# Backing up and restoring individual DBs in MySQL

**URL:** <https://forums.percona.com/t/backing-up-and-restoring-individual-dbs-in-mysql/2330>\
**Category:** Percona XtraBackup\
**Created:** [January 31, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/backing-up-and-restoring-individual-dbs-in-mysql/2330 "2013-01-31T11:31:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RandomDBA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RandomDBA](https://forums.percona.com/u/RandomDBA)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/backing-up-and-restoring-individual-dbs-in-mysql/2330/1 "2013-01-31T11:31:46Z")

</div>

I’ve read the documentation for Percona XtraBackup and from what I’ve been able to gather at the links below, it looks like I cannot restore individual databases from a backup created using XtraBackup if I’m not using Percona server.

Currently we are running MySQL 5.5.15. The vast majority of our tables are INNODB, but we do have a handful of MYISAM and ARCHIVE tables.

Unfortunately the ability for us to restore a single database from backup is crucial for our system. I’m really excited XtraBackup and would like to test it in our environment, but the inability to restore individual databases is a deal breaker and convincing upper management to switch from MySQL to Percona Server is a pretty hard sell.

If I’m misunderstanding something, please let me know. If my understanding is correct, will there be a point in the future where this functionality will be available for MySQL server?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scott.nemes](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.percona.com/scott.nemes/32/5_2.png) [@scott.nemes](https://forums.percona.com/u/scott.nemes)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/backing-up-and-restoring-individual-dbs-in-mysql/2330/2 "2013-01-31T12:17:04Z")

</div>

You are correct. The basic requirements are:

1. The source table may use InnoDB or XtraDB
2. Both the source and target servers must have innodb\_file\_per\_table enabled and the table to be exported must be in it’s own .ibd file.
3. The target server must be using Percona Server with XtraDB.
4. The target server must have innodb\_expand\_import enabled.

As for when / if this will change, I’ll leave that up to someone from Percona.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RandomDBA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RandomDBA](https://forums.percona.com/u/RandomDBA)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:08pm UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/backing-up-and-restoring-individual-dbs-in-mysql/2330/3 "2013-01-31T13:08:18Z")

</div>

Thank you very much for confirming!