# Snapshots Support

Generated on 17 Mar 2026

Snapshots are on-demand disk images of DigitalOcean Droplets and volumes saved to your account. Use them to create new Droplets and volumes with the same contents.

[Can I restore individual files or directories from a snapshot or a backup?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/can-i-restore-individual-files-or-directories-from-a-snapshot-or-a-backup/index.html.md): The only way to restore files from an image is to recreate a Droplet or volume from the image and copy the flies from there.

[Why can't I create a Droplet from a snapshot?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/why-cant-i-create-a-droplet-from-a-snapshot/index.html.md): You cannot create Droplets in certain datacenters due to limited capacity. If you have snapshots in a limited capacity datacenter, transfer them to another datacenter to create Droplets from them.

[Can I downsize a Droplet using a snapshot?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/can-i-downsize-a-droplet-using-a-snapshot/index.html.md): You cannot downsize a Droplet from a snapshot. Data is not always stored sequentially in memory, so reducing the size of a disk can result in data loss or corruption.

[Why is my snapshot's size different from reported disk usage?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/why-is-my-snapshots-size-different-from-reported-disk-usage/index.html.md): Snapshots of Droplets are a best estimate based on the disk usage. Snapshots of volumes operate at the block storage level, so the snapshot size may not match what the filesystem reports.

[How do I fix a "The resource you were accessing could not be found" error when restoring a Droplet from a snapshot?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/how-do-i-fix-a-the-resource-you-were-accessing-could-not-be-found-error-when-restoring-a-droplet-from-a-snapshot/index.html.md): This error happens when the Droplet you’re trying to restore no longer exists, so try creating a new Droplet from the snapshot instead.

[Do snapshots retain the IP address of the Droplet they were created from?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/do-snapshots-retain-the-ip-address-of-the-droplet-they-were-created-from/index.html.md): No, but you can use reserved IPs to assign the same address to new or redeployed Droplets.

[Can I download a backup or snapshot?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/can-i-download-a-backup-or-snapshot/index.html.md): You cannot currently download DigitalOcean backups or snapshots, but you can use third-party tools to save your data locally.

[How long will my backup or snapshot take to complete?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/how-long-will-my-backup-or-snapshot-take-to-complete/index.html.md): Creating a backup or snapshot takes roughly 2 minutes per GB of used space.