Restoring from backup removes existing snapshots

shapez0r

New Member
Aug 22, 2025
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Hi! Searching the forum, I found a few similar threads, and the statement that backups do not support snapshots. And this is OK.
However, when I recently tried to make a backup of a VM with snapshots, and then tried to restore it from this backup - it removed the already existing VM snapshots.

Could we at least get a warning or UI confirmation, that if a VM has snapshots then restoring from a backup will erase them?

If the restoration does not suppose to erase VM snapshots, then this is a bug at least in v9.0.11

Thank you
 
Yes, but I guess it's not clear enough.
Both warnings
'Snapshots not supported and will not be a part of backup' during backup
AND
'This will erase VM data including snapshots' during restore
are required to make sure users are aware that snapshots will be gone if they exist
 
I understand that you've been burned and can see where you are coming from. That said, user education through pop-up warnings tends to be ignored most of the time. There are many variables at play: automated scheduled backups, usage of CLI or API, and so on. I also believe that most backup solutions do not capture snapshots themselves, although they may use snapshots as the source.

One could also argue that snapshots are part of VM data, so a warning about "permanently erasing VM data" is already indicating what will happen.

PVE developers may decide to implement the feature you are asking for in due time. Alternatively, if you feel strongly about it, you could submit a patch yourself to help speed up the process.


Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox
 
Interestingly there is already a message about snapshots:

:-)


Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox