unable to restore backup to johnny

[lubash]

Hi,

When johnny was closed down a few weeks ago we were offered to make a backup of the site data etc. I made such a backup copy and saved it locally.

After the johnny account was restored today I went to Plesk to upload the backup file created, but Plesk simply states "this was created with an older version of plesk..." and refuses to import the data. (no pw used for the backup, it is a simple .tar)

What to do?

Thank you for you hard work 🙏

[KazVee]

Are you following these steps to restore your account backup? https://wiki.helionet.org/Account_Backups#Restoring_Your_Account_Backup

[lubash]

I need a complete restore based on the complete backup.

I followed the backup instruction and received a .tar

When I unpack it and look through the folders I have no clue what parts to upload or where to upload them - via restore or via some other part of Plesk?

Thank you for your kind help with the link, but it only states "To restore a backup, you must first extract the backup file on your local machine, then upload the specific parts you need."

Edited 22 hours ago by lubash

[wolstech]

I don't see your username lubash in the backup system, so I can't find the backup to see what format it is in. Keep in mind that users cannot restore a complete pleskbackup_*.tar file by design. It MUST be unpacked and manually restored.

If your backup file is called pleskbackup-<username>.tar, then these are the instructions to get your files out of the backup: https://wiki.helionet.org/Account_Backups#Access_Your_Files Once you get the files out, you upload them manually via SFTP or Plesk.

If it's called <username>_2026-05-08.tar (or similar, date may vary), you just open it in 7zip or a similar program and extract the files, then upload the ones you need. Depending on what data was available, there will either a folder full of files from your home directory, or a folder of files alongside a pleskbackup_<username>.tar (which will contain an older backup that also has databases in it).

 

[lubash]

thank you, the problem is "the files you need" should be all, since all were backed up into the .tar

I will look into it tomorrow to see if I can make sense of it, and report back whether I succeed or fail.

Your fast responses are very much appreciated 🙏🏻

[lubash]

OK, the backup file is named 2026-05-15_pleskbackup-<username>.tar

I unzip it and go into the folder called "domain" and then the folder named 'YourAccountUsername.helioho.st'

in there I find 6 different .tzst files, and .xml file and a folder called ".discovered" which contains yet another subfolder with more files

One of the 6 files in the folder named 'YourAccountUsername.helioho.st' is the file named 'backup_user-data_##########.tzst'

As I follow the instructions in https://wiki.helionet.org/Account_Backups#Access_Your_Files I open the file named 'backup_user-data_##########.tzst' and find a file with the same name, but without any extension.

With that it seems I have access to my user data, but I am still confused as to where I upload this in Plesk.
The only instruction I seem find: "To restore a backup, you must first extract the backup file on your local machine, then upload the specific parts you need". Yes, but how upload what parts where in Plesk?

Thankful for your support.

Edited 2 hours ago by lubash

[wolstech]

You should be able to open that file without the extension (it should be a .tar file without the extension, if whatever tool you're using won't open it, you can rename it and put a .tar on it so it will open). .tzst is a .tar inside of z-standard. The actual files you had in your home folder are inside that extensionless tar file.

You then upload the actual files back into your home folder through the file manager or SFTP just like you did when you originally set your account up.