# Moving Indices from Data Folder

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/moving-indices-from-data-folder/298768>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [March 3, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/moving-indices-from-data-folder/298768 "2022-03-03T17:11:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tim\_Mobley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tim_mobley/32/94741_2.png) [@Tim\_Mobley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tim_Mobley)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/moving-indices-from-data-folder/298768/1 "2022-03-03T17:11:38Z")

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If I wanted to quickly move indices from one node to another, would I break anything if I just cut/pasted the indices files under `%ES_HOME%\data` from one node to another? ...as opposed to using the `_cluster/reroute` API, which seems to take forever and frequently fails.

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**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:** [March 3, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/moving-indices-from-data-folder/298768/2 "2022-03-03T17:54:02Z")

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Yes, you are very likely to break things by doing that. Never ever alter or delete data on disk - ALWAYS use the APIs.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tim\_Mobley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tim_mobley/32/94741_2.png) [@Tim\_Mobley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tim_Mobley)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/moving-indices-from-data-folder/298768/3 "2022-03-03T17:56:57Z")

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Thanks - I thought so, just wanted to check. So what is the best way to offload cold data to removable disks for long-term, offline storage?

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**Author:** ![DineshNaik](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dineshnaik/32/89308_2.png) [@DineshNaik](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DineshNaik)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/moving-indices-from-data-folder/298768/4 "2022-03-03T17:57:53Z")

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Hi Tim,  
You can not just copy the data folder to any node and make it work.

Best way for you will be to move the indices to other node via reindex api ( If index size is not really large) else snapshot restore could be an option.

> **[Reindex API | Elasticsearch Guide \[8.0\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-reindex.html)**

Not sure what you are trying to do with reroute api  
As it allows manual changes to the allocation of individual shards in the cluster.

See if reindex api helps you.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/moving-indices-from-data-folder/298768/5 "2022-03-31T17:57:56Z")

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