Help Center/ Object Storage Service/ User Guide/ Object Management/ Object Management/ Restoring Archive or Deep Archive Objects
Updated on 2026-08-21 GMT+08:00
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Restoring Archive or Deep Archive Objects

Scenarios

To reduce storage costs, you can store objects that are rarely or hardly ever accessed in the Archive or Deep Archive storage class. You must restore these objects before you can download them, share them, change their storage class, or access them with a URL.

How Object Restore Works

The following describes how object restore works, including the restore process and the rules for combining restore validity periods.

After you restore an Archive or Deep Archive object, a copy in the Standard storage class is created. This copy is automatically deleted when its validity period expires. The restore operation does not change the storage class of the original object. The following describes how object restore works and the related costs.

Figure 1 How object restore works and the related costs
  1. Unrestored: The object cannot be read directly. Only non-read operations, such as metadata queries and deletion, are supported.

    In the Unrestored state, the object incurs storage costs.

  2. Restoring: The object cannot be read directly. Only non-read operations, such as metadata queries and deletion, are supported.
    • If this is the first time you call the RestoreObject API, it returns 202, indicating that the server has received the request.
    • If you submit another restore request while the object is being restored, the API returns 409, indicating an operation conflict.
    • In the Restoring state, the object incurs storage costs and restore costs (depending on the restore speed and the amount of data restored).
  3. Restored: A Standard object copy has been successfully created, but this copy does not appear in the bucket. You can now directly read the object (the restored copy).
    • If you call the RestoreObject API again during the validity period, the API returns 200 OK.
    • During the restore validity period, costs include: original object's storage costs, object copy's storage costs, request costs (restoring an object counts as one restore request), and outbound Internet traffic costs (if the object is accessed over the Internet).
  4. Restore validity period expired: The object copy is automatically deleted. Only the original object remains in the bucket. The object returns to the Unrestored state and cannot be read directly. Only non-read operations, such as metadata queries and deletion, are supported.

    In the Unrestored state, the object incurs storage costs.

If you initiate a restore request for an object at time A and set the validity period to N days, the restore expiration time will be A + N. Later, you make another restore request for the object at time B (B is earlier than A + N) and set the validity period to M days:

  • If B + M is later than A + N, the expiration time changes to B + M, and the total validity period is (B – A) + M, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Rules for combining restore validity periods

The validity period of restored objects starts from the first 08:00 (Beijing time) after the restore is completed. For example, if you restore objects between 08:00 on April 21, 2026 and 08:00 on April 22, 2026 and set the validity period to one day, the validity period begins at 08:00 on April 22, 2026 and the restored objects expire at 08:00 on April 23, 2026.

  • If B + M is earlier than A + N, the second restore will fail.

Restore Speeds and Validity Periods

OBS provides two restore speed options: expedited and standard. The time required to complete a restore varies depending on the storage class of the objects.

The validity period refers to the number of days during which restored objects remain readable. During this period, Standard object copies are available and can be read at any time.

Table 1 Restore speeds and validity periods

Object Storage Class

Restore Speed

Validity Period

Archive
  • Expedited: Objects are restored within 1 to 5 minutes.
  • Standard: Objects are restored within 3 to 5 hours.

1–30 days

Deep Archive
  • Expedited: Objects are restored within 3 to 5 hours.
  • Standard: Objects are restored within 5 to 12 hours.

1–30 days

Important Notes

  • After versioning is enabled, if you do not specify a version ID, OBS restores the current version. You can specify a version ID to restore a specific version.

Constraints

  • Archive and Deep Archive objects can remain in a restored state for a maximum of 30 days.
  • If an Archive or a Deep Archive object is being restored, its restore speed cannot be changed, and the restore task cannot be suspended or deleted.
  • If you attempt to restore an object that is being restored, error 409 will be reported. Wait for the current restore to finish before trying again.
  • Objects that are being restored cannot be added to a batch restore.

Prerequisites

You have the obs:object:RestoreObject permission. For details, see Granting Permissions to an IAM User Under the Current Account.

Ways to Restore objects

You can use OBS Console, APIs, SDKs, or obsutil to restore Archive or Deep Archive objects. You can also use OBS Browser+ to restore Archive objects.

Using OBS Console

  1. In the navigation pane of OBS Console, choose Buckets.
  2. In the bucket list, click the desired bucket. The Objects page is displayed.
  3. Locate the target object and click Restore in the Operation column.

    You can select multiple objects and choose More > Restore above the object list to restore them in a batch.

