# Error while restoring a backup /var/lib/mysql isn't empty

**URL:** <https://forums.percona.com/t/error-while-restoring-a-backup-var-lib-mysql-isnt-empty/15305>\
**Category:** Percona XtraBackup\
**Tags:** mysql, percona\
**Created:** [April 20, 2022, 6:17am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/error-while-restoring-a-backup-var-lib-mysql-isnt-empty/15305 "2022-04-20T06:17:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![axel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.percona.com/axel/32/10423_2.png) [@axel](https://forums.percona.com/u/axel)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 6:17am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/error-while-restoring-a-backup-var-lib-mysql-isnt-empty/15305/1 "2022-04-20T06:17:43Z")

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I have a full backup created by xtrabackup. Now I want to restore this backup to another machine which already has an instance of percona mysql installed.

While trying to restore with `xtrabackup --copy-back --target-dir=/data/backups/`, I get an error saying `/var/lib/mysql` isn’t empty. So is it okay to just delete `/var/lib/mysql` and perform the restore? Is there any other better way? Thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![axel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.percona.com/axel/32/10423_2.png) [@axel](https://forums.percona.com/u/axel)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 6:44am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/error-while-restoring-a-backup-var-lib-mysql-isnt-empty/15305/2 "2022-04-20T06:44:21Z")

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```auto
systemctl stop mysql
mkdir /tmp/mysql
mv /var/lib/mysql/* /tmp/mysql
xtrabackup --copy-back --target-dir=/data/backups/
chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql/
systemctl start mysql

```

Done 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ivan\_Groenewold](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.percona.com/ivan_groenewold/32/6299_2.png) [@Ivan\_Groenewold](https://forums.percona.com/u/Ivan_Groenewold)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:58am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/error-while-restoring-a-backup-var-lib-mysql-isnt-empty/15305/3 "2022-04-20T10:58:58Z")

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Seems you sorted it out already but yes, it is safe to delete the contents of the data dir if you are going to be restoring from backup