This article covers how taking and restoring backups works in the panel. For the protection layers and retention, see the full guide linked at the end.

Taking a backup

In the side menu's Backups section, Take Backup makes a snapshot at any time. It covers your worlds, plugins or mods and configuration in a single zip.

It can be taken while the server runs: the world is flushed to disk first, so you never get a half-written copy.

Label your backups. The date is already recorded — use the label for the reason (before-big-update, say). Months later it tells the snapshots apart.

Backups take time; on a large world, minutes. Follow progress in the Console screen — the list refreshes every few seconds.

How many are kept?

You can keep up to 10 manual backups at a time; to take an eleventh, delete an old one.

An automatic backup is also taken every day your server is up, and only the most recent automatic backup is kept; older ones are cleared to free space. Your manual backups are unaffected and all stay — so take one of any moment you want to keep.

Manual backups live in your server's own disk space, and your total backup allowance is that same disk size — the Backup space bar shows how full it is. When it is full no new restore point is taken; existing backups stay untouched and it resumes as soon as you free space.

Restoring

Pick a backup from the list and press Restore. The server is stopped safely, your current worlds, plugins and settings are replaced with the state in that backup, and the server restarts.

The one thing to know: restoring is irreversible and writes over your current state. Taking a backup right before you restore is a good habit — if you went to the wrong point, you can step back.

It takes a few seconds to a few minutes depending on size, and players drop briefly while it runs. The server stops and starts, but a restore never opens a second upfront charge.

Which one should I restore?

  • An accident that just happened (a wrong command, a build wiped): use the cloud restore points. One is created about every half hour while your server runs, so the nearest costs at most half an hour of progress.
  • A moment you deliberately want to keep (before a big update or a version change): take a manual backup and label it. Only the newest automatic backup survives, so "the state from three days ago" exists only if you made it by hand.
  • Changing software family: the current family's content is already saved into a profile and comes back when you return to that software (changing software). A manual backup beforehand is still the cheapest insurance.
  • A single file or world: don't restore the whole backup. Download it, pull out what you need and upload that from the Files section — everything else stays put.

Troubleshooting

  1. Cloud restore won't start. It does not run while the server is asleep — start it first, then pick the point (sleep mode).
  2. No new restore points are appearing. Check the backup space bar first; if it's full, delete backups you no longer need and points resume on their own.
  3. A new backup won't be created. If you already hold 10 manual backups, delete one to make room.
  4. You get a "too often" warning. Backup and restore requests are capped per hour; if you fired several in a row, wait a while and retry.
  5. The cloud point you picked won't restore. Intermediate points sit on top of a full backup; if a link is missing the restore is refused rather than returning you to the wrong moment. Pick the full backup, or a newer point.
  6. You can't delete a cloud backup. The sleep archive and your newest restore point are protected on purpose, and deletion is blocked while a restore runs.
  7. You can't find backups on a network (proxy) server. A proxy has no world; backup and restore live in the panels of the game servers attached to it (building a network).

Common mistakes

  • Not backing up the present state before restoring. There is then no step back left.
  • Relying on the automatic backup alone. It keeps the newest sound copy; to go back days, that day needs a manual backup of its own.
  • Collecting ten unlabelled backups. There's no telling which moment each one holds.
  • Never pruning backups. Once the space fills, no new restore point is taken and the server runs short of room.
  • Treating a cloud point as a downloadable file. Cloud points restore from the panel in one click; what you can download are your manual backups, plus content from Worlds and Files.

Before deleting a server

When you permanently delete a server, the backups belonging to it are deleted too. Cloud copies live in storage independent of your server's machine; manual backups sit on its own disk. Both are tied to the server record.

So before deleting, download what you want to keep: a snapshot from Backups, a world from Worlds, or individual files from Files. Deletion cannot be undone.

For File Protection, cloud restore points and which layer to rely on when, move on to the full backup guide.