Work out what you have lost access to, exactly
People say "I am locked out" to mean five different situations, and they have different escapes:
| What is gone | What often still works |
|---|---|
| Control panel only | SSH, SFTP, the database port, rsync |
| The whole server, network off | A support ticket asking for a rescue boot or an export |
| Account closed, service running | Anything you were already connected with |
| Everything, no reply | Your registrar, your DNS, your off-site backup |
Check each one before concluding anything. A surprising number of suspensions disable the web panel and the public site while leaving SSH answering, because the suspension script was written to stop the complaint, not to stop you.
The order to pull things in
If you have limited time or a flaky connection, sequence matters. Pull in this order, smallest and most irreplaceable first:
- Database dumps. Smallest, most valuable, hardest to reconstruct.
mysqldumporpg_dump, compressed, first. - Configuration. Web server config, cron tables, environment files, TLS keys. Tiny, and rebuilding them from memory takes days.
- User-uploaded content. Irreplaceable and usually the biggest. Start it early and let it run.
- Application code. Only if it is not in version control somewhere else. If it is, skip it entirely.
- Logs. Last, and only if you may need evidence of what happened.
Use rsync with --partial --append-verify rather than an archive you have to finish in one go, because a connection that dies at 90 per cent of a tarball has given you nothing, and a dead rsync has given you 90 per cent.
When there is no shell at all
- Ask for a rescue boot. Most hosts have one, it boots a live system with your disk mounted, and many will enable it for a suspended service because it does not restore your public site.
- Ask for an image. Offer to pay. A disk image on a link is cheaper for them than a support argument.
- Ask for read-only reactivation for a fixed window. Frame it as an hour, not as a restoration.
- Check every other place a copy might already be. A staging server, a developer laptop, a CI artefact, a search-engine cache, the Wayback Machine for public pages.
Take your domain with you first
The most expensive thing to lose is not the data, it is the domain, and it is the thing people forget while they are busy panicking about the disk. If your registrar is the same company as your host, move the registration out today, before you argue about anything else.
Lower your DNS TTL to a few minutes as the very first action of the whole exercise. It costs nothing, and it is the difference between a cutover that takes minutes and one that takes two days, at the point where you have already lost two days.
Making the next one survivable
The uncomfortable truth about every article like this is that the outcome was mostly decided before the email arrived. Four things, none of them expensive:
- Backups somewhere your host cannot reach. A backup on the same account is not a backup, it is a second copy of a single point of failure.
- A restore you have actually run. Once. On a different machine. Otherwise you own an untested file.
- Registrar separate from host. Different company, different jurisdiction if it matters to you.
- DNS you control. So a move is a record change rather than a negotiation.
That is most of the architecture in building so a takedown cannot end you, which goes further into the structural side.
Moving here, if that is where this ends
The migration service is free and an engineer does the work, including the sync window and the DNS cutover. It is free because a migration is the moment somebody decides whether they trust a supplier, and charging for it would be charging for the interview.
Questions people actually ask
My host says the data is already gone. Is it?
Sometimes, and sometimes it means the panel entry is gone. Ask specifically whether the underlying volume has been wiped and whether any backup of it exists on their side, as two separate questions.
Can I get data from a host that will not answer?
Rarely, and it becomes a legal matter rather than a technical one. Which is why the off-site backup is the whole answer, and why it has to exist before you need it.
How long do hosts normally keep a suspended service?
It ranges from days to a couple of months and it is in your terms of service. Do not rely on the generous end of that range.
Written by the people who answer the notices, and corrected when it is wrong. Last revised 30 июля 2026.
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