Hi, thanks for your question!
Yes — the issue is that when enable_s3_uploads
is enabled during backup, the resulting archive often cannot be successfully restored. While the exact technical reason isn’t fully clear (and has been discussed in several threads), the restore process frequently fails unless S3 is disabled before backup.
You can find multiple reports on Meta by searching for "enable_s3_uploads restore"
.
For example, this thread shows a typical failure case:
Trouble restoring backup--SiteSetting::Upload.s3_base_url is failing--because enable_s3_uploads was set in database
That’s why my script temporarily disables S3 before backup, to ensure the result is clean and restorable.
Hope this helps clarify!