point-in-time recovery

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Point-in-time recovery (PITR) in the context of computers involves systems, often databases, whereby an administrator can restore or recover a set of data or a particular setting from a time in the past.{{cite web | last=Larsen | first=Gregory A. | title=Point in Time Recovery | website=DatabaseJournal.com | date=2005-08-31 | url=https://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/3530616/Point-in-Time-Recovery.htm | access-date=2020-10-06}}{{cite web | title=MySQL :: MySQL Backup and Recovery :: 1.5 Point-in-Time (Incremental) Recovery | website=MySQL | date=2020-09-18 | url=https://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-backup-excerpt/5.7/en/point-in-time-recovery.html | access-date=2020-10-06}}{{cite web | title=Overview of restoring an instance | website=Google Cloud | url=https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/postgres/backup-recovery/restore | access-date=2020-10-06}} Note for example Windows's capability to restore operating-system settings from a past date (for instance, before data corruption occurred). Time Machine for macOS provides another example of point-in-time recovery.

Once PITR logging starts for a PITR-capable database, a database administrator can restore that database from backups to the state that it had at any time since.