# How to preserve index data **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [January 26, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-preserve-index-data/40128 "2016-01-26T14:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jjdepaul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@jjdepaul](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jjdepaul)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-preserve-index-data/40128/1 "2016-01-26T14:38:06Z")
Sorry if this question is elementary: we need to preserve index data from time to time so we don't have to reload the whole index from scratch. How do I do that exactly!? Which portion of the /data path do I need to preserve so I could just restore it back to a given point in time without ill effects?! We just have one node right now, the path looks like this on RHEL: /elasticsearch-2/data/elasticsearch/nodes/0/indices Can I just tar up all of the contents below and restore them if needed? ---
**Author:** ![Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/christian_dahlqvist/32/4617_2.png) [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-preserve-index-data/40128/2 "2016-01-26T14:43:21Z")
Use the [snapshot and restore](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/modules-snapshots.html) functionality in Elasticsearch. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-preserve-index-data/40128/3 "2017-07-05T23:21:24Z")