Snapshot Storage (/home and /data)

/home and /data directories are backed up daily and available for up to 28 days in the past.

Convenience Script for Seeing and Restoring Snapshots

A utility named rewind is available for convenient restorations from these snapshots. This application lists all unique file versions found in snapshots and numbers them ascendingly in age. It can then, with a simple additional flag, restore a copy of the old versions to a new, dated directory.

Viewing Versions

Versions of a specific FILE:

[rcsparky@sol-login01:~]$ rewind .bashrc
Type: file
Target: .bashrc
Working directory: /home/rcsparky

Current file: PRESENT
  Size: 13.3 KB
  MD5: 6c13b80fc339c7e3281bff2e029e48c4

Distinct versions available (most recent first):
  [0] CURRENT  13.3 KB  6c13b80fc339c7e3281bff2e029e48c4
      source: /home/rcsparky/.bashrc
  [1] 2026-04-02 12:00:00  13.1 KB  00079f3a316a892905d86019012e1d01
      source: /home/rcsparky/.snapshot/ScheduleName_duration_2026-04-02_12:00/.bashrc
  [2] 2026-04-01 12:00:00  13.1 KB  3a84f3d9236525f88fe394d1c7f2e35f
      source: /home/rcsparky/.snapshot/ScheduleName_duration_2026-04-01_12:00/.bashrc
  [3] 2026-03-16 12:00:00  13.1 KB  b38aca3c9914c3445ddd5edb898b59d8
      source: /home/rcsparky/.snapshot/ScheduleName_duration_2026-03-16_12:00/.bashrc

Snapshot scan (most recent first):
  2026-04-08 12:00:00  PRESENT  size=13.3 KB  version=0  md5=6c13b80fc339c7e3281bff2e029e48c4  SAME_AS_CURRENT
  2026-04-07 12:00:00  PRESENT  size=13.3 KB  version=0  md5=6c13b80fc339c7e3281bff2e029e48c4  SAME_AS_CURRENT
  2026-04-06 12:00:00  PRESENT  size=13.3 KB  version=0  md5=6c13b80fc339c7e3281bff2e029e48c4  SAME_AS_CURRENT
  2026-04-05 12:00:00  PRESENT  size=13.3 KB  version=0  md5=6c13b80fc339c7e3281bff2e029e48c4  SAME_AS_CURRENT
  2026-04-04 12:00:00  PRESENT  size=13.3 KB  version=0  md5=6c13b80fc339c7e3281bff2e029e48c4  SAME_AS_CURRENT
  2026-04-03 12:00:00  PRESENT  size=13.3 KB  version=0  md5=6c13b80fc339c7e3281bff2e029e48c4  SAME_AS_CURRENT
  2026-04-02 12:00:00  PRESENT  size=13.1 KB  version=1  md5=00079f3a316a892905d86019012e1d01
...
  2026-03-12 12:00:00  PRESENT  size=13.1 KB  version=3  md5=b38aca3c9914c3445ddd5edb898b59d8

The above shows that there are 3 saved versions, in addition to the current state. Numbered [1], [2], and [3], it signifies 3 changes and the state of the file as of the corresponding timestamp.

Restoring Versions

Using the desired value from above with the --restore=<num> flag restores a new copy, with a new name in your pwd.

[rcsparky@sol-login01:~]$ rewind --restore=2 .bashrc
Restored file version [2]
  Source snapshot: ScheduleName_duration_2026-04-01_12:00
  Source path: /home/rcsparky/.snapshot/ScheduleName_duration_2026-04-01_12:00/.bashrc
  Restored to: /home/rcsparky/.bashrc.RESTORED.2026-04-01_12-00-00

Note, the new file has been appended with the date of its origin--it does not replace the current file.

info

rewind also works on directories with an important caveat: it does not recurse subdirectories. Versions displayed will show and restore all files of the snapshotted directory. You must do a restore for each individual subdirectory if you need them included, or you can follow the universal steps below, navigating .snapshot directly.

