How backups work on a free server

A backup is a complete copy of your server at one moment: the world, server.properties, mods or plugins and their settings, operators and whitelist. If an update breaks a modpack, a plugin wipes something, or someone griefs your base, a backup puts everything back the way it was. Every free server gets backups included, and they do not count against your 10 GB of storage.

What you get

• 3 backup slots per server.
• Each backup is kept for 30 days.
• Stored separately from the server, outside your 10 GB quota.
• Optional: send backups to your own Google Drive instead, with no slot cap and no 30-day limit.

Making a backup by hand

Open the Backups tab and press Create Backup. It appears in the list a moment later, marked Uploading… until it is finished. Take one before anything risky: switching server software, updating a modpack, installing a batch of new mods or plugins, or uploading a different world.

Automatic backups

Turn on Enable Auto-Backup under Auto-Backup Configuration and save. Automatic backups are taken when the server stops — including when it goes to sleep — so a copy is made at the end of a play session, when the world has actually changed.

• Frequency (Hours) is the minimum time between two automatic backups, from 1 hour to 168 hours (a week). With 24, a server that sleeps and wakes five times a day is still backed up only once a day.
• Retention (Count) is how many backups to keep, up to your 3 slots. Older backups make way for new ones to stay within it.

Automatic backups are marked Auto in the list, so you can tell them apart from ones you made yourself.

Restoring a backup

A restore replaces everything on the server with the backup — the world and all files, not just the world. Because of that it works a little differently from what you might expect:

1. Stop the server fully. The restore button reads Stop to Restore until it is stopped.
2. Press Restore on the backup you want and confirm.
3. The restore is queued, and a Restore Pending notice shows which backup will be used.
4. Press Start. The server’s current files are deleted and replaced with the backup, and then it boots.

Nothing is changed until that next start, so if you queue the wrong backup, queue the right one before starting. Once the server has started from the backup, the replaced files are gone — if you might want them, create a fresh backup before you restore.

Downloading a backup

Each backup has a Download button that saves it to your computer as a .zip. That copy is yours for as long as you keep it, with no 30-day limit — the simplest way to archive a world you are finished with. To download just the world, rather than the whole server, use Download World on the World tab instead.

Backing up to Google Drive

Under Where backups are stored, choose Google Drive and press Connect Google Drive to link your account. New backups then go to your own Drive, with no slot cap and no 30-day limit — only your Drive space limits them. If you disconnect later, new backups go back to the server slots, and the backups already in your Drive stay there.

Good habits

• Turn on Auto-Backup with a frequency of 12 or 24 hours. It costs nothing, and it covers the day you forget.
• Keep one slot for a manual backup you trust, rather than letting automatic backups use all three.
• Download a copy before anything you cannot undo — a pack update, a world reset or a world upload.
• Backups older than 30 days in server slots are removed. Download anything you want to keep for longer, or use Google Drive.