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Without prior notice, Plesk has switched to Zstandard for Backups. This algorithm was developed by Facebook to manage a large amount of data on a daily basis. It is a lossless compression algorithm, meaning it operates without causing data loss. Zstd allows for real-time data compression and offers a trade-off between compression speed and compression ratio, enabling the compression of large amounts of data in a short time. Thus, it is understandable why Plesk decided to switch to this algorithm for backups; the advantages are numerous. However, for Windows users, it can be complex to decompress backup archives if there is a need to access some data or restore the backup outside of the Backup utility present in the Plesk control panel.
How to unpack the .tzst backup in Windows?
In a GNU/Linux environment, there wouldn't be major issues; we just need to install zstd. With Windows, it's necessary to "fiddle" a bit more, starting by installing the free software PeaZip (click here to download it), one of the few that allows us to decompress files in this format.
We will then need to extract the backup file, navigate to the folder, and unpack the various .tzst archives. Remember that in Plesk backups, the data files that make up our PrestaShop or WordPress installation are located in backup_user-data_xxx
We then position the mouse over the file we want to extract and right-click.
We will meet with a file backup_user-data_xxx, without any extension
All that’s left is to unpack this file with 7-zip
The procedure with Windows is currently cumbersome; once completed, we will have extracted the archive on our PC.
In the folder httpdocs we will find the files that make up our ecommerce in PrestaShop or another CMS. For the database, the procedure is the same, with the difference that the extracted file will be without an extension; just open it with Notepad++ or another text editor, or import it into PhpMyAdmin as it is.
Note: it is better to perform these procedures in GNU/Linux, perhaps directly via SSH on the destination server. Obviously, the backup restoration procedure in Plesk is much simpler and safer.
Author: Loris Modena
SENIOR DEVELOPER
Per Ind Loris Modena, owner of Arte e Informatica, started working in the IT sector in 1989 as a system administrator responsible for the maintenance and installation of computer systems. He began programming for the web in 1997, focusing on CGI programming in PERL and later transitioning to programming in PHP and JavaScript. During this time, he became familiar with the Open Source world and the management of Linux servers.