.snapshot directory using ls on your mount point, even if you use the -a option to show hidden files. The NFS server takes extra steps to hide .snapshot from ls, du, and other commands.
How to Restore Files From a Network File Storage Snapshot
Validated on 12 Mar 2026 • Last edited on 12 Mar 2026
Network File Storage is a fully managed, POSIX-compliant file storage solution built for demanding workloads like AI/ML pipelines, containerized applications, and DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) clusters. It provides scalable, high-throughput shared storage that simplifies storage management for distributed applications.
NFS snapshots are read-only and intended for file recovery within the same share. Each snapshot is stored in a hidden .snapshot directory at the root of the share, and you restore files by copying them back to the live filesystem.
Access Snapshots
Snapshots are stored in a special hidden, read-only .snapshot directory at the root of the share. Each snapshot is a separate subdirectory of .snapshot, named with the snapshot name followed by the snapshot ID.
To list out the contents of your snapshot directory, use the following command:
ls -l /mnt/example-nfs-share/.snapshotReplace /mnt/example-nfs-share/ with your mount point.
Restore Files From a Snapshot
To restore files from a snapshot, navigate to the snapshot directory and copy the desired files or directories back to the live filesystem using standard tools like cp or rsync.
To copy a single file from a snapshot back to the share:
cp /mnt/example-nfs-share/.snapshot/<snapshot_name>/<file_path> /mnt/example-nfs-share/<file_path>Replace <snapshot_name> with the snapshot directory name, and <file_path> with the path to the file you want to restore.
To restore an entire directory, use rsync:
rsync -av /mnt/example-nfs-share/.snapshot/<snapshot_name>/<directory>/ /mnt/example-nfs-share/<directory>/Replace <directory> with the directory path you want to restore. The trailing slashes ensure rsync copies the directory contents rather than creating a nested directory.