# 5. Restore from PBS Backup

You deleted your favorite childhood pictures by accident, ransomware took hold of your data or maybe your whole machine lit on fire. Then how do we restore your precious data from the backups you have taken ? That is what we will discuss in this chapter

# 1. Restore VM's From PBS when production node is destroyed

In this page we will explain how you can restore a virtual machine from a backup server when your primary node is destroyed. Note that this is different when your production instance is still running. This really means, bam on fire or whatever it is completely broken and you need to get a new machine.

1. The first step is to install Proxmox PVE on your new machine and make sure that if your network is still intact to place your PVE machine on the same network with the same IP addresses
2. Also you need to reconfigure the Network Bridges and add the necessary VLAN's you have been using.
3. Once that is done you need to connect to your Proxmox Backup Server in the same way you have already done here.
4. 

# 4. PBS OS drives are broken but storage disks are intact, what to do ?

Yes, <span class="font-semibold">you can reinstall Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) and import the backups even if the original PBS drive is broken</span>, as long as your backup data itself is intact on separate storage.

Here's how it works:

<span class="font-semibold">The backup data is independent</span>: Your actual backup files (VMs, containers, disk images) are stored as data on the external storage location. PBS is just the <span class="font-semibold">management layer</span> that organizes and indexes those backups. If PBS itself fails, the backup data remains unchanged.

<span class="font-semibold">Reinstalling and recovering</span>:

<div class="ucB71mHYvyHsWKjYfYKI" id="bkmrk-install-a-fresh-prox"><div class="DDjJOsxcW6f8fPcDWaJx"><div class="JrWQJZIYGnawLoKSzZsO"><div><div class="space-y-4 whitespace-normal *:first:mt-0 *:last:mb-0 VrBPSncUavA1d7C9kAc5 U_5uJaZtJAYAFWUmk7aU">1. <span class="font-semibold">Install a fresh Proxmox Backup Server</span> on new hardware or a replacement drive
2. <span class="font-semibold">Point PBS to your external backup storage</span> (the drives/NAS where your backups are actually stored)
3. PBS will <span class="font-semibold">scan and re-index the backup data</span> from that external storage
4. You'll be able to <span class="font-semibold">restore your VMs and containers</span> from those backups

</div></div></div></div></div><span class="font-semibold">Important considerations</span>:

<div class="ucB71mHYvyHsWKjYfYKI" id="bkmrk-your-backups-must-be"><div class="DDjJOsxcW6f8fPcDWaJx"><div class="JrWQJZIYGnawLoKSzZsO"><div><div class="space-y-4 whitespace-normal *:first:mt-0 *:last:mb-0 VrBPSncUavA1d7C9kAc5 U_5uJaZtJAYAFWUmk7aU">- Your backups must be in a <span class="font-semibold">standard, accessible format</span> (not encrypted in a way that requires the old PBS instance's keys, unless you have those keys)
- If you used <span class="font-semibold">PBS encryption</span>, you'll need the encryption password/key to restore
- The external storage must be <span class="font-semibold">readable</span> (accessible via NFS, SMB, or direct connection)
- There may be a brief period where PBS needs to re-catalog the backups before you can restore

</div></div></div></div></div><span class="font-semibold">Bottom line</span>: Yes, this is a viable recovery scenario. The backup data is the critical part—PBS is replaceable. Just make sure your backups are on drives that are actually safe and accessible.