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DBA-C0067 · Backup & Recovery

How Long Will My Database Restore Take?

Divide a backup size by a throughput you measured. Index rebuilds are not in that number.

Updated 25 October 2026 · How-To

This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.

What this hour is for

The restore estimator divides gigabytes by megabytes per second and calls the result hours. WAL replay and index rebuilds add time that this number does not include. The size estimator is a separate sketch of how large the backup file may be.

Label both numbers as estimates. Do not start a restore during the reading. Do not restore onto the only copy.

192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. A sample password is replaced. It is not a password you keep.

The change you can finish

Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the database named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the database, then decide.

Rollback is the backup, the file, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.

  1. Type a size you measured.
  2. Type a throughput you measured.
  3. Read the hours.
  4. Write what the number leaves out.
  5. Stop.

Mistakes that outlive the statement

How Long Will My Database Restore Take? goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.

Decisions to write down

One decision for How Long Will My Database Restore Take?: Size and throughput are written. The hours are labeled an estimate. Nothing was restored. And the target is a copy.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The size is written. The throughput is written. Index rebuilds are noted. Nothing was restored. And the database is yours. If one of those fails, stop.

Before you leave the database

How Long Will My Database Restore Take? ends when the database in the prompt is the database in the ticket. If it is not, you are on the wrong database. Stop.

The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the database. You delete a line that names a host, a database, or an account you did not write down.

192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a database because a draft included them.

prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. A sample password in a draft is replaced. It is not a password you keep.

One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it.

If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. Restore the copy you took first.

A second person reads the database name and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done.

This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a database you do not administer. You do not disable authentication, a firewall, or TLS to make a check pass.

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