# Where data is stored?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/where-data-is-stored/98441>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 26, 2017, 7:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/where-data-is-stored/98441 "2017-08-26T07:07:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

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**Author:** ![theuntergeek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/theuntergeek/32/44961_2.png) [@theuntergeek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/theuntergeek)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/where-data-is-stored/98441/8 "2017-08-26T15:40:31Z")

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You shouldn't use file backups for Elasticsearch, but rather the [snapshot and restore](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.5/modules-snapshots.html) APIs. This can be done by way of other tools, like [Elasticsearch Curator](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/client/curator/current/snapshot.html).

The primary reason to not use a file-type backup approach is that the data would very likely be corrupted. The Lucene data structures in the should-never-be-touched data paths are in constant change so long as indexing is going on. If one file were backed up while another were changing, then there would be a mismatch, and corruption would ensue. Your file-based backup would be worthless.

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