Seeing All Snapshots

Snapshots are accessible under a hidden directory .snapshot. You cannot see this directory in the web portal, or through directory listing commands, but you may enter it with the special command cd .snapshot while in the directory containing the desired files.

Example (as of September 11):

[rcsparky@login01:~]$ cd .snapshot
[rcsparky@login01:~/.snapshot]$ ls -1
ScheduleName_duration_2025-08-15_12:00/
ScheduleName_duration_2025-08-16_12:00/
ScheduleName_duration_2025-08-17_12:00/
....
ScheduleName_duration_2025-09-09_12:00/
ScheduleName_duration_2025-09-10_12:00/
ScheduleName_duration_2025-09-11_12:00/

This example is a directory snapshot of precisely the contents of your $HOME directory as of the listed date and time. Files that were modified or even deleted exist here, intact, until they are rotated out after 28 days.

Note, you can enter the snapshot directory listing from any directory within your /home or /data directory.

Seeing All Files in a Snapshot

If you want to recover a file that existed in $HOME on September 1st at 12:00, you can view it like this:

[rcsparky@login01:~/.snapshot]$ cd ScheduleName_duration_2025-09-01_12\:00/
[rcsparky@login01:~/.snapshot/ScheduleName_duration_2025-09-01_12:00]$ ls -la
total 3254392
drwx------ 25 rcsparky grp_rcadmins       2391 Aug 22 15:22 ./
dr-xr-xr-x  2 root   root                  0 Sep 11 12:00 ../
-rw-------  1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins        322 May 13  2024 .ICEauthority
-rw-------  1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins       1233 Aug 22 15:22 .Xauthority
drwx------  3 rcsparky grp_rcadmins         23 Aug 29  2024 .apptainer/
-rw-------  1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins      66820 Aug 22 15:22 .bash_history
-rwxrwx---  1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins         18 Dec  6  2016 .bash_logout*
-rwxrwx---  1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins        203 Jan 29  2023 .bash_profile*
-rwxr-x---  1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins        770 Jul 28  2022 .bash_prompt*
-rwxrwx---  1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins      10444 Dec  2  2024 .bashrc*
drwxr-x---  9 rcsparky grp_rcadmins        182 Jul 22 11:15 .cache/
-rw-r-----  1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins      30145 Sep 26  2024 .catjot
...

Full Recovery Example

On February 16, you made a change to a file, or overwrote a file--and you want to reverse this change.

1. The file shows a recent change, February 16.

[rcsparky:~]$ ls -la submit.sh
-rw------- 1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins 31376 Feb 16 12:10 submit.sh

2. Enter the hidden .snapshot directory

[rcsparky:~]$ cd .snapshot

3. List available snapshots within last 28 days:

[rcsparky:~/.snapshot]$ ls -1
ScheduleName_duration_2026-01-20_12:00/
ScheduleName_duration_2026-01-21_12:00/
...
ScheduleName_duration_2026-02-14_12:00/
ScheduleName_duration_2026-02-15_12:00/
ScheduleName_duration_2026-02-16_12:00/

4. Enter the directory that contains the file for the desired time. This example shows the files given the state of the directory as of noon on February 14th.

[rcsparky:~/.snapshot]$ cd ScheduleName_duration_2026-02-14_12\:00\
[rcsparky:~/.snapshot/ScheduleName_duration_2026-02-14_12:00]$ ls -la submit.sh
-rw------- 1 rcsparky grp_rcadmins 31316 Feb 13 15:52 submit.sh

5. Copy the desired file from the read-only directory to a writable directory elsewhere:

$ cp -v submit.sh ~/recovered_submit.sh
'submit.sh' -> '/home/rcsparky/recovered_submit.sh'

info

File timestamps shown here indicate the last modification time, not the date of the snapshot.

Scratch Filesystem

Snapshots are not available on the /scratch filessytem, at all. Files overwritten, changed, or otherwise deleted are unrecoverable.