# Backup and Recovery

> How a CloudRepo repository protects a file from being replaced or deleted by mistake, how to restore a deleted file from the Trash, and how to keep your own copy of the artifacts you cannot rebuild.

Two mistakes are common: replacing a file and deleting it. CloudRepo guards against the first in a Maven, Python or npm repository that holds your own files, with Overwrite Protection, and gives you a way back from the second in a Maven or Python repository that holds your own files, with the Trash. For anything else, keep your own copy of what you cannot rebuild.

## Replacing a file

[Overwrite Protection](/docs/manage/repositories.html#overwrite-protection) is on by default for a Maven, Python or npm repository that holds your own files. A publish that would replace a file already stored at the same path is refused with `409 Conflict`, and the file in the repository is left as it is.

On a Maven repository two kinds of file are not protected, because Maven rewrites them on every publish: a file in a `-SNAPSHOT` version directory, and `maven-metadata.xml` with its checksum and signature files. A publish that replaces one of those is accepted. See [Maven: SNAPSHOT and Metadata Are Exempt](/docs/manage/repositories.html#maven-snapshot-and-metadata-are-exempt).

Overwrite Protection is a setting of each repository. On a repository where it is off, a replacement is accepted. A file that was replaced, in either case, is not listed in the Trash, because the Trash lists files that were deleted.

## Deleting a file

In a Maven or Python repository that holds your own files, a file or folder you delete is listed in the repository’s Trash tab. See [Trash and Recovery](/docs/manage/repositories.html#trash-and-recovery). The tab carries its own notice about how long deleted items stay: read it before you rely on the Trash. An npm or Docker repository has no Trash tab, so for one of those [your own copy](#keep-your-own-copy) is the way back.

Only someone with the **Manage Repositories** permission can see what the Trash holds and restore from it (see [User Management](/docs/manage/users.html#manage-repositories)). Deleting a file needs only write access, so a member who can delete a file may be unable to restore it: ask someone who has the permission. A proxy repository refuses a restore.

In the portal, deleting a folder, deleting several items at once and purging from the Trash ask you to confirm your identity. A repository token cannot run any of them.

## If the file is not in the Trash

Write to support with what you can tell us: the organization, the repository, the path, roughly when the file was last there and whether it was deleted or replaced. See [Support](/docs/reference/support.html) for what to include. We can look into it, but this page does not promise a recovery. A restore from the Trash, by someone who can manage repositories, and your own copy are the ways back you can count on.

## Keep your own copy

Keep a copy of anything you cannot rebuild from source: a release you published once and every build now depends on, a file nothing generates. Two ways:

- **Copy at publish time.** Have the job that publishes also store the same files in your CI platform’s artifact storage, or in storage of your own.
- **Download later.** Keep a list of the paths you want, one per line, relative to the repository. The path of a Maven file is its group (dots become slashes), its name, its version and the file name. Then download each one. The loop reads your credential from `~/.netrc` (see [Maven Repositories](/docs/formats/maven.html)), so no token is in the script or on a command line:

**Terminal**

```bash
while IFS= read -r path; do
  curl --netrc --fail --silent --show-error --create-dirs \
    --output "backup/$path" \
    "https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/$path"
done < paths.txt
```

`--create-dirs` makes the folders under `backup/` that each path needs. Run it from a job on a schedule you choose.

A copy you have never restored is a guess. Now and then, publish a copy into a scratch repository and build from it.

## Where CloudRepo hosts your data

How CloudRepo stores and protects your data, and how it recovers from failures, is described on CloudRepo’s [security practices](https://www.cloudrepo.io/security/practices) page.

For whether CloudRepo is having a problem right now, see [status.cloudrepo.io](https://status.cloudrepo.io).

## Next steps

- [Repository Management](/docs/manage/repositories.html): the Trash, Overwrite Protection and the file browser.
- [High Availability](/docs/reference/high-availability.html): keep builds running when a request fails.
- [Support](/docs/reference/support.html): how to write to us.

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The page: https://www.cloudrepo.io/docs/reference/backup-and-recovery.html