Snapshots
The Snapshots page gives you a complete view of every snapshot HetGuard has created across all your servers and schedules. You can filter, inspect, and manually delete snapshots from here.
How Snapshots Work
When a backup job runs, HetGuard calls the Hetzner Cloud API to create a snapshot of the target server. Hetzner snapshots are full disk images stored within your Hetzner project. They can be used to restore a server to the exact state it was in at the time the snapshot was taken.
Snapshots are named using the pattern {label}-{timestamp}, for example web-prod-daily-2026-05-22-0200. This makes it easy to identify which schedule created a snapshot and when.
Snapshots are billed by Hetzner, not by HetGuard. Check your Hetzner billing docs for current snapshot pricing.
Browsing Snapshots
The Snapshots page lists all snapshots HetGuard created, sorted by creation date (newest first). For each snapshot you can see:
- Description — the snapshot name and its Hetzner ID.
- Server — the server the snapshot was taken from.
- Project — the Hetzner account (project) it belongs to.
- Status —
availableonce the snapshot has been successfully created by Hetzner. - Size — the disk size of the snapshot in GB.
- Created — the date and time the snapshot was created.
Deleting Snapshots
You can delete any snapshot directly from the Snapshots page. Click the delete icon on the row, confirm the prompt, and HetGuard will call the Hetzner API to remove the snapshot from your account immediately.
Snapshot deletion is permanent and immediate. There is no way to recover a deleted snapshot. If you want to prevent a snapshot from being pruned by automatic retention, delete the schedule first and then manage the snapshot manually.
Automatic Pruning
After each successful backup run, HetGuard compares the number of snapshots for that job against the retention count you set. If the count exceeds the limit, the oldest snapshots are deleted automatically until the count is within the limit.
Pruning only affects snapshots created by that specific schedule. Snapshots from other schedules or created manually are never touched.
Restoring a Server from a Snapshot
HetGuard can trigger a server restore directly from the Snapshots page — no need to log in to the Hetzner Console. Click the Restore button on any available snapshot created by a HetGuard job, review the inline warning, and confirm. HetGuard will call the Hetzner API to rebuild the server from that snapshot.
You can monitor the restore status and log output in real time under Restores in the sidebar. See Restores for full details.
Rebuilding a server from a snapshot permanently overwrites all current data on the server. There is no undo. HetGuard requires a two-step confirmation before triggering the restore.