# Automatically Restore from Back Up on First Run

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/automatically-restore-from-back-up-on-first-run/764801>\
**Category:** Feature Suggestions\
**Created:** [December 17, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/automatically-restore-from-back-up-on-first-run/764801 "2021-12-17T01:43:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![desi76](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/desi76/32/186879_2.png) [@desi76](https://forums.plex.tv/u/desi76)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/automatically-restore-from-back-up-on-first-run/764801/1 "2021-12-17T01:43:12Z")

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Is it possible to add a feature for PMS to automatically restore from its latest backup? That would help to automate the PMS in Docker. For other platforms, perhaps another daemon can be created and a button added to the first run wizard to browse to backup folder where it identifies the latest backup and runs a restore?

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**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 10:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/automatically-restore-from-back-up-on-first-run/764801/2 "2021-12-17T10:10:45Z")

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What backup?  
The only backup of some sort exists in the [Plex data folder](https://support.plex.tv/articles/202915258-where-is-the-plex-media-server-data-directory-located/) on your local server machine.  
If you throw that away, you will lose all server data.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 10:28am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/automatically-restore-from-back-up-on-first-run/764801/3 "2021-12-17T10:28:26Z")

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… and if you still have the server’s data folder in place, Plex should already pick this up without the need to manually trigger a restore (which is already part of the migration procedures)

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**Author:** ![desi76](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/desi76/32/186879_2.png) [@desi76](https://forums.plex.tv/u/desi76)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 10:34am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/automatically-restore-from-back-up-on-first-run/764801/4 "2021-12-17T10:34:27Z")

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This feature to automatically restore from a backup would be a bit more useful in PMS for Docker Compose, especially Swarm. It would allow users to quickly get back up and running after migrating a container or after getting the dread “malformed database”.

The 2nd part of the feature — to add a button to the first run wizard to run a restore could be added to any version of PMS. Some users actively replicate or backup the [Plex data folder](https://support.plex.tv/articles/202915258-where-is-the-plex-media-server-data-directory-located/) but restoring from backup is still a tedious process.