    Figure 3 Restoring objects

  4. Configure the validity period and speed of the restore.

    Table 2 Parameters for restoring objects

    Parameter

    Description

    Validity Period

    The number of days the objects will remain in the Restored state. The period starts once the objects have been restored. The value can be any integer from 1 to 30 days. The default value is 30.

    For example, if you set Validity Period to 20, the objects will stay in the Restored state for 20 days. After that, their state changes from Restored to Unrestored.

    Speed

    How fast objects will be restored.

    • Expedited: Archive objects can be restored within 1 to 5 minutes, and Deep Archive objects can be restored within 3 to 5 hours.
    • Standard: Archive objects can be restored within 3 to 5 hours, and Deep Archive objects can be restored within 5 to 12 hours.

  5. Click OK.

    The system checks the object restore status every day at UTC 00:00. The expiration countdown begins after the most recent check is completed.

Using APIs

Restoring Archive or Deep Archive Objects

Using SDKs

Java

Python

C

Go

BrowserJS

.NET

Android

iOS

PHP

Node.js

Using the GUI Tool - OBS Browser+

  1. Log in to OBS Browser+.
  2. Go to the object list in the target bucket.
  3. Select the file or folder you want to restore and choose More > Restore Object. The window shown in Figure 4 is displayed.

    Figure 4 Restoring an object

    To restore an object, you must configure the validity period and restore speed. Table 3 describes relevant parameters.

    Table 3 Restoring an object

    Parameter

    Description

    Object Name

    Name of the object or path to be restored.

    Validity Period

    Time duration when an object remains in the Restored state after it has been restored. The validity period starts when the object is restored. You can set the validity period to an integer ranging from 1 to 30 (days). The default value is 30.

    For example, you set Validity Period to 20 when restoring an object. 20 days after the object is restored, its status will change from Restored to Unrestored.

    Speed

    How fast an object will be restored.

    • Expedited: All Archive data can be restored within 1 to 5 minutes.
    • Standard: All Archive data can be restored within 3 to 5 hours.

  4. Click OK to confirm the restored file or folder.

    To view the restoration status of the file or folder, click next to the object and choose Object Properties to view the restoration status. You can download the file only after it has been restored.

Using the CLI Tool - obsutil

Command Line Structure

  • Windows
    • Restoring an object 
      obsutil restore obs://bucket/key [-d=1] [-t=xxx] [-versionId=xxx] [-fr] [-o=xxx] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-token=xxx]
    • Restoring objects in batches 
      obsutil restore obs://bucket[/key] -r [-f] [-v] [-d=1] [-t=xxx] [-o=xxx] [-j=1] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-token=xxx]
    • Restoring all objects in a specific directory at a time 
      obsutil restore obs://bucket/folder/ -r [-f] [-v] [-d=1] [-t=xxx] [-o=xxx] [-j=1] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-token=xxx]
  • macOS or Linux
    • Restoring an object 
      ./obsutil restore obs://bucket/key [-d=1] [-t=xxx] [-versionId=xxx] [-fr] [-o=xxx] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-token=xxx]
    • Restoring objects in batches 
      ./obsutil restore obs://bucket[/key] -r [-f] [-v] [-d=1] [-t=xxx] [-o=xxx] [-j=1] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-token=xxx]
    • Restoring all objects in a specific directory at a time 
      ./obsutil restore obs://bucket/folder/ -r [-f] [-v] [-d=1] [-t=xxx] [-o=xxx] [-j=1] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-token=xxx]

Examples

  • In Windows, run obsutil restore obs://bucket-test/key to restore a single object whose storage class is cold. 
    obsutil restore obs://bucket-test/key
Start at 2024-09-30 08:56:17.9537365 +0000 UTC

Start to restore object [key] in the bucket [bucket-test] successfully, cost [252] ms, request id [0000019242250F754015F23EE0B7876E]
  • In Windows, run obsutil restore obs://bucket-test -r -f -d=30 to restore all Archive objects in a bucket in batches and set the retention period to 30 days. (The validity period can be configured using the -d parameter.) 
    obsutil restore obs://bucket-test -r -f -d=30
Start at 2026-07-10 04:06:05.0639625 +0000 UTC

[-----------------------------------------------] 100.00% tps:0.00 1/1 80ms
Succeed count: 1 Failed count: 0
Metrics [max cost:38 ms, min cost:38 ms, average cost:38.00 ms, average tps:10.20]
Task id: 755fa156-70fa-4da4-9965-8a0db69a723a

