a month ago
Hello Railway Team,
I urgently need help recovering production data from a MySQL volume in my Railway project.
My Railway trial has expired, and the MySQL deployment was removed. However, the persistent volume is still present and shows approximately 149 MB of stored data. The Railway dashboard indicates that this volume is scheduled to be deleted on August 23, 2026.
I currently cannot upgrade the workspace because my payment method is not available, so I am asking whether there is any supported way to recover or export the data before the volume is permanently deleted.
Project details
Project ID: 6e037371-65b5-481e-8c9b-887cbc445896
Environment: production
Service: MySQL
Service ID: 9a263b0b-b87c-4804-9d28-b022eb094a1e
Volume: mysql-volume
Volume ID: 2550d225-127d-44d5-80a6-605e1ed83850
Mount path: /var/lib/mysql
Volume size: 500 MB
Current volume usage: approximately 149 MB
Volume status: Ready
Deployment status: REMOVED
Deployment ID: 678e0769-0779-4eaf-b4c8-303494a9fece
Scheduled volume deletion: August 23, 2026
What I have verified
Using the Railway CLI, the volume is still listed as:
mysql-volume → MySQL → /var/lib/mysql → approximately 149 MB → Ready
However, when I try to access the volume files with:
railway volume files list /
Railway returns:
Service MySQL has no active deployment in environment production. Deploy or restart the service before using file commands.
The Railway dashboard also shows that the MySQL service has no active deployment.
The database contains important production data from my application, and there are currently no Railway backups available for this service.
Recovery request
Could Railway please advise whether there is any supported recovery option before the scheduled deletion date?
For example:
a one-time read-only export of the volume;
a one-time MySQL database dump;
temporary recovery access to the existing service;
or any other supported method to preserve the existing data without creating a new database.
I am not asking to create a new MySQL database. I specifically need to recover the data from the existing mysql-volume.
I would greatly appreciate urgent guidance because the volume is scheduled for deletion on August 23, 2026.
Thank you.
3 Replies
a month ago
Your volume and its ~149 MB of data are still intact and attached to the MySQL service. The data is not lost, it is just inaccessible because the workspace has no active plan and the deployment was torn down when the trial ended. Upgrading to the Hobby plan ($5/month) from your billing page would let you redeploy the MySQL service, which will mount the existing volume with your data still on it. We don't offer one-time exports or temporary access to volume data, so subscribing to a plan is the path to recovering your data before the volume's scheduled deletion.
Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway • about 2 months ago
Railway
Your volume and its ~149 MB of data are still intact and attached to the MySQL service. The data is not lost, it is just inaccessible because the workspace has no active plan and the deployment was torn down when the trial ended. Upgrading to the Hobby plan ($5/month) from [your billing page](https://railway.com/workspace/billing) would let you redeploy the MySQL service, which will mount the existing volume with your data still on it. We don't offer one-time exports or temporary access to volume data, so subscribing to a plan is the path to recovering your data before the volume's scheduled deletion.
a month ago
Thank you for confirming that the volume and the approximately 149 MB of production data are still intact.
I would like to add some important context about this project.
This application is a non-profit social/community application. It is not a commercial product and does not generate profit. The system was developed to help community users and administrators manage information and services more easily, reduce manual administrative work, and improve access to community-related services and records.
The data stored in the MySQL volume is important operational and community data. Losing the volume would have a significant impact on the people who rely on the application.
Unfortunately, I currently do not have sufficient funds or a working payment method to upgrade to the Hobby plan. I am only asking for enough time or access to recover the existing data, create a database backup, and preserve it for the community.
Would Railway please consider providing a short retention extension, temporary recovery access, or a one-time read-only export in this exceptional non-profit/community case?
I am not asking for continued free hosting. I only need a limited opportunity to recover the existing data before the scheduled deletion on August 23, 2026.
I would be extremely grateful for any assistance or exception Railway can provide.
Status changed to Awaiting Railway Response Railway • about 2 months ago
a month ago
We understand the data matters to your community, but we're not able to grant temporary access, retention extensions, or one-time exports for accounts without an active plan. This policy applies consistently and we cannot make exceptions. Subscribing to the Hobby plan ($5/month) from your billing page is the only path to regaining access, and your volume data will still be there when you do.
Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway • about 2 months ago
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