# Copying the database
**URL:** https://community.cratedb.com/t/copying-the-database/1193
**Category:** CrateDB
**Created:** [August 22, 2022, 10:23am UTC](https://community.cratedb.com/t/copying-the-database/1193 "2022-08-22T10:23:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@djbestenergy](https://community.cratedb.com/u/djbestenergy)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2022, 10:23am UTC](https://community.cratedb.com/t/copying-the-database/1193/1 "2022-08-22T10:23:07Z")
Hi all,
This is a semi-lazy request as I’m trying to copy some test data quickly without resorting to export method overhead : -
Is it possible to copy the database folder structure to another instance on another machine ?
or is the data intrinsically linked to the server instance ?
Many thanks in advance.
David
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### Author:  [@proddata](https://community.cratedb.com/u/proddata)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2022, 11:01am UTC](https://community.cratedb.com/t/copying-the-database/1193/2 "2022-08-22T11:01:51Z")
If you copy the `data` folder to another machine, this should be possible, though not recommended. Be aware, that if both machines are on the same network and see each other this might lead to unexpected behaviour.
2 other options might be
- creating / restoring a snapshot
- enable logical replication between clusters.
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### Author:  [@djbestenergy](https://community.cratedb.com/u/djbestenergy)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2022, 10:44am UTC](https://community.cratedb.com/t/copying-the-database/1193/3 "2022-08-23T10:44:40Z")
Thanks for that - I must admit I totally forgot about snapshots.
Also moving the data might be sub optimal in my case as i have a 3 docker node so its actually 48 GB rather than 16GB.
Thanks for your help!.