Storage Explorer

Browse, download, and manage your backup files.

Overview

The Storage Explorer provides a file browser interface for all your backup destinations. From here you can:

• Browse backup files
• View backup metadata
• Download backups
• Restore databases
• Lock/unlock backups
• Delete files

Accessing Storage Explorer

1. Navigate to Storage Explorer in the sidebar
2. Select a destination from the dropdown
3. Browse folders and files

Interface

File List

Each file shows:

Column	Description
Name	Backup filename with extension
Source	Database adapter icon (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.)
Size	Compressed file size on storage
Date	Last modified timestamp
Triggered by	Who or what initiated the backup: Manual (username), Scheduler, or API (API key name). Populated from .meta.json - only available for backups created after v2.3.2.
Verification	Result of the last integrity check: passed, failed, or not yet verified.
Status	Lock icon if the backup is protected from retention

The file list defaults to sorting by Last Modified descending, so the most recent backups appear first.

Filters

Filter backups by:

• Job: Show only backups from specific job
• Date range: Filter by backup date
• Size: Filter by file size

File Types

Backup Files

Main backup data:

backup_2024-01-15T12-00-00.sql       # Plain SQL
backup_2024-01-15T12-00-00.sql.gz    # Compressed
backup_2024-01-15T12-00-00.sql.gz.enc # Encrypted

Metadata Files

Sidecar files with backup info:

backup_2024-01-15T12-00-00.sql.meta.json

Contains:

{
  "jobName": "Daily MySQL",
  "sourceName": "Production DB",
  "databases": ["myapp", "users"],
  "compression": "GZIP",
  "encryption": {
    "enabled": true,
    "profileId": "uuid"
  },
  "size": 1048576,
  "duration": 45000,
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T12:00:00Z"
}

Actions

View Details

Click on a file to see:

• Full metadata
• Backup source info
• Compression/encryption status
• File checksums

Incremental Snapshots

Jobs using incremental backups produce one row per snapshot, each a complete restorable point in time. A Type column marks them Full or Incremental. Every backup carries this marker, so database-only backups show Full there rather than a blank cell. Backups written before this column existed also show Full.

The size column shows the complete snapshot size, not just what that archive stores - hover it to see the stored size. An incremental archive holding 2 GB can represent a 60 GB snapshot, and showing the 2 GB alone would be misleading.

For these backups the download menu offers Download Complete Snapshot, which assembles the full contents from the chain as a .tar.gz. Plain Download still gives you the raw archive file, which for an incremental is only the delta - useful for diagnostics, not for recovery.

Restore

The Restore action opens the restore page for the selected backup. For backups with directory sources it shows a file tree per source, so you can restore everything (the default), a folder, or individual files - see Restore for the full flow, including restoring back to the original location and downloading a selection as .tar.gz.

If the backup contains both databases and directory sources, the action opens a short menu first:

Choice	Opens
Restore Everything	Both halves, databases and files
Databases Only	The database section, files hidden
Files Only	The file trees, no database target needed

Backups with only one kind of content skip the menu and open their restore page directly. The choice only narrows what the page offers - you can always go back and pick again.

Listing the backup's contents reads only a small index file stored next to it, so browsing a backup transfers a few megabytes whatever its size. Destinations that support ranged reads restore with a handful of small requests instead of transferring the archive:

Ranged reads	Full download per restore
Local Filesystem, S3 (and compatible), SFTP, Rsync, WebDAV, Google Drive, OneDrive, FTP, Dropbox	SMB

The full per-adapter picture, including which ones offer a folder browser when configuring a source, is in File & Folder Backups.

Download

1. Click Download button
2. File downloads to your browser
3. Decryption happens automatically (if encrypted)
4. Decompression is not automatic

For encrypted files, you'll see a dropdown with options:

• Download Encrypted (.enc): Downloads the raw encrypted file
• Download Decrypted: Decrypts before download
• wget / curl Link: Opens the Download Link modal

To decompress locally:

# Gzip
gunzip backup.sql.gz

# Brotli
brotli -d backup.sql.br

wget / curl Download Links

Server-Side Downloads

For downloading backups directly to a remote server (e.g., during Redis restore), you can generate temporary download URLs that work with wget or curl.

