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Rescuing and recovering your data using rescue mode on Elastic Metal servers

If your Elastic Metal server encounters issues but does not have a hardware failure, you can still recover your data using rescue mode, regardless of whether you are using Windows or Linux.

Before you start

To complete the actions presented below, you must have:

Booting into rescue mode

  1. Follow these instructions to start your server in rescue mode (emergency system) via the Scaleway console.

  2. Log into your server using one of the following methods:

    Tip

    The rescue mode credentials (username and password) are displayed in your Scaleway console.

Gaining root access

By default, you are logged in as a regular user in rescue mode and may not have permission to execute all necessary commands.

  1. Switch to the root account by typing the following command and pressing Enter:

    sudo su

  2. Enter the rescue user password displayed in the Scaleway console and press Enter.

    Tip

    For security reasons, the password will not be visible when typing.

Mounting partitions

To access your data, you need to mount your server’s partitions in rescue mode. If this step succeeds, you can likely recover your files.

As the root user, run the following command to mount all partitions:

mountall.sh

The partitions will be mounted in the /mnt directory.

Note

You may encounter errors such as swap cannot be mounted or many partitions do not exist. These can be safely ignored.

Recovering your data

You can recover your data by downloading it directly to your local computer via SFTP.

Important

Exercise caution when editing your data in rescue mode. The root user has full permissions, including the ability to irreversibly delete files.

Backing up data to your personal computer (via SFTP)

You can use an SFTP client like FileZilla to download data from your server.

Open FileZilla and fill in the following details:

  • Host: Your server’s IP address
  • Username: Rescue mode username (e.g., em-XXXX)
  • Password: Rescue mode password
  • Port: 22
Tip

These details are available in your console once rescue mode is active.

Your data will be located in the /mnt, /sda1, or /sda directories. You can download it before reinstalling the server or transferring data to another server.

Tip

If you encounter difficulties, consider contacting a certified outsourcer for professional data recovery.

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