How to use Server Rewind to restore e-mail

This article describes how to use the Server Rewind feature in cPanel to restore e-mail.

Backups and Server Rewind

All A2 Hosting servers have redundant hard drives for real-time RAID 1 mirrored backups. We also provide off-server backups. These server backups are stored for the last 30 days on a best-effort basis. To do a restore from one of these backups, use the Server Rewind feature in cPanel.

If you require assistance from our Guru Crew in retrieving backups, please open a support ticket on the Customer Portal at https://my.a2hosting.com. In the ticket, please specify what you want to restore, and we will make a best effort to restore your data.

Restoring e-mail with Server Rewind

To restore e-mail using Server Rewind, follow these steps:

1. Before using Server Rewind, back up your e-mail off-site.
   An easy way to back up e-mail is to set up a client application to access your accounts using POP. POP downloads all e-mail messages locally to your computer. For information about how to do this, please see this article.
2. Prepare the mail directory for e-mail restore:
   • If you want to restore all e-mail for all domains, remove the mail directory from the account entirely.
   • If you want to restore all e-mail for a specific domain, remove the directory in the mail directory. For example, delete only the mail/example.com directory.
3. Log in to cPanel.
   If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see this article.

4. Open Server Rewind:
   

   • If you are using the Jupiter theme, on the Tools page, in the Files section, click Server Rewind:

     

   • If you are using the Paper Lantern theme, in the FILES section of the cPanel home page, click Server Rewind:
     

     

5. Select the date that contains the e-mails you want to restore. To expand a date, click the + icon.

6. Select the mail directory.
   

   Make sure you leave the Restore into this location in my home directory text box empty.

7. Click Restore! The restoration process begins.
   

   The length of time to complete the restore process depends on directory size, the number and size of the files, and so on.
8. After the mail directory is restored, confirm that the etc/example.com directory is present, where example.com represents your domain name. This directory contains the login information for your e-mail accounts. If there are no files in the directory, select the etc directory in Server Rewind, and then click Restore!.