Is it possible to restore an SFTP server that was deleted 1 year and 8 months ago?

Question

We had an SFTP server configured to receive files, but it was deleted approximately 1 year and 8 months ago. I would like to know if there is any possibility of restoring it, whether through automatic backups, snapshots, or any other native functionality of the environment where it was hosted (Azure, Windows Server, etc.).

The server was running on [specify the operating system and platform (e.g., Windows Server, Linux, Azure, AWS, etc.)].

Is there any way to recover the instance or at least the files that were stored on it?

Thanks in advance for your help! 😊

Answer 1

Hello Guilherme Alvarenga,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

Restoring an SFTP server that was deleted over a year ago can be challenging, but there are a few potential avenues depending on the platform and operating system it was running on. Here are some possibilities:

On Azure

If your SFTP server was hosted on Azure, you might have a few options:

• Azure Backup: If you had configured Azure Backup for your virtual machines or storage accounts, you could restore from a backup.
• Snapshots: Azure allows you to take snapshots of your virtual machines and disks. If you had snapshots, you could restore the VM or disk from a snapshot.
• Azure Blob Storage: If you were using Azure Blob Storage with SFTP support, you might be able to recover data if you had enabled soft delete for blobs

On Windows Server

For a Windows Server environment, consider the following:

• Windows Server Backup: If you had configured Windows Server Backup, you could restore the server or specific files from a backup.
• Volume Shadow Copy: Windows Server has a feature called Volume Shadow Copy, which allows you to take snapshots of your volumes. If this was enabled, you might be able to recover files from a shadow copy
• Third-Party Backup Solutions: If you were using any third-party backup solutions, check if they have retained backups from that period.

So, if there are any other services you were using, I would recommend you verify if there were any backup policies in place that might have retained backups for the server or its data. Also, I recommend you reach out to the support team of the platform you were using (Azure, Windows Server, etc.) for assistance via ticket as they might have additional tools or methods to help you recover your data.

I hope the information provided was useful, let me know if you have any questions or concerns with the information provided.

Regards,

Gao

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