Parameter Description

Parameter

Optional or Mandatory

Description

bucket

Mandatory

The bucket name

key

Mandatory for restoring a single object whose storage class is cold

Optional for batch restoring objects whose storage class is cold

The name of the object to be restored or the name prefix of the objects to be restored in batches

NOTE:

If this parameter is left blank when batch restoring objects, all objects whose storage class is cold in the bucket are restored.

d

Optional (additional parameter)

The storage duration after objects whose storage class is cold are restored, in days. The value ranges from 1 to 30. The default value is 1.

t

Optional (additional parameter)

The options for restoring objects. The value can be:

  • standard
  • expedited
NOTE:
  • expedited indicates that objects can be quickly restored from Archive storage within one to five minutes and from Deep Archive storage within three to five hours.
  • standard indicates that objects can be restored from Archive storage within three to five hours and from Deep Archive storage within five to 12 hours.
  • If this parameter is not configured, an expedited restore is used by default.

versionId

Optional for restoring a single object whose storage class is cold (additional parameter)

The version ID of the to-be-restored object whose storage class is cold

fs

Optional (additional parameter)

Whether the method of listing parallel file systems is applied. If you are listing parallel file systems, you are recommended to add this parameter.

CAUTION:
  • With this method, the listing time required varies largely depending on the directory structures.
  • After this parameter is enabled, marker and limit will be ignored. Then, the size of the bucket, parallel file system, or directory will be calculated.
  • This parameter is only supported by obsutil 5.5.12 and later.

fr

Optional for restoring a single object whose storage class is cold (additional parameter)

Generates an operation result file when restoring a single object whose storage class is cold.

f

Optional for batch restoring objects whose storage class is cold (additional parameter)

Runs in force mode.

r

Mandatory for batch restoring objects whose storage class is cold (additional parameter)

Restores objects whose storage class is cold in batches by object name prefix.

v

Optional for batch restoring objects whose storage class is cold (additional parameter)

Restores versions of objects whose storage class is cold in batches by object name prefix.

o

Optional (additional parameter)

The folder that stores the result files. After the command is executed, result files (possibly success and failure files) will be created in the specified folder. The default value is .obsutil_output, a subfolder in the user's home directory where obsutil commands are executed.

NOTE:
  • A result file should be named as follows: restore_{succeed | failed}_report_time_TaskId.txt.

    By default, the maximum size of a single result file is 30 MB and the maximum number of result files that can be retained is 1,024. You can set the maximum size and number by configuring recordMaxLogSize and recordBackups in the configuration file.

j

Optional for batch restoring objects whose storage class is cold (additional parameter)

The maximum number of concurrent tasks for batch restoring objects whose storage class is cold. The default value is the value of defaultJobs in the configuration file.

NOTE:

The tool ensures that this value is at least 1.

config

Optional (additional parameter)

The user-defined configuration file for executing the current command. For details about parameters that can be configured, see Configuration Parameters.

e

Optional (additional parameter)

The endpoint

i

Optional (additional parameter)

The user's AK

k

Optional (additional parameter)

The user's SK

token

Optional (additional parameter)

The user's security token

Response

Field

Description

Parallel

The parameter -p in the request

Jobs

The parameter -j in the request

Threshold

The parameter -threshold in the request

PartSize

The parameter -ps in the request

Exclude

The parameter -exclude in the request

Include

The parameter -include in the request

TimeRange

The parameter -timeRange in the request

VerifyLength

The parameter -vlength in the request

VerifyMd5

The parameter -vmd5 in the request

CheckpointDir

The parameter -cpd in the request

OutputDir

The parameter -o in the request

ArcDir

The parameter -arcDir in the request

Succeed count

The number of successful tasks

Failed count

The number of failed tasks

Skip count

The number of tasks that are skipped during incremental upload, download, or copy, and synchronous upload, download, or copy.

NOTE:

Skipped tasks are recorded into successful tasks.

Warning count

The number of tasks that are executed successfully but contain warnings.

NOTE:
  • The task for which a warning is generated may be a failure or a success, which needs to be further determined according to the corresponding result list.
  • The number of tasks that generate warnings is independent of the number of successful or failed tasks. The total number of tasks is the number of successful tasks plus the number of failed tasks.

Succeed bytes

The number of bytes that are successfully uploaded or downloaded.

max cost

The maximum duration of all tasks, in ms

min cost

The minimum duration of all tasks, in ms

average cost

The average duration of all tasks, in ms

average tps

The average number of tasks completed per second

Task id

The unique ID of an operation, which is used to search for the result file generated for a batch task

Ways to View an Object's Restoration Status and Expiration Time

You can use OBS Console, APIs, SDK, or OBS Browser+ to view an object's restoration status and expiration time.

