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Backups
A backup is an off-node export of a pod - a full copy kept on separate storage, away from the machine your pod runs on. When you restore a backup, you get a brand-new pod. Your original is never touched.
That's the whole point of backups, and the whole difference from snapshots. A snapshot rewinds the pod you have. A backup gives you a fresh pod built from a saved copy, which is what you want for disaster recovery, spinning up a copy to test against, or keeping the original safe while you experiment.
Slots and limits
Like snapshots, each pod gets 5 backup slots: 4 manual plus 1 held back for the auto schedule. At the manual limit, delete one before taking another.
Auto schedule
Backups can run on a schedule, all at 3:00 AM UTC: Daily, Weekly (Sunday), Monthly (the 1st), or Disabled. Automatic backups rotate among themselves: with four manual backups there is room for one automatic one, so each run replaces the last, and with none the automatic ones fill all five slots before the oldest rotates out. Your manual backups are never touched by the schedule.
Restoring and cloning
Two ways to turn a saved pod into a running one, and both make a new pod:
- Restore takes an existing backup and rebuilds it as a new pod.
- Clone skips the saved-backup step and copies a live pod straight into a new one, on the same Region and network.
Because each creates a pod, both need at least $3 of credit and use a slot from your pod limit. Name the new pod, or let us pick a random name.
Snapshot vs backup
| Snapshot | Backup | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it's stored | On the pod's node | Off-node, separate storage |
| Restore gives you | The same pod, rewound | A new pod |
| Your original after restore | Overwritten | Untouched |
| Speed | Fast | Slower (full export) |
| Slots per pod (default) | 4 manual + 1 auto | 4 manual + 1 auto |
| Reach for it when | Quick rollback before a risky change | Disaster recovery, cloning, keeping the original |
Rule of thumb: snapshot before you do something risky to a pod you want to keep; back up when you'd want the pod back even if the original is gone.
A note on the account-wide list
The account backups list shows every backup you have, and it can include email backups (from mailboxes) alongside pod backups. Only pod backups can be restored into a pod.