Help Center/ Relational Database Service/ User Guide (Ally Region)/ Working with RDS for PostgreSQL/ Data Restorations/ Restoring Data to RDS for PostgreSQL/ PITR: Restoring a DB Instance to a Point in Time
Updated on 2026-04-24 GMT+08:00
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PITR: Restoring a DB Instance to a Point in Time

Scenarios

You can restore from automated backups to a specified point in time.

When you enter the time point that you want to restore the DB instance to, RDS downloads the most recent full backup file from OBS to the DB instance. Then, incremental backups are also restored to the specified point in time on the DB instance. Data is restored at an average speed of 30 MB/s.

Function Description

Table 1 Function description

Item

Description

Restoration scope

The entire instance

Instance data after restoration

The instance data after restoration is consistent with that in the full backup plus the incremental backup used for the restoration.

  • Restoring data to a new instance creates an instance with the same data as that generated by that time point.
  • Restoring data to an existing instance will overwrite the instance data.

Restorable time point

Any time point within the retention period after the earliest full backup is generated

Scenario
  • Restoration to a new instance
  • Restoration to an existing instance other than the original one

Configurations for restoring to a new instance
  • The DB engine and engine version of the new instance are the same as those of the original instance.
  • Other parameters need to be reconfigured.

Time required

The time required depends on how much data there is in the instance. The average restoration speed is 30 MB/s.

Constraints

  • Constraints on restoring data to an existing DB instance:
    • Restoring to an existing DB instance will overwrite data on it and cause the existing DB instance to be unavailable during the restoration.
    • To restore backup data to an existing DB instance, the selected DB instance must be in the same VPC as the original DB instance and must have the same DB engine and DB engine version as the original DB instance. For example, a backup of PostgreSQL 16.5 can be restored only to an existing instance running PostgreSQL 16.5 instead of 16.6.
    • Ensure that the storage space of the selected instance is no less than that of the original instance. Otherwise, data will not be restored.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the management console.
  2. Click in the upper left corner and select a region and a project.
  3. Click in the upper left corner of the page and choose Database > Relational Database Service.
  4. On the Instances page, click the target instance name.
  5. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Backups & Restorations. On the displayed page, choose Restore to Point in Time > Restore Instance.
  6. Select the restoration date and time range, enter a time point within the selected time range, and select a restoration method.

    • Create New Instance
      The Create New Instance page is displayed.
      • The DB engine and version of the new DB instance are the same as those of the original DB instance and cannot be changed.
      • The new instance must have at least the same storage space as the original instance.
      • Other settings are the same as those of the original DB instance by default and can be modified. For details, see Buying an RDS for PostgreSQL Instance.
    • Restore to Existing
      1. Select the prompt message.
      2. Select an existing instance and click Next.
      3. Confirm the information and click OK.

  7. View the restoration result. The result depends on which restoration method was selected:

    • Create New Instance

      A new DB instance is created using the backup data. The status of the DB instance changes from Creating to Available.

      The new DB instance is independent of the original one. If you need read replicas to offload read pressure, create one or more for the new DB instance.

      After the restoration is complete, a full backup will be automatically triggered.

    • Restore to Existing

      On the Instances page, the status of the instance changes from Restoring to Available.

      After the restoration is complete, a full backup will be automatically triggered.