# Kopia Disaster Recovery Instructions? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Topics\ **Created:** [August 2, 2024, 4:37am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-disaster-recovery-instructions/3148 "2024-08-02T04:37:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![compumatter](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/compumatter/32/1139_2.png) [@compumatter](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/compumatter)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2024, 4:37am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-disaster-recovery-instructions/3148/1 "2024-08-02T04:37:04Z")
The worst case scenario is Kopia is reliably kept all backups on the repository of your choice then one day the server machine is toast. You have to insert a new server and install Kopia new. What are the logical steps from there forward to be in a position to restore your data? Is the only piece of historical data we need the encryption --password ? If anyone has been there and can document a 1,2,3 I’m sure this will be of value to the community as a whole as well as myself. What sayeth the group? Jay ---
**Author:** ![Lando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Lando](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/Lando)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 8:26am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-disaster-recovery-instructions/3148/2 "2024-08-06T08:26:11Z")
You need the following things: - Backup - Kopia GUI or CLI - Password The steps to restore: - Install KopiaGUI or CLI on new machine. - Access your backup (eg with KopiaGUI) and restore your desired snapshots or only certain files of it (you can also mount a snapshot for easier search or quick access to specific files). ---
**Author:** ![compumatter](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/compumatter/32/1139_2.png) [@compumatter](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/compumatter)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 12:31am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-disaster-recovery-instructions/3148/3 "2024-08-08T00:31:40Z")
Thank you for the response. So let’s say I have completely reinstalled Kopia on a brand new server or client machine. The backup drive that holds the repositories I wish to restore is attached to the new machine. At that point in the case of the GUI I would go to the Repository tab and simply click ‘Connect’ and point it to the original repository location ? At that point it would load all repository data snapshots and they should be able to be restored from as normal? ---
**Author:** ![Lando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Lando](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/Lando)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 10:40am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-disaster-recovery-instructions/3148/4 "2024-08-08T10:40:52Z")
Yes you simply click connect and enter your password. Connecting to a repository will load all the settings (snapshot locations, policies), this means new backups and retention might immediately start. For this reason it’s recommended to connect with read-only mode (under “show advanced options” in the connecting window). [I don’t know if any changes to “username” and “hostname” are needed.] From this point you can just browse your snapshots, restore them directly or mount them to your local filesystem. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Shawn](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/Shawn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 8:53pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-disaster-recovery-instructions/3148/5 "2025-03-20T20:53:46Z")
I have the same question, except: Let’s say I’ve been sharing the repository and it contains snapshots from multiple computers running different OS and file-systems (NTFS, ext4). Having completely lost a machine, I’ve re-installed the OS and Kopia, and connected to the Repo (read-only). What will I see? Will I be able to select original machine’s snapshots to restore? ---
**Author:** ![kapitainsky](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/kapitainsky/32/535_2.png) [@kapitainsky](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/kapitainsky)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-disaster-recovery-instructions/3148/6 "2025-03-20T21:22:25Z")
> [@Shawn](#): > > What will I see? You can see all saved snapshots. From all machines, regardless of their OS. > [@Shawn](#): > > Will I be able to select original machine’s snapshots to restore? In general yes. Only problem you can encounter is when you try to restore files from another OS than your host and there are some file names characters incompatibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Shawn](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/Shawn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-disaster-recovery-instructions/3148/7 "2025-03-20T23:35:37Z")
Thanks, that answers my question. yeah, I get that using a different OS/file-system to restore could cause problems when source/destination don’t share the same supported character-set, case-sensitivity, meta-data, time-stamp accuracy, etc. Just wanted to know if I needed to have a second backup of any local Kopia data, and you’re saying not. Great news.