Applies to: Multicast Video. Not sure which panel you have? See Which radio or video panel do I have?

Backup keeps a copy of your channel's video library: the video files, the playlists and the thumbnails. If you delete something by mistake, or an edit (trimming, watermark) doesn't turn out as you wanted, you can restore the files from the copy. You can also download the copy to your computer and keep one yourself.

Before you start

• The feature must be included in your package. It's available on packages that include it. If you see a yellow PRO badge next to Backup Management in the menu, the page only shows a description of the feature. Ask us to upgrade your package (see Upgrading or downgrading your package).
• If the page says "Backup Not Configured", the backup service isn't available on your server yet. Send us a ticket (see Support ticket).

What's included and what isn't

The What is Included card at the bottom of the page is a reminder. If you change a lot in the Schedule or Advertisements, keep notes or screenshots, because they don't go into the backup.

The Backup page

Go to Account → Backup Management. The page is called Backup. At the top you see four cards:

• Videos: how many videos are ready to play.
• Total Size: how much space your files take up. The backup will be about this size.
• Auto Backup and Manual Backup: 1 if a copy already exists, 0 if not.

Below them are two large cards: Auto Backup and Manual Backup.

Auto Backup

The automatic backup is made by the system, without you doing anything. It runs once a week. The card shows the most recent automatic copy: Date, Size, how many Videos it contains and its status. Once it's complete, it has the Download and Restore buttons. You can't delete the automatic backup; the next one replaces the previous one.

If you've just started, you'll see "No automatic backup yet". Wait for the next cycle, or make a manual one.

Manual Backup

You make the manual backup yourself whenever you want, e.g. before big changes: before deleting many videos, before trimming or watermarking many files, before reorganising folders. One manual backup is kept at a time.

Creating a manual backup

1. Go to Account → Backup Management.
2. Click the Create Backup card ("Create a manual backup of your videos").
3. The Backup in Progress window opens with a progress bar (%).
4. When it's done you'll see "Backup completed!" and the page refreshes. The Manual Backup card now shows the date, size and number of videos.

The time depends on the size of your library: a few minutes for a few GB, longer for large libraries. The backup runs on the server, so the channel keeps playing normally while you wait.

Already have a manual backup? If you click Create while one already exists, you'll see "You already have a manual backup. Delete it first.". If you want to keep the old one, click Download first to save it to your computer, then delete it (bin icon) and create a new one.

Downloading the backup to your computer

1. On the backup's card (automatic or manual), click Download.
2. A .tar.gz file downloads, e.g. videopanel_user_[username]_manual_[date].tar.gz. It may take a moment to start.
3. Keep it on an external drive or a cloud service.

The file is compressed. On Windows open it with the free 7-Zip; on Mac and Linux it opens with a double-click. Inside you'll find your videos as normal MP4 files.

Size: the file is about as large as the Total Size on the page, often tens of GB. Make sure you have enough space on your computer and a stable connection before you start.

Restoring from a backup

Restoring takes the files from the copy and puts them back in your account:

• Missing files (e.g. videos you deleted) come back, together with their playlists.
• Files with the same name are replaced by the backup's version. That's how you fix a video that was spoiled by trimming or a watermark.
• Anything you uploaded after the backup is not deleted. Restoring adds, it doesn't clean up.

1. On the backup's card, click Restore.
2. In the Confirm Restore window, read "This will restore your videos from this backup. Existing files will be replaced." and the warning "Files from the backup will overwrite current files.".
3. Click Restore.
4. The Restore in Progress window opens with a progress bar. When it's done you'll see "Restore completed!" and the page refreshes.
5. Go to Content → Videos and Playlists and check that everything is in place.
6. If videos came back into the playlist that's playing, open the playlist and click Activate, so the channel "sees" the restored files (see Playlists).

Careful: replacing files can't be undone. If you've deliberately changed a video after the backup (e.g. trimmed it), restoring will return it to its old form. If you're not sure, download a new manual backup of the current state first.

Deleting a manual backup

1. On the Manual Backup card, click the red bin icon.
2. In the "Are you sure you want to delete this backup?" window, click Delete.

Deleting only affects the copy. Your channel's videos are not affected.

One more tip

Backup is a safety net, but the best safety net is to keep your own original files too. If you only want to download a few videos, you can also do that from Account → FTP Access (see Uploading with FTP).

Messages / Common problems