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Decision

New help article in cloud/backups/common-issues, route cloud/backups/common-issues/restore-fails-insufficient-disk-space.

Why: no page on docs.frappe.io covers a restore that stops for lack of disk space. The folder cloud/backups/common-issues exists and has no pages yet (checked 15 Oct 2026). The topic is a specific use case: it affects dedicated servers only, because Frappe Cloud adds disk space on shared servers itself. So it does not belong in the main Site Backups page.

Link from: cloud/sites/backups (add one line to the page, see below), in the same change request.

Question behind the tickets: "My restore failed with insufficient disk space. What do I do?"

Who meets it: teams on a dedicated server who restore a large backup, often a production backup to a staging site.

Evidence: sample tickets #51041, #53129, #55776, #58874, #59458. These were not read, because the ticket analysis folder and frappectl are not on this machine. The facts come from the press source, upstream/develop at 2921ac64f (15 Oct 2026):

Site.get_restore_space_required_on_db: database server needs 8 * db_file_size * 2 (8 times for extraction, 2 times for binlogs).
Site.check_and_increase_disk: error text, and auto-increase for public servers only.
Site.db_server_restore_space: if app and database share one host, the database disk needs both amounts.
api.site.validate_restoration_space_requirements and BackupFilesUploader.vue: upload error text.
ServerOverview.vue: Increase Storage, 6-hour limit, Configure Auto Increase Storage at 90%.

Line to add to cloud/sites/backups, under a Related heading at the end:

- [Restore fails with insufficient disk space on the database server](/cloud/backups/common-issues/restore-fails-insufficient-disk-space)

Restore fails with insufficient disk space on the database server

If you restore a backup to a site on a dedicated server, the restore can stop with Insufficient estimated space on Database server. Frappe Cloud stops the restore before it starts, because the database server does not have enough free disk space.

The error

If you click Restore Backup, Restore Backup on another Site or Restore from an existing site, the dashboard shows this message:

Insufficient estimated space on Database server to create site. Required: 32.0 GiB, Available: 12.4 GiB (Need 19.6 GiB more).

The message says "to create site" for a restore too. The numbers show the space that the restore needs, the free space on the server, and the difference.

If you upload backup files to restore a site, the upload stops with this message:

Insufficient space on database server. Please add 20 GB more storage.

The same check also runs on the application server. In that case, the message says Application server or Insufficient space on app server. The fix is the same, on the application server.

Why this happens

A backup stores the database as a compressed file. Before the restore starts, Frappe Cloud estimates the space that the database server needs:

When the file is extracted, the database grows to about 8 times the size of the compressed file.
During the restore, MariaDB writes binary logs (binlogs, a record of every change to the database). Frappe Cloud doubles the estimate for these.

So the database server needs about 16 times the size of the compressed database file. If the free space is less than this, the restore does not start. This protects the other sites on the server, because a full disk can stop the database for every site on it.

On a shared server, Frappe Cloud adds the disk space automatically. On a dedicated server, you control the storage, so you must add it before you retry. Auto Increase Storage does not help here. It adds storage only after disk usage goes over 90%, not before a restore.

If your application and database run on the same server, that server needs the space for both.

For example, Woodcraft Interiors has a database backup of 2 GiB. The database server needs 2 × 16 = 32 GiB free. The server has 12.4 GiB free, so the restore stops and asks for 19.6 GiB more.

How to fix it

Step 1: Find how much space you need

Read the error and note the value after Need. This is the minimum space to add.
Go to Servers in the Frappe Cloud dashboard and open the database server.
In the Overview tab, look at Storage. It shows the used space and the total disk size.
Click the pie icon next to Storage. The Storage Breakdown dialog shows the space for each site, the binlogs and the system files.

Step 2: Add storage or free space

Add a margin of 10 to 20% to the value in the error. Then the disk does not fill up again right after the restore.

To add storage:

In the Overview tab of the database server, click + (Increase Storage) next to Storage.
In Storage (GB), select a value that is more than the value in the error.
Click Confirm. The dashboard shows "Disk size is scheduled to increase" and opens the Plays tab of the server.
Wait until the play is complete. Then make sure that Storage shows the new disk size.

You pay for each additional GB every month. You can increase the storage only once in 6 hours, and you cannot decrease it later.

To free space instead:

If the server has sites that you do not use, drop them. A dropped site frees its database space.
If binlogs use a large part of the disk, reduce the binlog retention in the Actions tab of the server. See Database Server Actions.

You can also change the database server to a plan with a larger disk. See Change plan.

Step 3: Retry the restore

Open the site and go to the Backups tab.
Start the restore again, in the same way as before.
Open the restore job in the Jobs tab. When all steps are complete, the site status changes to Active.

Restore production to staging on a dedicated server

Many teams restore a production backup to a staging site to test updates. Plan the storage of the staging server for this:

At the time of the restore, the staging database server needs free space of about 16 times the compressed production database backup.
The production database grows over time. A restore that worked last month can fail this month. Look at the size of the latest production backup before each restore.
If staging and production use the same database server, the restore uses disk space that production also needs. A full disk then stops production too. Use a separate database server for staging, or add the storage first.
The binlogs from a restore stay on the disk until the binlog retention period ends. So repeated restores in a short time use more space each time.

How to prevent it

Before a large restore, look at the size of the database file in the Backups tab. Multiply it by 16 and compare the result with the free space on the database server.
If you restore often, for example to a staging site, keep the free space on the database server above this value.
Turn on Configure Auto Increase Storage for the server, so that normal growth does not fill the disk.

If this does not fix it

If the restore still fails after you add space, raise a support ticket at support.frappe.io. Attach:

The site name and the database server name.
The full error message, or a screenshot of it.
The date of the backup that you want to restore.

If you cannot increase the storage, for example because you increased it less than 6 hours ago, also say this in the ticket.

Meta title: Restore fails: insufficient disk space on database server | Frappe Cloud

Meta description: Fix a Frappe Cloud restore that fails with 'Insufficient estimated space on Database server' or 'Insufficient space on database server'. Add storage on your dedicated server and retry the restore, including production to staging.

Screenshots

Frappe Cloud screens. Take them with the Cloud test team (never a team with customer sites). The team needs a dedicated database server.

File	Shows	Source
`restore-space-error.png` (optional, after "The error")	The error message after Restore Backup	Ticket image through `ticket_image.py`, needs reviewer sign-off. Hard to reproduce on purpose.
`restore-space-db-storage-overview.png`	Database server Overview tab, Storage row with the pie icon in a red box	Cloud test team
`restore-space-increase-storage.png`	Increase Storage dialog with Storage (GB)	Cloud test team. Do not click Confirm, because it adds a monthly charge.

To check

To check: the sample tickets. Read #51041, #53129, #55776, #58874 and #59458 for other error texts. For example, a restore job that fails later with No space left on device or MariaDB errno 28. If so, add them under "The error".
To check: the exact place of the Restore action for uploaded backup files, and of Restore from an existing site, in the current dashboard.
To check: the name of the binlog retention action in the database server Actions tab (code: Update Binlog Retention).
To check: that binlogs from a restore stay until the retention period ends, on servers with binlog auto purging on.
To check: Hetzner servers do not show Increase Storage (condition: doc.provider != 'Hetzner'). If customers on Hetzner meet this error, add what they must do, for example change plan.
To check: in the error, the server name is "Database". The map in the code is Database Server → Database, so the text is "on Database server". Make sure that it matches a ticket screenshot.