Automate backups

A practical beginner policy#

Schedule a Crafty backup every 6 or 12 hours, keep several recent copies, and create a manual backup before updates or major mod changes. Copy important backups to an external drive or another computer.

1. 1
   In Crafty, open the server’s Backup manager.
2. 2
   Create a backup destination on persistent storage with enough free space.
3. 3
   Set retention by count or age so the disk cannot fill forever.
4. 4
   Open Schedules and add a recurring backup task every 6 or 12 hours.
5. 5
   Run one manual backup now and confirm a dated archive appears.
6. 6
   Download or copy that archive to another physical device.

A backup on the same SSD protects against a bad mod or accidental file edit. It does not protect against SSD failure, theft, fire or the server being lost.

Test a restore#

1. 1
   Tell players and stop the server normally.
2. 2
   Make a final copy of the current broken state for later investigation.
3. 3
   In Crafty’s backup manager, choose the known-good archive and its documented restore action.
4. 4
   Confirm the target server and timestamp.
5. 5
   Wait for extraction, then start and inspect the console.
6. 6
   Join locally and check player data, inventories and recent builds.