# What snapshot data should I copy from one cluster to another for a migration? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [March 11, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-snapshot-data-should-i-copy-from-one-cluster-to-another-for-a-migration/266969 "2021-03-11T15:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![juang](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/juang/32/85302_2.png) [@juang](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/juang)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-snapshot-data-should-i-copy-from-one-cluster-to-another-for-a-migration/266969/1 "2021-03-11T15:51:02Z")
Hi, I'm trying to migrate some indices from one Elasticsearch cluster to another in a completely different datacenter. They share basically no common infrastructure. Both clusters are on version 1.6.0 and the latter cluster is currently empty. My process on how to do this: 1. Create a snapshot in the source cluster. 2. Manually copy and move the data from the source cluster to the target cluster. 3. In the target cluster create a snapshot repository configured at the location of where I copied the snapshots. 4. Make a POST /\_snapshot/.../\_restore request in the target cluster to restore the data. My main question is about what data I need to copy. Our source has several large indices (all in all a couple TBs) and many snapshots, and I'm unsure about what data I actually need to move to the target cluster. The source cluster's underlying repository mount is structured like so. (This is a superset of the data i'm going to copy to the target cluster): [path.repo] ├── index ├── indices │ ├── [index 1] │ │ ├── 0 │ │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ │ | ... │ │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ │ ├── 1 │ │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ │ ├── ... │ │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ │ ├── 2 │ │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ │ ├── ... │ │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ │ └── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ │ ├── 3 │ │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ │ ├── ... │ │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ │ └── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ │ ├── 4 │ │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ │ ├── ... │ │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ │ └── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ └── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ └── [index 2] │ ├── 0 │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ ├── ... │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-2 │ │ └── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ ├── 1 │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ ├── ... │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-2 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ ├── 2 │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ ├── ... │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-2 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ ├── 3 │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ ├── ... │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-2 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ ├── 4 │ │ ├── \_\_0 │ │ ├── ... │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-2 │ │ └── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 │ ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-2 │ └── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 ├── metadata-manual-snapshot-1 ├── metadata-manual-snapshot-2 ├── metadata-manual-snapshot-3 ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-1 ├── snapshot-manual-snapshot-2 └── snapshot-manual-snapshot-3 If I wanted to restore only "manual-snapshot-2" that includes "index 2" what data would need to be copied to the target cluster's file system? Thanks ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-snapshot-data-should-i-copy-from-one-cluster-to-another-for-a-migration/266969/2 "2021-03-18T06:30:08Z")
Elasticsearch 1.6 is very, very old and has been EOL a loooong time, so you should really upgrade. I have not touched an Elasticsearch 1.x cluster in years but think the snapshot and restore functionality changed relatively little for a long time. The answer is that you will need to copy the whole repository as [segments can be reused between snapshots if they have not changed](https://www.elastic.co/blog/found-elasticsearch-snapshot-and-restore) in order to ensure the restore operation will work and the repository is valid. ---
**Author:** ![juang](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/juang/32/85302_2.png) [@juang](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/juang)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 1:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-snapshot-data-should-i-copy-from-one-cluster-to-another-for-a-migration/266969/3 "2021-03-18T13:03:46Z")
Thanks for the response! Agreed about needing to upgrade. We are currently in the process of migrating our data to an up-to-date cluster, still a work in progress though. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 1:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-snapshot-data-should-i-copy-from-one-cluster-to-another-for-a-migration/266969/4 "2021-04-15T13:03:49Z")
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