This guide explains step by step how to restore your web data from a Loopia backup snapshot using an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client. Loopia automatically takes regular snapshots of your web hosting account, and you can retrieve files yourself by browsing the hidden .snapshot folder over FTP.
Connect to your FTP site
You first need to connect to your FTP site. If you are not sure how to do this, we have guides for a number of FTP clients here.
Go to the FTP folder where you have files you want to restore.
Open the .snapshot folder
In the FTP client’s field for path, enter the folder .snapshot and press Enter. You will then be presented with the following list of folders.
How the snapshots are organised
Each folder contains a complete backup (snapshot) of the directory you are in. Backups named hourly are taken four times a day, so you have eight such backups from the past 48 hours. The youngest backup is always in hourly.0. When a new backup is made, the older ones are rolled downward in the hierarchy. Folders marked as nightly are taken once a day, and folders marked as weekly are taken once a week (Sunday night).
Snapshots marked as hourly are taken at 08:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00. Snapshots marked as nightly are taken at midnight, and the ones marked as weekly are taken on Sunday night.
Restore the files
Follow these steps to copy files out of a snapshot and back into your live web folder:
- Click your way into the FTP folder you want to recover data from.
- Select the files or folders you want to restore and transfer them to your local hard drive.
- Then go into the FTP folder to which you want to move these files.
- Transfer the files from your local hard drive to the FTP folder.
The restore is now complete.
Note that the files in .snapshot folders are read-only, so you cannot accidentally delete files in your backup.