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NeverWiped and your host’s snapshots
What NeverWiped does that a host snapshot does not, what a snapshot does better, and the questions to ask your host.
Many hosting providers offer snapshots or automatic backups of a server: a copy of its whole disk, made by the provider. This page is about that kind of copy. It says what NeverWiped does differently, what a snapshot does better, and what to ask your host before you rely on either.
What a host snapshot is
- An image of the server’s whole disk at one moment, made by your host from outside the server. There is nothing to install.
- It stays with your host, in the same hosting account as the server. If you lose access to that account (closed, suspended, or taken over), you have to get it back before you can reach the snapshots.
- It is reachable from that account and from its API tokens. If such a token is stored on the server, whoever controls the server can use it too.
- A running database is copied as its files were on disk at that moment, as after a sudden power cut, unless your host’s tool asks the database to pause first. After a restore, the database has to recover the way it does after a crash.
Side by side
| NeverWiped | Host snapshot | |
|---|---|---|
| Who makes the copy | Our agent, on your server, on a schedule (status) | Your host, from outside the server |
| Where the copy is | Our storage server in France, in our account with our provider (named in the legal notice), not in your hosting account | With your host, in your hosting account |
| What is copied | What the agent found and showed you before the first backup: /etc, /root, /home, web files, apps in /opt, Docker volumes, PostgreSQL and MySQL or MariaDB; you add or exclude paths (size and exclusions) | The whole disk |
| Encryption | On your server, before anything is sent, with a key that stays on it (encryption) | Ask your host |
| Databases | Full consistent dumps (pg_dumpall, mysqldump --single-transaction), not raw files | Files as they were on disk at that moment |
| Who can delete the copy | Not your server, day to day: the storage is append-only (append-only, and the known limits) | Whoever controls your hosting account or its tokens |
| History | Set by your plan, changeable per server (retention) | Ask your host how many, and how often |
| Restore | neverwiped restore with a date: a file, a folder, a database or a Docker volume, into a separate folder, or in place after you confirm (restore) | Ask your host: the whole disk only, or single files too; onto the same server, or a new one |
| If you lose your hosting account | Your backups are still reachable from a server elsewhere, with an account API key and your recovery key (neverwiped recover, a whole server) | The snapshots stay in that account |
| Failure alerts | Emails when a backup fails, when none has run for too long, and before the storage is full (alert emails) | Ask your host |
| Price | Your plan (pricing) | Your host’s price list |
Questions to ask your host
- Where is the snapshot stored: in the same data centre as the server, or elsewhere?
- Is it encrypted, and who holds the key?
- How many snapshots are kept, how often are they made, and can you change that?
- Can you restore one file, or only the whole disk? Onto a new server?
- Does the tool pause the databases first, or is it a disk image only?
- What happens to the snapshots if the server is deleted, or the account is closed or suspended?
- Which API tokens can delete them, and is one of them on your server?
When a host snapshot is the better choice
- You want the whole machine back at once, system included. NeverWiped restores files and databases. On a new server you install the base software first, then restore (a whole server).
- You want nothing installed on the server. NeverWiped needs its agent, which runs as root (the agent).
- You are about to try a risky upgrade. A snapshot just before, and a rollback of the whole disk if it goes wrong, is quick. With NeverWiped you can run a backup first (
neverwiped backup now), then restore what the upgrade broke.
Using both
They do different jobs. The snapshot is a quick rollback that lives with your host. NeverWiped is an encrypted copy outside your hosting account, with a history and consistent database dumps. NeverWiped keeps one copy, on one storage server (known limits); a snapshot at your host is a second one, in another place.
Last reviewed: 6 November 2026. See also: all comparisons.