-components.yaml
index 709be9a7..d5a2981e 100644
--- a/charts/rancher-turtles/templates/rancher-turtles-exp-etcdrestore-components.yaml
+++ b/charts/rancher-turtles/templates/rancher-turtles-exp-etcdrestore-components.yaml
@@ -51,14 +51,11 @@ spec:
                 type: string
               machineName:
                 type: string
-              manual:
-                type: boolean
             required:
             - clusterName
             - configRef
             - location
             - machineName
-            - manual
             type: object
           status:
             default: {}
@@ -110,6 +107,8 @@ spec:
                   - type
                   type: object
                 type: array
+              manual:
+                type: boolean
               phase:
                 description: ETCDSnapshotPhase is a string representation of the phase
                   of the etcd snapshot
diff --git a/exp/etcdrestore/api/v1alpha1/etcdmachinesnapshot_types.go b/exp/etcdrestore/api/v1alpha1/etcdmachinesnapshot_types.go
index 1285db6c..6b73fca1 100644
--- a/exp/etcdrestore/api/v1alpha1/etcdmachinesnapshot_types.go
+++ b/exp/etcdrestore/api/v1alpha1/etcdmachinesnapshot_types.go
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ type EtcdMachineSnapshotSpec struct {
 	ClusterName string `json:"clusterName"`
 	MachineName string `json:"machineName"`
 	ConfigRef   string `json:"configRef"`
-	Manual      bool   `json:"manual"`
 	Location    string `json:"location"`
 }
 
@@ -52,6 +51,7 @@ type EtcdMachineSnapshotSpec struct {
 type EtcdMachineSnapshotStatus struct {
 	Phase      ETCDSnapshotPhase    `json:"phase,omitempty"`
 	Conditions clusterv1.Conditions `json:"conditions,omitempty"`
+	Manual     bool                 `json:"manual,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // EtcdMachineSnapshot is the Schema for the EtcdMachineSnapshot API.
diff --git a/exp/etcdrestore/config/crd/bases/turtles-capi.cattle.io_etcdmachinesnapshots.yaml b/exp/etcdrestore/config/crd/bases/turtles-capi.cattle.io_etcdmachinesnapshots.yaml
index 6fcd1ef6..c978aa12 100644
--- a/exp/etcdrestore/config/crd/bases/turtles-capi.cattle.io_etcdmachinesnapshots.yaml
+++ b/exp/etcdrestore/config/crd/bases/turtles-capi.cattle.io_etcdmachinesnapshots.yaml
@@ -48,14 +48,11 @@ spec:
                 type: string
               machineName:
                 type: string
-              manual:
-                type: boolean
             required:
             - clusterName
             - configRef
             - location
             - machineName
-            - manual
             type: object
           status:
             description: EtcdSnapshotRestoreStatus defines observed state of EtcdSnapshotRestore
@@ -106,6 +103,8 @@ spec:
                   - type
                   type: object
                 type: array
+              manual:
+                type: boolean
               phase:
                 description: ETCDSnapshotPhase is a string representation of the phase
                   of the etcd snapshot
diff --git a/exp/etcdrestore/controllers/etcdmachinesnapshot_controller.go b/exp/etcdrestore/controllers/etcdmachinesnapshot_controller.go
index 4ce613d0..435c2edd 100644
--- a/exp/etcdrestore/controllers/etcdmachinesnapshot_controller.go
+++ b/exp/etcdrestore/controllers/etcdmachinesnapshot_controller.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 
 	k3sv1 "github.com/rancher/turtles/api/rancher/k3s/v1"
 	snapshotrestorev1 "github.com/rancher/turtles/exp/etcdrestore/api/v1alpha1"
+	turtlesannotations "github.com/rancher/turtles/util/annotations"
 	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	kerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ func (r *EtcdMachineSnapshotReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.
 		return ctrl.Result{}, err
 	}
 
-	if !etcdMachineSnapshot.Spec.Manual {
+	if turtlesannotations.HasAnnotation(etcdMachineSnapshot, turtlesannotations.EtcdAutomaticSnapshot) {
 		log.V(5).Info("Skipping snapshot creation for non-manual EtcdMachineSnapshot")
 		return ctrl.Result{}, nil
 	}
@@ -123,7 +124,6 @@ func (r *EtcdMachineSnapshotReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.
 func (r *EtcdMachineSnapshotReconciler) reconcileNormal(
 	ctx context.Context, etcdMachineSnapshot *snapshotrestorev1.EtcdMachineSnapshot,
 ) (ctrl.Result, error) {
-
 	// Handle different phases of the etcdmachinesnapshot creation process
 	switch etcdMachineSnapshot.Status.Phase {
 	case "":
diff --git a/exp/etcdrestore/controllers/snapshotters/rke2snapshotter.go b/exp/etcdrestore/controllers/snapshotters/rke2snapshotter.go
index 89e86f8b..51e85d7b 100644
--- a/exp/etcdrestore/controllers/snapshotters/rke2snapshotter.go
+++ b/exp/etcdrestore/controllers/snapshotters/rke2snapshotter.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 
 	k3sv1 "github.com/rancher/turtles/api/rancher/k3s/v1"
 	snapshotrestorev1 "github.com/rancher/turtles/exp/etcdrestore/api/v1alpha1"
+	turtlesannotations "github.com/rancher/turtles/util/annotations"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
@@ -125,6 +126,9 @@ func (s *RKE2Snapshotter) Sync(ctx context.Context) error {
 			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 				Name:      snapshotFile.Name,
 				Namespace: s.cluster.Namespace,
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					turtlesannotations.EtcdAutomaticSnapshot: "true",
+				},
 			},
 			Spec: snapshotrestorev1.EtcdMachineSnapshotSpec{
 				ClusterName: s.cluster.Name,
diff --git a/util/annotations/helpers.go b/util/annotations/helpers.go
index 2dfda282..0d77e1c0 100644
--- a/util/annotations/helpers.go
+++ b/util/annotations/helpers.go
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import (
 const (
 	// ClusterImportedAnnotation represents cluster imported annotation.
 	ClusterImportedAnnotation = "imported"
+	// EtcdAutomaticSnapshot represents automatically generated etcd snapshot.
+	EtcdAutomaticSnapshot = "etcd.turtles.cattle.io/automatic-snapshot"
 )
 
 // HasClusterImportAnnotation returns true if the object has the `imported` annotation.