Can I restore individual files or directories from a snapshot or a backup?
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.
Can I download a backup or snapshot?
Validated on 20 Dec 2024 • Last edited on 18 Mar 2026
No, you cannot currently download DigitalOcean backups or snapshots.
As an alternative, you can use third-party tools to back up your Droplet, such as rsync or SFTP.
To share your support for this feature, vote for downloading snapshots and backups on ideas.digitalocean.com.
Related Topics
How long will my backup or snapshot take to complete?
Creating a backup or snapshot takes roughly 2 minutes per GB of used space.
Why is my snapshot's size different from reported disk usage?
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.