---
title: Restore volumes from a backup
layout: default
parent: How Tos
nav_order: 6
---

# Restore volumes from a backup

In case you need to restore a volume from a backup, the most straight forward procedure to do so would be:

- Stop the container(s) that are using the volume
- Untar the backup you want to restore
  ```console
  tar -C /tmp -xvf  backup.tar.gz
  ```
- Using a temporary once-off container, mount the volume (the example assumes it's named `data`) and copy over the backup. Make sure you copy the correct path level (this depends on how you mount your volume into the backup container), you might need to strip some leading elements
  ```console
  docker run -d --name temp_restore_container -v data:/backup_restore alpine
  docker cp /tmp/backup/data-backup temp_restore_container:/backup_restore
  docker stop temp_restore_container
  docker rm temp_restore_container
  ```
- Restart the container(s) that are using the volume

Depending on your setup and the application(s) you are running, this might involve other steps to be taken still.

---

If you want to rollback an entire volume to an earlier backup snapshot (recommended for database volumes):

- Trigger a manual backup if necessary (see `Manually triggering a backup`).
- Stop the container(s) that are using the volume.
- If volume was initially created using docker-compose, find out exact volume name using:
  ```console
  docker volume ls
  ```
- Remove existing volume (the example assumes it's named `data`):
  ```console
  docker volume rm data
  ```
- Create new volume with the same name and restore a snapshot:
  ```console
  docker run --rm -it -v data:/backup/my-app-backup -v /path/to/local_backups:/archive:ro alpine tar -xvzf /archive/full_backup_filename.tar.gz
  ```
- Restart the container(s) that are using the volume.