How to Go to an Old Save in Minecraft: the Ultimate Guide
Minecraft is another sandbox game where players venture, build, and survive in a huge generated world. As time has passed, you might have caused significant changes to your Minecraft world while building massive structures, investigating new areas, or experimenting on different gameplay mechanics.
Now, you may ask- why would you want to go back to a previous save?
There are several reasons why you will want to revert to a previous save within Minecraft:
Unintentional Changes: You sometimes might accidentally destroy a build or make other unwanted changes to your world.
Corruption: Sometimes Minecraft worlds become corrupted, and a revert to an earlier save helps restore your game to playability.
Experimentation Gone Wrong: You tried a new mod, update, or experimental feature that went haywire in your world. Restoring to an earlier save is probably what you have to do.
Creative Freedom: You are experimenting with new ideas, yet you wish to keep your world intact. Having a backup lets you experiment without worrying about losing work.
How to Return to an Earlier Save in Single Player Minecraft
If you are playing Minecraft in single-player mode, the process to go back to a previous save is pretty straightforward. Minecraft creates auto-save backups of your world, but you can also manually create some for your own peace of mind to have a version that you can return to. Here’s how to do it:
- Check for Auto-Save Backups
Minecraft autosaves your world every now and then. Your world might revert to an auto-save if something went wrong depending on your settings. To find the auto-saved files:
Open Save Folder: Files that game saves are on your computer in the following directory:
Windows: C:\\Users\\[YourName]\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\saves\\[YourWorldName]
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves/[YourWorldName]
Linux: ~/.minecraft/saves/[YourWorldName]
Backup Folders: You should see a folder for your world inside the “saves” folder. A backup folder is automatically created by Minecraft where auto-saves are stored.
Restore a Backup: If the backup was made recently you can simply copy the folder and place it in the “saves” folder. Rename the current world folder, then paste the backup folder into the saves directory.
- Manual Backup
If you’ve ever made a manual backup of your world, which you should have done at least once you’ll find it’s really easy to restore it:
Find Your Backup: Locate where you stored your manual backup.
Copy the World Folder: Copy the folder of the world you want to recover.
Replace Current Save: Go to the “saves” folder as described above and paste the folder containing your backup. You can either overwrite existing world folder or rename before overwriting the current.
- Third-Party Backup Tools
There are also third-party tools that can automate the saving and restoring of your Minecraft world. Tools like MineBackup or World Downloader can help you keep regular backups, which can make it easier to revert to an older version without having to manually handle the files.
How to Go to a Previous Save on a Minecraft Server
For those hosting Minecraft servers, be it for a small group of friends or a larger community, the process of restoring a previous save is a bit more involved.
- Using Server Backups
Most server hosting services automatically create backups of your world at regular intervals. To restore your server to a previous save:
Log into Your Server Control Panel: Access the server control panel provided by your host.
Find Backups: In this section, you would get “Backups” or “World Backups”. This will show you all the saved versions of your world.
Restore a Backup: You get a list of backup versions available. Select the one which you want to restore to. This overwrites the current world by installing the older version; you need to select the proper date and time.
- How to manually restore the earlier Save
If you are running your own server, either on your computer or through a dedicated host-keeping service and you backed up manually, restoring your game can be super easy:
Locate your backup file: head to where you created backups for your server.
Upload the Backup to Your Server: Utilizing an FTP client, like FileZilla, upload the backup file to the server’s world directory, overwriting the existing world save. The world folder typically has names like “world,” “world_nether,” and “world_the_end” for the primary world, Nether, and End dimensions.
Restoring the server: Now, after that upload of your backup; now start up the server for updating to that change. So now, your world would return a saved state.
- Automated Backup Plugins
With a Spigot, Bukkit, or Paper-based Minecraft server, one can implement an automated plugin on the Minecraft server, which performs its task on the behalf. WorldGuard, WorldEdit, and CoreProtect plugins all have functions to help a player backup their worlds. With it, a person can even go back in time.
Install a Backup Plugin: Download and install a plugin that supports world backups.
Configure the Plugin: Set the backup frequency and retention settings to ensure your world is automatically backed up at regular intervals.
Restore a Previous Save: If needed, use the plugin’s commands to revert your world to a previous save without the need for manual file management.
More Tips on Minecraft Saves Management
Regular Backup Whether single-player or running the server, it ensures your world will be kept safe from accidental changes or corruption.
Cloud Storage Save all backs in cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox so that your computer doesn’t delete your worlds from crashing.
Conclusion
This skill, whether playing single player or running a server, can save your progress in case of unwanted changes, accidental destruction, or wanting to return to an earlier version of your world. Knowing how to restore an older save saves you a lot of time and frustration. This can be ensured by maintaining regular backups, through automatic plugins, and manually managing saves.
