Backups on an ARK: Survival Ascended server
By Benjamin D. · PDG
· 2 min read
Contents
An ARK world represents hundreds of hours of taming and building. It is one of the few games where the loss cannot be recovered over a weekend.
The save is a folder
World, player profiles and tribe data sit in separate files. Copying only the world gives structures with no owners.
What usually destroys a world
A removed mod, an update that goes wrong and a process interrupted mid-write. Hardware failure is the rarest cause on that list.
Why one copy is not enough
Damage is rarely noticed the same evening. A missing creature is found days later, and keeping only the latest copy means keeping the damaged one.
How many generations to keep
A week of daily copies and a month of weekly ones is enough. ARK saves are heavier than average but still modest.
Where to store them
A copy on the same machine protects against mistakes, not against losing the machine. At least one belongs elsewhere.
Before every mod change
Removing a mod erases its structures and creatures. The copy taken beforehand is the only protection.
Before every update
ARK updates have already been painful for older worlds. A copy beforehand is the cheapest insurance available.
Stop the server with a command
The game writes the world on shutdown. An interrupted write gives a file that opens but is missing part of the world.
Test the restore
A copy that has never been restored is an assumption. One attempt on a separate server shows whether the folder is complete.
The copy takes longer over time
It grows with the world. Schedule it so it does not land in the middle of the evening peak.
Name copies with the date
A date and a short note make restoring fast. Identical names force you to open them all.
Check the copies appear
A configured schedule and a working schedule are two different things.
Most of what precedes is a matter of organisation rather than technique: the decisions are made before you start, the backups have to actually run, and the rules are written while nothing has gone wrong yet. Our ARK: Survival Ascended server hosting takes on the part there is no reason to do by hand — automatic backups, mod management and map switching, along with a panel where settings, files, mods and restarts are handled without ever opening a command line.
