The world data, which also includes player inventories, is saved to a folder in the current working directory of the server.
The name of the folder is determined by the level-name setting inserver.properties. By default, it is world. Minecraft servers You can create a new save and toggle between them by changing this setting.
Vanilla server commands for saving/backups
/save all - forces the server save. /save–off - Disables saving. This should be performed before you create a backup of a running server. This will prevent the server from saving while you are copying, which can lead to a corrupt backup. /save-on - re-enables saving.
Thank you! I didn't even think to disable saving while making a backup. - aedia l Jun 22, 2011 at 14:27
i saved the server to my desktop so were will the directory be?? - user14851 Nov 20, 2011 at 8:22
Do you know if you can run the save-off/save-on commands from batch jobs? - mpontillo Apr 26, 2012 at 14:53
@Mike If you're just looking for an automated way to make backups, you can look into plugins to do this such as Bukkit Backup or other Bukkit backup plugins. I also recommend mcrcon because it allows you to run commands remotely. Schism Sep 8, 2012. 19:23
A world folder should be located in the directory where you are running the server. In that directory are all of the files that your server needs to run. The most important thing to backup would be the region folder within the world folder, which actually contains all the "block information". Another folder within the world directory is the players folder, which stores informations about the players that connect (inventories, etc). (Note: The directory is named world only if the level-name property in server.properties has not been changed.
This information applies to a Vanilla or a Bukkit multiplayer Server.
Backup the entire world directory.