# FAQ

Common questions about storage replication, metadata, and file integrity.

Storage backups replicate your cloud storage buckets to a separate provider. This page covers the most frequently asked questions about how replication works, what gets copied, and how to troubleshoot common issues.

## Can I back up a whole S3 bucket or another cloud storage?

To back up an entire bucket, use **Storage Replication**. This feature synchronizes your bucket to another bucket on a different provider, on a schedule you define.

Storage replication creates a 1-to-1 mirror of your bucket at each scheduled run. It is not an archive-based backup — no snapshots or versioned copies are stored.

**Info:**
To sync the entire bucket, set `/` as the source storage path.

## How can I validate that my files have proper integrity?

By default, SimpleBackups checks each file's integrity on transfer. If the checksums do not match, you receive a **corrupted on transfer** error.

**Disabling checksum verification:**
You can disable checksum verification from the **Advanced** tab in your backup settings. Only use this option if you are certain you want to skip integrity checks.

## What should I set as the source path?

The path field is optional when setting up a storage source.

- Leave it **empty** to copy all files from the root of the source storage.
- Set a path (e.g., `backups`) to copy only that specific folder.

## Will SimpleBackups write any data to the source storage?

No. SimpleBackups only reads from the source storage. It never writes any data back to it.

## How do I preserve S3 or DigitalOcean Spaces metadata on files?

If you are syncing data between buckets and want to preserve metadata on each file, enable the **Copy metadata** option. Open your cloud sync job, click **Advanced**, then under **Additional Settings** enable **Copy metadata**.

![The Copy metadata option under Advanced settings](https://simplebackups.com/docs/docs-assets/www-notion-so/7a595451cd5edf6ccc86.png)

For DigitalOcean Spaces, metadata is preserved by default only when a server-side copy is made. DigitalOcean supports server-side copy only between buckets within the same region. If you are syncing between different regions, metadata is not preserved.

![DigitalOcean Spaces metadata behavior across regions](https://simplebackups.com/docs/docs-assets/www-notion-so/93365b935bf2af15ce4b.png)