DigitalOcean Spaces: Regions, Cross-Region Replication, and Backup
Spaces Regions and the Replication Question
Section titled "Spaces Regions and the Replication Question"The problem: people assume DigitalOcean Spaces replicates across regions the way Amazon S3 can, so a single Space feels like a backup. It is not. A Space lives in one region, and DigitalOcean does not copy it to another region for you.
The short answer: pick the region closest to your users when you create a Space, and if you want a second copy in another region or another provider, you have to make it yourself. This page lists the regions, explains what Spaces does and does not replicate, and shows how to create a real backup copy.
DigitalOcean Spaces Regions
Section titled "DigitalOcean Spaces Regions"Each Space is tied to one datacenter region, chosen at creation and fixed afterward. The current Spaces regions and their locations:
| Region code | Location |
|---|---|
| NYC3 | New York City, United States |
| SFO3 | San Francisco, United States |
| AMS3 | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| FRA1 | Frankfurt, Germany |
| SGP1 | Singapore |
| SYD1 | Sydney, Australia |
| BLR1 | Bangalore, India |
DigitalOcean adds regions over time, so check their documentation for the latest availability. The practical rule is unchanged: choose the region nearest the people who read the data most, because a Space only serves from its own region's endpoint.
Does DigitalOcean Spaces Do Cross-Region Replication?
Section titled "Does DigitalOcean Spaces Do Cross-Region Replication?"No. DigitalOcean Spaces does not offer built-in cross-region replication. There is no setting that mirrors a Space in NYC3 to a Space in FRA1, and no automatic failover to another region.
This is the main difference from Amazon S3, which has Cross-Region Replication (CRR) as a bucket feature. On Spaces, if you want the same objects in two regions, you copy them there yourself and keep them in sync by re-copying when things change.
A few consequences worth knowing:
- A region outage affects a single Space directly. With no replica, you cannot fail over to another region automatically.
- Compliance or latency in a second geography means creating a second Space and populating it yourself.
- There is no native "backup to another region" button. Backup is something you set up, not something Spaces does for you.
The CDN Is Not a Backup
Section titled "The CDN Is Not a Backup"DigitalOcean Spaces includes a built-in CDN that caches your objects at edge locations for faster delivery. This is easy to mistake for replication, but it is not. The CDN caches copies for performance and can expire them at any time. The authoritative copy still lives in one region, and if that object is lost, the cache does not protect you. Edge caching speeds up reads; it does not give you a durable second copy.
How to Copy a Space to Another Region or Provider
Section titled "How to Copy a Space to Another Region or Provider"Since Spaces will not replicate for you, the job is a straightforward copy, and Blober handles it without scripts or AWS-CLI loops.
- Spaces to another Spaces region. Connect your DigitalOcean account in Blober. It detects every Space across all regions in one view, so you can copy objects from a Space in one region into a Space you create in another. Run it again later to refresh the copy, skipping objects that already exist.
- Spaces to another provider. Use the same flow to copy a Space to AWS S3, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2, Azure Blob, Google Drive, Dropbox, or local and NAS storage, for an offsite backup that does not depend on DigitalOcean at all.
- Resumable. Large copies survive a dropped connection and continue where they stopped.
This gives you the second copy that Spaces does not provide on its own, in whichever region or provider you choose.
Migrating Off DigitalOcean
Section titled "Migrating Off DigitalOcean"If the goal is not a backup but a move, the steps are the same, just pointed at one destination. The most common move is to Amazon S3, which has the storage tiers and ecosystem Spaces lacks. There is a full walkthrough in How to Migrate from DigitalOcean Spaces to AWS S3, including how Blober detects Spaces across all seven regions and maps them to S3 storage classes.
For very large Spaces with millions of objects, see Migrating 100 Million Files from DigitalOcean to Backblaze.
Frequently Asked Questions
Section titled "Frequently Asked Questions"Does DigitalOcean Spaces support cross-region replication? No. There is no built-in cross-region replication. To have a Space's objects in a second region, you copy them yourself, which Blober can do across all regions in one workflow.
Which regions can I create a Space in? Currently NYC3, SFO3, AMS3, FRA1, SGP1, SYD1, and BLR1. DigitalOcean occasionally adds regions, so confirm on their site.
Can I move a Space from one region to another? Not in place. You create a new Space in the target region and copy the objects over. Blober copies between regions directly without downloading everything to your computer first.
Is the Spaces CDN a backup? No. The CDN caches objects at the edge for faster delivery and can evict them at any time. The durable copy still sits in one region. For a backup, make a separate copy in another region or provider.
How do I migrate from DigitalOcean to AWS? Connect both in Blober, set DigitalOcean as the source and S3 as the destination, and run. The DigitalOcean Spaces to AWS S3 guide covers it step by step.
Related Guides
Section titled "Related Guides"- How to Migrate from DigitalOcean Spaces to AWS S3
- Migrating 100 Million Files from DigitalOcean to Backblaze
- Provider setup: DigitalOcean Spaces
Get Blober
Section titled "Get Blober"Make the second copy that DigitalOcean Spaces will not make for you, to another region or another provider. Blober is a one-time purchase with no per-GB fees.
