How to restore only some files, or one area of your map, from a backup

A normal restore puts the whole backup back and replaces everything on your server. Often you only need a little of it: one config file you broke, a plugin folder, or the part of the map a griefer destroyed. Restore some files lets you pick exactly what to put back, and leaves the rest of your server as it is.

Open a backup

1. Open your server in the panel and click Backups in the left menu.
2. Find a finished backup, open its ... menu and choose Restore some files.... The choice is greyed out for a backup that did not finish, and for database backups.
3. The window Restore some files from the backup's name opens. It says Reading your backup with its size while it lists what is in it. Big backups take a few minutes.

You need the permission to restore backups and to read files. The window explains that everything else on your server stays as it is.

Restore files and folders

1. On the tab Files and folders, open the folders and tick the files and folders you want. A line says how many you chose and how big they are, for example 3 chosen.
2. Click Restore selected.

The server stops for the moment the files are swapped, then starts again. For a large folder this can take a few minutes. If the window says the files are put back the next time your server starts, start it from the console when you are ready.

Restore one area of a Minecraft map

The tab An area of the map appears for Minecraft worlds. It puts back one part of your world as it was in the backup, for example after griefing. Minecraft stores the world in regions of 512 by 512 blocks.

1. Open the tab An area of the map.
2. Choose the Dimension: the Overworld, the Nether or the End.
3. Enter the X and Z of any block in the area. In the game, press F3 to see your position.
4. Choose how much to bring back: The region holding that block (512 by 512 blocks), or That region and the 8 around it (1,536 by 1,536 blocks).
5. Click Restore this area.

The region comes back with its mobs and points of interest. The rest of your world stays as it is. If the backup did not have a region, the window says so and that part is left as it is.

What is kept, and how to undo

• The files a restore replaces are kept in a folder called .pnh-restore for 7 days.
• Click Undo last restore in the same window, within 24 hours, to put your files back as they were before the restore.
• Players who were in that area may notice the world has changed. Tell them before you restore.

Can I trust this backup?

The Backups page shows what each finished backup can be trusted for:

• World as of a time: your server confirmed its save then, and nothing after that is in the backup. If the server did not confirm a save before the backup started, the label reads World as of about a time, and the world may be a few minutes older or caught mid-save.
• Checked: the backup was found in storage at the size your server reported.
• A warning means a problem: Not in storage (it cannot be restored), May be incomplete, World left out (the files it was set to leave out include your world folder), Smaller than the world or Much smaller than before. Do not rely on that backup, and make a new one.

For the basics of backups, see How to create, download and restore backups and How to schedule tasks and automatic backups.

Need a server of your own? See our game server hosting.