Knowledgebase

If you received a backup failure notification, here are the most common reasons and how to resolve each one.

Not enough disk space on the server

Before sending a backup off-server, FileMaker Server creates a temporary clone of your database on the same disk. If your server disk does not have free space at least equal to the size of your largest database, the clone — and therefore the backup — will fail.

• Fix: Check disk usage in your FMPHost dashboard. If you are close to full, add disk space using the Upgrade Resources button. We will alert you before you run out, but acting early is always better.

Backup destination is disconnected

Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud destinations periodically expire their authorization tokens. If yours has expired, transfers will fail silently.

• Fix: Go to Backup Settings in your dashboard and re-authorize the connection. The button will walk you through the re-authentication flow.

Database is in an error state

If a database has encountered an error or is not in a consistent state, it cannot be cloned for backup.

• Fix: Check the Log Viewer in the Admin Console for any errors on that database and address them. If the database has corruption, see our article on restoring from a backup.

Destination storage is full

If your Dropbox or Google Drive is out of space, transfers will fail even though your server is fine.

• Fix: Free up space at the destination or switch to a different backup destination.

If you have checked all of the above and backups are still failing, open a support ticket and we will pull the backup logs and diagnose the issue with you.