diff --git a/UPGRADE-OPERATIONS.md b/UPGRADE-OPERATIONS.md
index e5d5bff..5ca62c7 100644
--- a/UPGRADE-OPERATIONS.md
+++ b/UPGRADE-OPERATIONS.md
@@ -737,11 +737,11 @@ nano .env
 # Qdrant API key
 export QDRANT_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
 
-# Source hosts (where snapshots are stored)
-# Port forward qdrant service to local
-export QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS="http://localhost:6333"
+# Source hosts (leave empty for restore - collections are discovered from S3)
+export QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS=""
 
 # Restore hosts (target Qdrant instances)
+# Port forward qdrant service to local
 export QDRANT_RESTORE_HOSTS="http://localhost:6334"
 
 # S3 configuration (for fetching snapshots)
@@ -750,8 +750,8 @@ export QDRANT_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
 export QDRANT_S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
 export QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME="qdrant-snapshots"
 
-# Auto-discover peers
-export GET_PEERS_FROM_CLUSTER_INFO="true"
+# Disable Auto-discover of peers
+export GET_PEERS_FROM_CLUSTER_INFO="false"
 
 # Timeout settings
 export CURL_TIMEOUT="1800"
diff --git a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/README.md b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/README.md
index 909f2e7..a588d23 100644
--- a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/README.md
+++ b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/README.md
@@ -163,9 +163,9 @@ kubectl -n <namespace> logs -lapp=qdrant-backup -f
 Update the following environment varibles accordingly;
 
 1. Update the `secretKeyRef.name` on all `env:` entries under `env.[*].valueFrom` to the name of the kubernetes secrets deployed when configuring Qdrant.
-2. Update the `QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS` to the kubernetes service domain of the source Qdrant deployment.
+2. Update the `QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS` to empty `""`.
 3. Update the `QDRANT_RESTORE_HOSTS` to the target qdrant cluster service domain.
-4. `GET_PEERS_FROM_CLUSTER_INFO` should be `true` to discover qdrant cluster peers when backing up collections.
+4. `GET_PEERS_FROM_CLUSTER_INFO` should be `false` during restore.
 5. `CURL_TIMEOUT` is set at `3000` seconds. This is the max time curl will wait for request to complete. Its increased in scenarios where restoration takes a while.
 6. `QDRANT_S3_LINK_EXPIRY_DURATION` is set at `3600`. This is the duration that an s3 presigned url will be active. The url is used during the recovery process.
 7. `QDRANT_WAIT_ON_TASK` is set as `true`. This configuation make restoration process synchronous meaning 'wait for snapshot process to finish successfully before moving on'. Its used during backup and recovery.
diff --git a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/backup-job.yaml b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/backup-job.yaml
index 1cf3f7e..5e09393 100644
--- a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/backup-job.yaml
+++ b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/backup-job.yaml
@@ -26,11 +26,30 @@ spec:
             - -c
             - "cd scripts && ./qdrant_backup_recovery.sh create_snap"
           env:
+            - name: QDRANT_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: qdrant-credentials-minio # change this to your qdrant kubernetes secret name
+                  key: QDRANT_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID
+            - name: QDRANT_S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: qdrant-credentials-minio # change this to your qdrant kubernetes secret name
+                  key: QDRANT_S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
+            - name: QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: qdrant-credentials-minio # change this to your qdrant kubernetes secret name
+                  key: QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME
             - name: QDRANT_API_KEY
               valueFrom:
                 secretKeyRef:
                   name: qdrant-credentials-minio # change this to your qdrant kubernetes secret name
                   key: QDRANT_API_KEY
+            - name: QDRANT_S3_ENDPOINT_URL
+              value: "http://minio.default.svc.cluster.local:9000" # change this to your s3 endpoint url
+            - name: MC_CONFIG_DIR
+              value: "mc" # sets the configuration location for mc S3 client
             - name: QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS
               value: "http://qdrant-headless:6333"  # change this to your qdrant kubernetes headless service name
             - name: QDRANT_RESTORE_HOSTS
@@ -39,6 +58,8 @@ spec:
               value: "true"
             - name: CURL_TIMEOUT
               value: "3000" # increase if more time is needed for a single backup
+            - name: BACKUP_COLLECTION_ALIASES_ON_S3
+              value: "true"
           resources:
             requests:
               cpu: "100m"
diff --git a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/configmap-script.yaml b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/configmap-script.yaml
index 88a4419..4eccbbb 100644
--- a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/configmap-script.yaml
+++ b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/configmap-script.yaml
@@ -83,7 +83,11 @@ data:
       fi
       _printf "fetching collections!\n"
 
-      local host="${source_hosts[0]}"
+      local host="${source_hosts[0]:-}"
+      if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+        _printf "source host is not available for fetching collections. Please ensure QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables.\n"
+        exit 1
+      fi
 
       collections_count=0
 
@@ -108,6 +112,13 @@ data:
       local result="$2"
       _result=$(jq -c '.result.collections // [] | .[]' <<< "$result")
 
+      # Guard against the bash `<<<` quirk: a here-string of an empty value still
+      # produces a single newline, so the loop below would iterate once with an
+      # empty item and write a bogus `host,` line to $QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE.
+      if [[ -z "$_result" ]]; then
+        return
+      fi
+
       while read -r item; do
         local collection_name=""
         collection_name=$(jq -r '.name' <<< "$item")
@@ -141,7 +152,11 @@ data:
 