1. Click Download button on any backup
2. Select wget / curl Link from the dropdown
3. Choose download format:
   • Decrypted: File will be decrypted server-side (recommended)
   • Encrypted (.enc): Downloads raw encrypted file
4. Click Generate Download Link
5. Copy the provided wget or curl command

Generated Commands:

# wget
wget -O "backup.sql.gz" "https://your-server/api/storage/public-download?token=..."

# curl
curl -o "backup.sql.gz" "https://your-server/api/storage/public-download?token=..."

Important:

• Links expire after 5 minutes
• Links are single-use (token consumed on first download)
• The modal shows a live countdown timer
• You can generate a new link anytime

Verify Integrity

Check that a stored backup file matches its recorded checksums:

1. Click Verify on a file row (or open the detail dialog)
2. A tracked execution starts - progress is visible in History
3. The result (passed / failed) is written back to the file row and .meta.json

For S3, Cloudflare R2, Hetzner, Google Drive, and OneDrive, verification uses the native checksum API - no re-download required. For other destinations the file is downloaded and checksums are computed locally.

TIP

Enable post-upload verification for all new backups in Settings → System → Post-Upload Verification.

Restore

1. Click Restore button
2. For a backup containing databases and directory sources, pick what to restore
3. Select target database source, restore targets for directory sources, or both
4. Configure options (see Restore)
5. Confirm and monitor progress

Glacier / Deep Archive

Backups stored in S3 GLACIER or DEEP_ARCHIVE show an orange badge and have Restore and Download disabled. Restore the object via the AWS Console first, then retry from here.

Lock/Unlock

Protect important backups from retention:

1. Click Lock icon
2. Backup is now protected

Locked backups:

• ✅ Cannot be deleted by retention policies
• ✅ Don't count against retention limits
• ⚠️ Can still be manually deleted

Delete

1. Click Delete button
2. Confirm deletion
3. Both .enc and .meta.json are removed

Permanent Action

Deleted files cannot be recovered from DBackup. Ensure you have another copy before deleting.

Organization

Folder Structure

Backups are organized by job:

/storage-root/
├── mysql-daily/
│   ├── backup_2024-01-15.sql.gz
│   └── backup_2024-01-16.sql.gz
├── postgres-weekly/
│   └── backup_2024-01-14.sql.gz
└── mongodb-hourly/
    ├── backup_2024-01-15T00.archive.gz
    └── backup_2024-01-15T01.archive.gz

Naming Convention

Backup names include timestamp:

{job-prefix}_{ISO-timestamp}.{extension}

Example:
backup_2024-01-15T12-00-00-123Z.sql.gz.enc

Search and Filter

Quick Search

Type in search box to filter by:

• File name
• Job name
• Date

Advanced Filters

Click Filters to set:

• Date range
• Minimum/maximum size
• Specific job
• Locked status

Bulk Actions

Select multiple files for:

• Bulk download
• Bulk delete
• Bulk lock/unlock

Shift+Click

Hold Shift to select a range of files.

Storage Statistics

View at top of explorer:

• Total size: All backups combined
• File count: Number of backup files
• Latest backup: Most recent timestamp
• Oldest backup: Earliest timestamp

File Listing Cache

File listings are cached in SQLite for instant repeat visits. You will never see a loading spinner for a destination you have opened before.

The cache is automatically updated when:

• A new backup is created or uploaded
• A backup is deleted or locked/unlocked
• A verification result is written

The Pre-warm Storage Cache system task (hourly, enabled by default) reconciles caches against remote storage and pre-populates the cache for destinations not yet visited. If a backup file is deleted directly on the storage backend (outside DBackup), the next cache reconciliation will detect and remove the stale entry.

Execution Log Export

From any execution detail dialog (History or live progress), you can:

• Copy to clipboard - copies the full log text
• Download as .log - saves the log as a file

Sensitive data (IP addresses, credentials, connection strings) is automatically redacted before export.

Performance

Large File Lists

For destinations with many files:

• The file listing cache provides instant repeat loads
• Filters help narrow results
• Consider cleaning up old backups with retention policies

Download Speed

Downloads are limited by:

• Storage provider bandwidth
• Your internet connection
• Decryption processing (if encrypted)

Troubleshooting

Files Not Showing

Causes:

• Empty destination
• Wrong path prefix
• Permission issues

Solutions:

1. Verify destination configuration
2. Check backup job ran successfully
3. Test connection on destination

Download Fails

Causes:

• Network timeout
• File too large
• Browser restrictions

Solutions:

1. Try again
2. Check browser download settings
3. Use smaller backup chunks

Metadata Missing

Causes:

• Old backup format
• File manually copied
• Incomplete upload

Solutions:

1. Backup still works, just no metadata
2. Can restore by selecting manually
3. Future backups will have metadata

Best Practices

1. Regular cleanup: Use retention policies
2. Lock important backups: Before migrations, updates
3. Verify backups: Download and test periodically
4. Monitor size: Watch storage growth
5. Organize by job: Clear naming conventions

Next Steps

• Restore - Restore from backup
• Retention Policies - Automatic cleanup
• Download and decrypt - Manual decryption