How to Back Up Your Minecraft Server

It's not if you'll need a backup — it's when. Crashes, corruption, griefing, bad plugin updates — any of these can destroy months of work.

What to Back Up

• world/ folders (overworld, nether, end)
• plugins/ (configs and data)
• server.properties

Skip server .jar files — those can be re-downloaded.

Method 1: Plugin (Easiest)

DriveBackupV2 — Automatically backs up to Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. Set a schedule (every 6 hours), and backups upload to cloud storage automatically. Off-server storage means you're protected even if the machine is compromised.

Method 2: Script

For more control, use a bash script with cron:

1. Send `save-all` and `save-off` to the server
2. Compress world and plugins into a tar.gz
3. Send `save-on`
4. Delete backups older than 7 days

Schedule with crontab to run every 6 hours.

Method 3: Host Backups

Most hosts include automatic backups. Don't rely solely on these — download copies locally too.

Backup Strategy

Follow the 3-2-1 rule:

• 3 copies of data
• 2 different storage types
• 1 off-site backup

Restoring

1. Stop the server
2. Rename current world folder (don't delete yet)
3. Extract backup
4. Start server and verify
5. Delete old folder once confirmed

Key Mistakes to Avoid

• Never having tested a restore
• Only keeping 1 backup
• Backing up to the same disk as the server

Five minutes of setup saves you from losing everything. More guides at the ServerList.cc blog.