Using OBS Console

  1. In the navigation pane of OBS Console, choose Buckets.
  2. Click the name of the object whose restoration information you want to view. On the Basic Information tab, view the restoration status and expiration time of the object.

    Figure 5 Viewing object restoration information

Using APIs

Call the API that obtains object metadata. Then, check the x-obs-restore response header to obtain the object's restoration status and expiration time.

Using SDKs

Use the SDK for a specific language to call the API that obtains object metadata. Then, check the response parameter restore to obtain the object's restoration status and expiration time.

Java

Python

C

Go

BrowserJS

.NET

Android

iOS

PHP

Node.js

Using the CLI Tool - obsutil

Command Line Structure

  • Windows 
    obsutil stat obs://bucket/key [-acl][-bf=xxx] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-t=xxx]
  • macOS or Linux 
    ./obsutil stat obs://bucket/key [-acl][-bf=xxx] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-t=xxx]

Examples

  • In Windows, run obsutil stat obs://bucket-test/key to query the basic properties of an object. 
    obsutil stat obs://bucket-test/key

Start at 2024-09-25 04:48:10.1147483 +0000 UTC

Key:
  obs://bucket-test/key
LastModified:
  2018-11-16T02:15:49Z
Size:
  7
StorageClass:
  standard
ETag:
  43d93b553855b0e1fc67e31c28c07b65
ContentType:
  text/plain
Type:
  file
Metadata:
  key=value

Parameter Description

Parameter

Optional or Mandatory

Description

bucket

Mandatory

The name of the bucket to which an object belongs

key

Mandatory

The name of the object whose attributes are to be queried

acl

Optional

Queries the access control policies of the object at the same time.

bf

Optional (additional parameter)

The display format of the object size (in bytes). The value can be:

  • human-readable: The object size is displayed in a human-readable format. For example, the object size is displayed in KB, MB, GB, or TB (for instance, 1 GB), rather than in bytes (for instance, 1,073,741,824 bytes, which is a very large number).
  • raw: The number of bytes is displayed without any conversion or formatting. For example, if the space occupied by an object is 1 GB, the object size is displayed as 1,073,741,824 bytes.

For common users, the human-readable format is easier to understand. For scenarios where accurate calculation or automatic processing is required, the raw format is more suitable.

If this parameter is not configured, the display format of the object size (in bytes) is determined by the humanReadableFormat parameter in the configuration file.

bucket-cname

Optional (additional parameter)

The user-defined domain name bound to the bucket

NOTE:

This parameter is only supported by obsutil 5.7.9 and later.

config

Optional (additional parameter)

The user-defined configuration file for executing the current command. For details about parameters that can be configured, see Configuration Parameters.

e

Optional (additional parameter)

The endpoint

i

Optional (additional parameter)

The user's AK

k

Optional (additional parameter)

The user's SK

t

Optional (additional parameter)

The user's security token

Response

Field

Description

Key

The object name

LastModified

The latest modification time of the object

Size

The object size

Unit: byte

StorageClass

The storage class of the object

The value can be:

  • standard: Standard storage class. It features low access latency and high throughput, and is suitable for storing frequently accessed data (multiple accesses per month) or data that is smaller than 1 MB.
  • warm: Infrequent Access storage class. It is ideal for storing infrequently accessed data (less than 12 times a year), but when needed, the access has to be fast.
  • cold: Archive storage class. It provides secure, durable, and inexpensive storage for rarely-accessed data (once a year). For an object whose storage class is cold, restore the object first and then specify its storage class.
  • deep-archive: Deep Archive storage class. It is ideal for storing data that is hardly ever accessed (once every few years). This storage class costs less than the Archive storage class, but takes longer (usually several hours) to restore data.

MD5

Real MD5 of the object. This parameter is used to ensure and verify data integrity.

You can query this value only after running the cp command and configuring the -vmd5 parameter.

ETag

The ETag value of an object calculated on the server

ContentType

The file type of an object. It determines the format and encoding method a browser will use to read the file.

For details about common ContentType values, see Content-Type Introduction.

Type

The file type

Metadata

The user-defined metadata of the object. This field can be queried only when the object has user-defined metadata.

For details about user-defined object metadata, see User-defined Object Metadata.
Parent Topic: Object Management