# How to export/import an ES snapshot to/from an external harddrive

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-export-import-an-es-snapshot-to-from-an-external-harddrive/290796>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** snapshot-and-restore\
**Created:** [December 2, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-export-import-an-es-snapshot-to-from-an-external-harddrive/290796 "2021-12-02T16:29:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dancing\_ghosts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dancing\_ghosts](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dancing_ghosts)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-export-import-an-es-snapshot-to-from-an-external-harddrive/290796/1 "2021-12-02T16:29:04Z")

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We have our customers Filebeat/Winlogbeat data stored on our Elasticsearch instance. The customer has an Elasticsearch instance at their physical location which is the same version as ours. They wish to import this data into their Elasticsearch instance. My plan was to take a snapshot of the indices and export it to an external hard drive to deliver to them. If I did this would they be able to import the snapshot into their own cluster?

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**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-export-import-an-es-snapshot-to-from-an-external-harddrive/290796/2 "2021-12-02T17:13:35Z")

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It sounds like you are basically wanting to do a repository backup. It should be fine as long as you follow the [process in the docs](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/snapshots-register-repository.html#snapshots-repository-backup) to do that.

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**Author:** ![dancing\_ghosts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dancing\_ghosts](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dancing_ghosts)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-export-import-an-es-snapshot-to-from-an-external-harddrive/290796/3 "2021-12-02T17:42:45Z")

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Thanks,

Does Elasticsearch have an API to backup the repository? Also, this approach does not allow you to isolate particular indices, correct?

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**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-export-import-an-es-snapshot-to-from-an-external-harddrive/290796/4 "2021-12-02T18:10:48Z")

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No, no API, you just copy the files over.

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**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 6:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-export-import-an-es-snapshot-to-from-an-external-harddrive/290796/5 "2021-12-02T18:11:09Z")

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And yes you can select a subset of the indices when you take the snapshot.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 6:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-export-import-an-es-snapshot-to-from-an-external-harddrive/290796/6 "2021-12-30T18:11:22Z")

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