Hello Railway Support, This is an emergency data recovery request. Project: crm-whatsapp-backend Project ID: 88f3dece-dc7d-4d3a-bdc7-cd3fdcb0bcbd Environment: production Postgres service ID: 509670f8-4e0a-4e1c-863e-9563bf90b8f3 Current Postgres deployment: e29df750-8def-403e-9535-88d5549e8485 Previous Postgres deployment: 055bc154-15f4-4b19-9344-52463405bb18 We were running a custom Docker Postgres service using image postgres:16. The service had been running continuously from around May 2, 2026 until July 6, 2026. Our Railway subscription had a past-due invoice, and after the billing issue/redeploy, the Postgres container was replaced. The previous deployments now appear as REMOVED. After this, our databases disappeared / became empty. Lost databases/data: - crmwhatsapp - evolution - evolution237 Current state: - Only crmwhatsapp and postgres databases exist. - evolution / evolution237 no longer exist. - crmwhatsapp tables were recreated empty by Prisma. - Counts are now 0 for Instance, Conversation, Contact, Message, User, Company, ServiceOrder, Quote and Payment. Important: This was a production system. We urgently need to know if Railway can recover the previous container filesystem or any internal snapshot/artifact from before July 6, 2026 around 18:00 UTC. Please check if there is any recoverable data from: - previous deployment 055bc154-15f4-4b19-9344-52463405bb18 - removed deployment/container filesystem - internal host-level snapshot - retained volume/artifact - backup related to the billing suspension/redeploy event Please escalate this to infrastructure/data recovery if possible and preserve any related artifacts before garbage collection. We understand this was a custom Postgres container and may not have managed backups, but we need confirmation whether any internal recovery is possible. Thank you.

data recovery request — custom Postgres redeploy removed database files

marciosilverio1990

HOBBYOP

a month ago

Hello Railway Support,

This is an emergency data recovery request.

Project: crm-whatsapp-backend

Project ID: 88f3dece-dc7d-4d3a-bdc7-cd3fdcb0bcbd

Environment: production

Postgres service ID: 509670f8-4e0a-4e1c-863e-9563bf90b8f3

Current Postgres deployment: e29df750-8def-403e-9535-88d5549e8485

Previous Postgres deployment: 055bc154-15f4-4b19-9344-52463405bb18

We were running a custom Docker Postgres service using image postgres:16.

The service had been running continuously from around May 2, 2026 until July 6, 2026. Our Railway subscription had a past-due invoice, and after the billing issue/redeploy, the Postgres container was replaced. The previous deployments now appear as REMOVED.

After this, our databases disappeared / became empty.

Lost databases/data:

crmwhatsapp
evolution
evolution237

Current state:

Only crmwhatsapp and postgres databases exist.
evolution / evolution237 no longer exist.
crmwhatsapp tables were recreated empty by Prisma.
Counts are now 0 for Instance, Conversation, Contact, Message, User, Company, ServiceOrder, Quote and Payment.

Important:

This was a production system. We urgently need to know if Railway can recover the previous container filesystem or any internal snapshot/artifact from before July 6, 2026 around 18:00 UTC.

Please check if there is any recoverable data from:

previous deployment 055bc154-15f4-4b19-9344-52463405bb18
removed deployment/container filesystem
internal host-level snapshot
retained volume/artifact
backup related to the billing suspension/redeploy event

Please escalate this to infrastructure/data recovery if possible and preserve any related artifacts before garbage collection.

We understand this was a custom Postgres container and may not have managed backups, but we need confirmation whether any internal recovery is possible.

Thank you.

Solved

3 Replies

Railway

BOT

a month ago

Your postgres service had no persistent volume attached, so it was running on ephemeral storage. Data on ephemeral storage does not survive a redeploy and cannot be recovered. Going forward, attach a volume to your Postgres service and enable volume backups so you can self-restore if needed.

Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway • about 2 months ago

Railway

Your `postgres` service had no persistent volume attached, so it was running on ephemeral storage. Data on ephemeral storage does not survive a redeploy and cannot be recovered. Going forward, attach a volume to your Postgres service and enable volume backups so you can self-restore if needed.

marciosilverio1990

HOBBYOP

a month ago

I still need human support / escalation.

I understand the automated response says the custom postgres service had no persistent volume and ephemeral storage does not survive redeploys.

However, this is a production data loss emergency. Please escalate to Railway infrastructure/data recovery and confirm whether there is any internal possibility to recover the previous container filesystem, host-level snapshot, retained artifact, temporary filesystem, or backup from the removed deployment before garbage collection.

Project: crm-whatsapp-backend

Project ID: 88f3dece-dc7d-4d3a-bdc7-cd3fdcb0bcbd

Service: postgres

Service ID: 509670f8-4e0a-4e1c-863e-9563bf90b8f3

Current deployment: e29df750-8def-403e-9535-88d5549e8485

Previous deployment: 055bc154-15f4-4b19-9344-52463405bb18

Image: postgres:16

Environment: production

The service ran continuously from May 2 to July 6 without restart. After billing issue/redeploy, the previous deployment is now REMOVED and the database files are gone.

Please do not close this as solved. I need a human confirmation from infrastructure whether any recovery is technically possible from Railway’s side.

Status changed to Awaiting Railway Response Railway • about 2 months ago

sam-a

EMPLOYEE

a month ago

Our databases are unmanaged, so automatic snapshots, WAL recovery, and PITR aren't available unless you set up volume backups or PITR yourself. We don't recover data lost to user-initiated actions. Going forward, enable volume backups on your stateful services so you can self-restore if this happens again.

Status changed to Awaiting User Response sam-a • about 2 months ago

Railway

BOT

a month ago

This thread has been marked as solved automatically due to a lack of recent activity. Please re-open this thread or create a new one if you require further assistance. Thank you!

Status changed to Solved Railway • about 1 month ago

Welcome!