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Rust Backup and Restore Guide

Rust Guide • Updated Jan 19, 2026

Rust Backup and Restore Guide

Protect your server data with regular backups and learn how to restore when needed.

What to Backup

Essential directories and files:

# Server Storage Locations server/rust/server/ # Main save files server/rust/proceduralmap/ # Procedural map saves server/rust/barren/ # Barren saves (if used)

Creating Manual Backups

Windows

# Stop server # Create backup folder mkdir backups\%date% # Copy save files xcopy server\rust\* backups\%date%\ /E /I # Restart server

Linux

# Stop server systemctl stop rustserver # Create backup directory BACKUP_DIR="/path/to/backups/$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)" mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR" # Copy save files cp -r server/rust/* "$BACKUP_DIR/" # Create archive tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR.tar.gz" "$BACKUP_DIR" # Restart server systemctl start rustserver

Automated Backups

Windows Task Scheduler

# Create backup_script.bat @echo off set BACKUP_DIR="C:\rustserver\backups\%date:~-4,4%%date:~-7,2%%date:~-10,2%" mkdir %BACKUP_DIR% xcopy "C:\rustserver\server\rust\*" %BACKUP_DIR%\ /E /I /Y # Schedule with Task Scheduler # Run every 4 hours

Linux Cron Job

# Add to crontab (crontab -e) # Backup every 4 hours 0 */4 * * * /path/to/backup_script.sh # Backup daily at 3 AM 0 3 * * * /path/to/backup_script.sh # backup_script.sh content: #!/bin/bash RUST_DIR="/path/to/rust/server" BACKUP_DIR="/path/to/backups/$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)" mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR" systemctl stop rustserver cp -r "$RUST_DIR/rust" "$BACKUP_DIR/" systemctl start rustserver tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR.tar.gz" "$BACKUP_DIR" rm -rf "$BACKUP_DIR"

Restoring from Backup

Full Restore

# Stop server systemctl stop rustserver # Remove current saves rm -rf server/rust/* # Extract backup tar -xzf backups/20250119_030000.tar.gz # Copy files back cp -r 20250119_030000/* server/rust/ # Restart server systemctl start rustserver

Player Data Restore

Restore specific player data:

# Extract backup tar -xzf backups/backup.tar.gz # Find player data # Located in server/rust/proceduralmap/player.deaths/ # and server/rust/proceduralmap/player.identities/ # Copy specific files cp backup/rust/proceduralmap/player.deaths/steamid.* server/rust/proceduralmap/player.deaths/

Rust++ Backups

If using Rust++:

# Rust++ uses different save structure server/rust+/saves/ # Backup Rust++ files cp -r server/rust+/saves backups/rust++_$(date +%Y%m%d)

Database Files Explained

  • player.deaths: Player death history
  • player.identities: Player progress and stats
  • player.states: Current player states
  • user/: User account data
  • entity/: All entities (bases, items)

Backup Retention

Implement retention policy to save disk space:

# Keep backups for 7 days find /path/to/backups -name "rust_backup_*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete # Or keep daily, weekly, monthly # Daily for 7 days # Weekly for 4 weeks # Monthly for 3 months

Cloud Backup

Upload backups to cloud storage:

# AWS S3 aws s3 sync /path/to/backups s3://bucket-name/rust/ # Google Cloud Storage gsutil -m rsync -r /path/to/backups gs://bucket-name/rust/ # rclone (multi-cloud) rclone sync /path/to/backups remote:bucket/rust/

Warning: Always stop the server before creating backups to ensure save file consistency.

Troubleshooting

Corrupted Backup

  • Try older backup
  • Verify file integrity
  • Check for incomplete transfers
  • Use file recovery tools if needed

Restore Failed

  • Verify file permissions
  • Check disk space
  • Ensure server is stopped
  • Review file format and structure

Pro Tip: Test your restore procedure regularly to ensure it works when you actually need it.

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