# Backups: how they work and how to restore one

> Automatic snapshots, taking one yourself, restoring, cloning a server from a backup, and how long they are kept.

Source: https://fadehost.com/docs/backups/

Every server is backed up automatically to storage outside the node it runs on. The **Backups** tab is where you see, take, browse and restore them.

## What happens on its own

Backups run on a schedule you can set in the **Backups** tab (the time selector); the world and every file in the server folder are included. Free backups are kept for three days; the backups add-on keeps them longer and backs up more often. A backup taken before an action that could go wrong is always worth it.

## Restore

1. Stop the server.
2. **Backups**, pick the snapshot, **Restore Backup**. The server folder is replaced by the snapshot; the panel shows progress.
3. Start.

To take just one file or folder out of a snapshot, open it with **Files** and download what you need instead of restoring everything.

## Clone

**Clone Server from Backup** creates a second server from a snapshot: a test copy before a big update, or a fresh start with the same world. The clone takes its own share of the RAM pool while it runs.

## Before an upgrade or a pack update

Take a backup first. A world opened by a newer Minecraft version cannot go back, and modpack updates sometimes remove mods whose blocks then vanish. Restoring is one click; regenerating is not.

## Good to know

- **Delete Snapshot** frees the storage; a snapshot is never deleted by a server delete until its retention ends.
- Backups are per server; a server that is deleted takes a final backup you can restore for a while.