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url: /admin/backup.md
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# Backup & restore

Backups live in **Settings → Backup** (admins only) and restore on any platform.

## Creating a backup

Choose **Download backup archive** to save a single archive of your camera.ui storage directory: configuration, database, user accounts, and media.\[^ignore]

## Restoring

Upload an archive and choose **Restore backup archive**. This replaces the current configuration with the archive's state and restarts the server. Leave the window open until it's done; camera.ui logs you out at the end.

Archives larger than 200 MB are rejected on upload. If yours is too big, exclude media folders from the backup and create a new one.\[^ignore]

## Scheduled backups

The **Backup scheduler** card creates backups automatically and keeps only the newest archives.

Turn it on and set:

* **Frequency.** Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
* **Time.** The time of day the backup runs, as HH:mm (default `03:00`).
* **Weekday.** Shown only when Frequency is Weekly.
* **Day of month.** Shown only when Frequency is Monthly, 1-28.
* **Keep backups.** How many of the newest archives to retain, 1-60 (default 7). Older archives are deleted automatically after each run.
* **Destination folder.** An absolute path on the server, for example a NAS mount. Leave it empty to use the default folder inside your storage directory. A relative path is rejected.

**Run now** starts a backup immediately. **Last run** shows the time and result of the most recent scheduled run.

Scheduled archives are written to the destination folder on the server, unlike a manual download, which saves the archive to your browser. Everything the scheduler has created is listed under **Available backups** for download or removal.

\[^ignore]: To exclude a folder from the backup (for example a large media folder), place an empty file named `.backupignore` in it.