The copy you need is the one taken yesterday.
Turn on automatic backups and the platform keeps taking them during its own window. Take one by hand before you touch something you would rather be able to undo.
VPS VDS
A backup is the machine, not a folder
You get a backup image taken at the platform level, right below the operating system. It captures the disk as it stands. Your system, your packages, your configuration and your data all sit in one restorable copy. You install nothing inside the machine for it to work.
- The platform takes the copy below the operating system, so nothing inside the machine skips it.
- Each image carries the description you type, or its creation timestamp.
- The list shows the size the platform bills for, and the state of each copy.
- A copy still being written says so instead of looking ready.
When a copy gets taken
These are two distinct moments, and they are deliberately different jobs.
Switch them on for a machine and the platform keeps taking them on its own window, without you being there. This is the copy that saves you on the day you forget to look.
Type a description, press the button, and you receive a named copy of the machine as it is right now. Take one before an upgrade, a migration or anything you have not done before.
Taking a copy is a platform job, not a maintenance window. Your sites stay up while the disk writes the image.
Pick the image you want and the machine comes back exactly as it was at that moment. The restore replaces the disk, so you must pick deliberately.
Automatic backups are a paid add-on you switch on for a machine. The price joins that server's own renewal instead of arriving as a separate invoice. You can take an image by hand whether or not the add-on is running.
Getting a machine back
- Pick the copy
Open the backups screen and choose the image by its description or its date. The list tells you which ones are ready to use.
- Confirm the machine
You confirm the hostname before anything destructive runs. This means a restore never lands on the wrong server by accident.
- The disk is replaced
The machine comes back exactly as it was in that image. Anything written after that moment is gone, which is exactly why the previous step exists.
Frequently asked questions
Are backups on by default?
No. Automatic backups are an add-on you switch on for each machine. Once you turn it on, the platform keeps taking them.
How is this different from a snapshot?
A backup runs on a schedule and is kept for you. A snapshot is one you take by hand and keep until you delete it. They are the same kind of image, but they have different lifecycles.
Can I back up a dedicated server this way?
No. Backup images are taken by the cloud platform under a VPS or a VDS. A dedicated server is physical hardware, so you keep its backups inside the machine or on storage you attach to it.
Does a backup count against my disk?
No. Images are held by the platform, not on the machine's own disk. Taking a copy does not eat the space you are running on.
How long does a restore take?
It depends on the size of the disk. The console shows the machine's state while the platform works, so you watch it come back rather than guess.
More in the server console
Start with a machine you can roll back
Pick a VPS or VDS, switch backups on, and the copies start arriving on their own.