Advanced Backups vs Minecraft Backup

Advanced Backups is a free, open-source backup mod for Minecraft Java edition, supporting NeoForge, Forge, Fabric and Spigot. It can run entirely on a server; a client installation is needed only to receive backup notifications. The mod supports ZIP, differential and incremental backups, with options for schedules, startup and shutdown backups, and minimum and maximum intervals. Automatic purging can be set by storage size, age or backup count, while command-created snapshots are protected from that cleanup. A command-line tool can restore a whole backup or an individual file and export a backup; it requires Java on the system PATH. The tool can detect backups created by other mods, but it cannot export those backups. Client-side toasts report when backups occur and can be disabled or limited to operators. The README says many Minecraft versions are supported and invites requests for additional versions. The project lists a BSD-3-Clause license, and its backup scope is worlds-only with local storage. One limitation matters for incremental backups: losing a partial backup can damage that chain until the next full backup, and incremental restores take the longest.

Minecraft Backup is a Linux script for backing up Minecraft server world folders. It can create tar archives or use the restic backend, and connects to servers managed with screen or tmux, as well as servers with RCON or Docker RCON enabled. The script works with vanilla servers and does not require plugins. Backups can be scheduled with cron; the README includes an hourly example. For older backups, users can choose no deletion, sequential deletion of the oldest backup, or thin retention. Thin retention keeps the last 24 hourly and 30 daily backups, then uses available space for weekly backups. Backups are stored locally, and restoration uses tar extraction for tar files or restic restore for restic backups. The script can post backup status messages in Minecraft chat. It requires tar and a compression program such as the default gzip; RCON also requires xxd. Player data can become out of sync with world data during backups, potentially duplicating or losing items. RCON is recommended because it waits for the server to confirm saving is complete. The README also warns that Minecraft bug MC-217729 can cause a backup to fail.