🧱 Minecraft Backup Manager

Why I made this: As a kid I loved seeing the saving message and the peace of mind knowing my game just backed up. I could die or burn my house down and all I had to do was turn the xbox off. Loved it. I made this to recreate that that feeling in the same minecraft world, but now runs in on a java server. The world is from 2012 so I needed ways to safe guard it.

What it does: A simple, automated backup + restore system for Minecraft servers using tmux and cron.

Designed to be:

• ⚡ Easy to install
• 🔒 Safe for live servers
• 🧠 Minimal and reliable

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✨ Features

• ⏱️ Automated hourly, daily, and weekly backups
• 🔄 Full server restore support (complete recovery)
• 🧰 Interactive installer (no manual config needed)
• 🧹 Automatic cleanup (prevents disk overflow)
• 📁 Rsync Copying (saves the disk)
• 📦 ZSTD compression (fast and efficient)
• 🗑️ Uninstall script included
• ⚙️ Optional cron setup

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📦 Installation

1. Download (Git)

Click: Code → Download ZIP

Or clone:

git clone https://github.com/j0shh3ss/Minecraft-Backup-Manager.git
cd Minecraft-Backup-Manager
cd scripts

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1. Download (No Git)

If you don’t have git installed, you can checkout the latest release directly:

👉 https://github.com/j0shh3ss/Minecraft-Backup-Manager/releases/latest

Download

wget https://github.com/j0shh3ss/Minecraft-Backup-Manager/archive/refs/tags/v1.0.5.tar.gz

Extract

tar -xzf v1.0.5.tar.gz
cd Minecraft-Backup-Manager-1.0.5
cd scripts
pwd

Then run:

chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

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2. Run Installer

chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

The installer will:

• Ask for your server location - All paths must be absolute (e.g. starts with "/" /mnt/server/minecraft, not home/user/...)
• Configure all scripts automatically
• Optionally install cron jobs
• Optionally run a test backup

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🧪 Manual Backup

Run anytime:

cd /Minecraft-Backup-Manager-1.0.5
cd scripts
./hourly_backup.sh

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🔄 Restore a Backup

First time running (To set permissions)

cd /Minecraft-Backup-Manager-1.0.5
cd scripts
chmod +x restore.sh
./restore.sh

Example usage:

cd /Minecraft-Backup-Manager-1.0.5
cd scripts
./restore.sh
Tmux session name [Minecraft]: World
Minecraft server root directory (contains world/, versions/, config/, etc.): [/mnt/server/minecraft]: /mnt/server/minecraft
Path to backup file (.tar.zst): /mnt/server/minecraft/backups/hourly/server_hourly-2026-04-14_09.tar.zst
⚠️ WARNING: This will OVERWRITE your current server files!
Continue? (y/n): y
✅ Restore complete!

What this does:

• Pauses world saving safely
• Replaces your server files with the backup
• Restarts saving

⚠️ This will overwrite your current server files

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📌 Important

• The directory you enter must be your server root folder
• This is the folder that contains files like:
  • server.jar
  • world/
  • plugins/ (if applicable)

Example:

Correct: /mnt/server/minecraft
Wrong: /mnt/server/minecraft/world

⏱️ Cron Jobs

If enabled, the installer schedules:

• Hourly → every hour
• Daily → 3:15 AM
• Weekly → Monday 3:30 AM

Edit anytime with:

crontab -e

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📁 Folder Structure

backups/
├── hourly/
├── daily/
├── weekly/
└── logs/

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🧹 Uninstall

chmod +x uninstall.sh
./uninstall.sh

Options:

• Remove cron jobs
• Delete backups
• Remove logs

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⚙️ Requirements

• Linux system
• tmux
• tar
• zstd
• cron

• Installer assumes a Debian/Ubuntu-based system (apt)

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🧠 Notes

• Designed for servers running inside tmux
• Uses save-off to prevent world corruption
• Backups can use significant disk space depending on retention. Ex: My server directory is 7gb after compression. 24 copies are stored in /hourly. 7 copies are stored in /daily. 4 copies are stored in /weekly. Total = 245GB

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❗ Disclaimer

• Provided as-is
• Test before using in production
• Always verify backups can be restored

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👍 Why This Exists

I wanted a simple, reliable backup + restore system for my Minecraft server without plugins or complex tools.

If it helps you too, feel free to use or modify it.