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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →A full-folder deploy publishes the files in its selected output; required content missing from that bundle may stop being served on the live site. Before publishing, check what is actually in the bundle—not just what you expect your source files to generate. In Netlify’s documented workflow, only files in the configured publish directory are deployed, and publishing is atomic: visitors receive the new deploy rather than a gradual file-by-file update. Netlify’s deployment documentation explains both behaviors.
What does a full-folder deploy replace?
It replaces the currently published version with the deployable files supplied for the new release. Netlify defines the publish directory as the location of deploy-ready files; files outside that configured directory are not included in site deploys. The practical question is therefore: what is in the deploy bundle, and what exists only on production?
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Replacement does not necessarily mean permanent erasure. An earlier deploy may remain available for republishing, and assets may also exist in a separate backup or storage location. But if an asset is absent from the new bundle and not otherwise served, the live site can lose access to it after publication.
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Why a generated folder can mislead you
A build or output directory is not automatically a clean inventory of the site you intend to publish. In her August 19, 2026 report, Liza Bhadana found that her generator had left retired pages in the output after their source pages were removed. She counted 111 obsolete game directories and 111 redirects on her site. In that setup, she says, existing files could shadow redirects; this is her site-specific observation, not a universal rule for every host or configuration.
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The opposite problem can happen too: production can contain files that the next output does not. Bhadana reports that two self-hosted games had assets only on the live site. When those assets were omitted from a new bundle, the games could no longer load them. Removing a source page or assuming the production copy will persist is not a substitute for locating and preserving files the site still needs.
What Bhadana’s audit found—and what it does not prove
Bhadana extracted 104 asset paths from her site; 103 returned HTTP 200, and one fabricated, nonexistent path returned 404. She measured the assets at 142.5 MB, compared with an earlier note of approximately 205 MB. Her checks also found pages for 200 of 200 catalogue slugs, all 14 of 14 required root files, and bundle files corresponding to 243 of 243 sitemap URLs.
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These are figures from one author’s audit of her own site, not independently verified measurements or a general platform benchmark. They illustrate useful checks, but they do not establish what another site’s output contains or how another host handles redirects. Bhadana sums up her experience this way: “A drag-and-drop deploy is not a sync. It is a replacement.”
How to prepare a safer deploy bundle
- Confirm the publish directory. Check the exact directory the deploy will publish. For Netlify, only files in the configured publish directory are included in the site deploy. See Netlify’s deploy overview.
- List what must remain available. Identify required pages, redirects, root-level files, and media. Inspect the generated output directly; do not assume it was pruned just because source pages were removed.
- Track production-only assets. Find files that are live but absent from source control or the build output. Bring them into the source or build process, or make and verify a separate copy before replacing the live deploy.
- Assemble the intended contents deliberately. Where it suits the project, create the bundle from an explicit allowlist of intended files rather than blindly copying a cumulative output directory. Check for required files and unexpected stale directories.
- Check routes against the bundle. Verify that required pages are present and that each sitemap URL maps to a file in the bundle. Bhadana’s own audit checked all 243 sitemap URLs this way; that figure describes her site, not a required count for other projects.
- Test a path that should not exist. Request a deliberately fabricated asset path and confirm it fails as expected. A catch-all can make nonexistent paths appear successful, hiding a broken check.
- Review the release and recovery options. Inspect the deployed result. Netlify documents atomic publishing and allows a previous deploy to be published as a rollback while that deploy remains available. A rollback restores a deploy version; it does not by itself establish that production-only assets are backed up.
How deploy approaches differ
| Approach or check | What determines the result | Main risk or trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Explicit allowlist | The files deliberately selected for the bundle | Requires maintaining the intended file list; useful for excluding stale output. |
| Cumulative generated folder | Whatever remains in the output directory at deploy time | May include retired files or omit production-only assets; inspect it before publishing. |
| Atomic publish in Netlify’s documented workflow | The completed deploy bundle | Visitors receive a whole deploy rather than a file-by-file upload; missing files in the new bundle can still be unavailable. |
| File-by-file upload, such as FTP or S3 uploads | Files as they are uploaded | Netlify notes that these approaches can expose partial updates during upload. See its deployment overview. |
| Previous-deploy rollback | A prior deploy version that remains available to republish | Can recover a previous deployed version, but does not prove that separate or production-only assets have a backup. |
What to keep outside the deploy
If a required file exists only on the live site, preserve a verified copy before replacing that site. That might mean adding it to source control or the build inputs, or maintaining a separate backup such as an external drive. The important check is provenance: know where each required asset comes from and confirm that the copy is usable, rather than assuming a rollback or the next build will contain it.
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