     # creates and appends created collection snapshot from a qdrant node to $QDRANT_SNAPSHOTS_FILE
     track_created_collection_snapshot() {
-        local host="${source_hosts[0]}"
+        local host="${source_hosts[0]:-}"
+        if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+          _printf "source host is not available for fetching collection snapshots. Please ensure QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables.\n"
+          exit 1
+        fi
         local collection_name="$1"
         local result=""
         local status=""
@@ -342,11 +357,61 @@ data:
       fi
     }
 
+    # discovers collection names from the S3 snapshots prefix and stores them in $QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE
+    fetch_collections_from_s3() {
+      local prefix="snapshots"
+      local result=""
+
+      _printf "fetching collections from s3 bucket %s under %s/\n" "$QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME" "$prefix"
+
+      result=$(mc ls --json "$QDRANT_S3_ALIAS/$QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME/$prefix/")
+
+      if [ "$result" = "" ]; then
+        _printf "no collections found in s3 path: %s/%s/ ...skipping!\n" "$QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME" "$prefix"
+        return
+      fi
+
+      collections_count=0
+      _result=$(jq -c '.' <<< "$result")
+
+      while read -r item; do
+        local status=""
+        local object_key=""
+        local collection_name=""
+
+        status=$(jq -r '.status?' <<< "$item")
+        if [ "$status" != "success" ]; then
+          _printf "failed to list collections from s3, got this instead %s\n" "${item//[[:space:]]/}"
+          continue
+        fi
+
+        object_key=$(jq -r '.key' <<< "$item")       # e.g. "my_collection/" from mc ls on snapshots/
+        object_key="${object_key%/}"                 # strip trailing slash (folder marker)
+        collection_name="${object_key##*/}"          # use last path segment as collection name
+
+        if [[ -z "$collection_name" || "$collection_name" == "$prefix" ]]; then
+          continue
+        fi
+
+        ((collections_count=collections_count+1))
+        printf ',%s\n' "$collection_name" >> $QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE
+      done <<< "$_result"
+
+      _printf "%s file updated, found %d collection(s) from s3!\n" "$QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE" "$collections_count"
+      collections_count=0
+    }
+
     # generates a list of collection snapshots from a s3 and appends it to $QDRANT_SNAPSHOTS_FILE
     generate_snapshot_file_from_s3() {
       local datetime="${1:-}"
+
       if [[ ! -s "$QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE" ]]; then
-          get_collections
+        fetch_collections_from_s3
+      fi
+
+      if [ ! -f "$QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE" ]; then
+        _printf "non error exit since file %s does not exist.\n" "$QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE"
+        exit 0
       fi
 
       snapshot_count=0
@@ -496,7 +561,11 @@ data:
 
     # gets the collection aliases from a qdrant node and appends it to $QDRANT_COLLECTION_ALIASES file
     get_collection_aliases() {
-      local host="${source_hosts[0]}"
+      local host="${source_hosts[0]:-}"
+      if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+        _printf "source host is not available for fetching collection aliases. Please ensure QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables.\n"
+        exit 1
+      fi
       local result=""
       local status=""
 
@@ -597,7 +666,11 @@ data:
     # restores collection aliases to a qdrant node and appends progress to $QDRANT_ALIAS_RECOVERY_HISTORY_FILE
     recover_collection_aliases() {
 
-      local host="${restore_hosts[0]}"
+      local host="${restore_hosts[0]:-}"
+      if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+        _printf "restore host is not available for recovering collection aliases. Please ensure QDRANT_RESTORE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables.\n"
+        exit 1
+      fi
 
 
       if [ "$BACKUP_COLLECTION_ALIASES_ON_S3" = "true" ]; then
@@ -667,7 +740,12 @@ data:
 
     # gets qdrant peer host url using cluster info endpoint. Sets the port to $QDRANT_HTTP_PORT the http port.
     get_peers_from_cluster_info() {
-      local host="${source_hosts[0]}"
+      local host="${source_hosts[0]:-}"
+      if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+        _printf "source host is not available. Please ensure QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables. If restoring snapshots set QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS and GET_PEERS_FROM_CLUSTER_INFO to empty string.\n"
+        exit 1
+      fi
+
       result=$(_curl GET "$host/cluster" --header "api-key: $QDRANT_API_KEY")
       entries=$(jq -r '.result.peers // {}' <<< "$result")
       peer_uri_entries=$(jq -r 'to_entries[] | "\(.key) \(.value.uri)"' <<< "$entries")
diff --git a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/configmap-snapshot.yaml b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/configmap-snapshot.yaml
index af152a9..31912c6 100644
--- a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/configmap-snapshot.yaml
+++ b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/configmap-snapshot.yaml
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ metadata:
     app: qdrant-snapshots-file
     component: script
 data:
+  # this is used to provide a list of snapshots to restore (comma separated list of collection names and snapshot names, host is optional (first column is host))
   snapshots: |
     ,_default_256,_default_256-5528114518172461-2026-01-29-11-44-26.snapshot
     ,midlib,midlib-567156434043892-2026-01-29-11-44-27.snapshot
+
+  # this is used to provide a list of collections to restore (comma separated list of collection names, host is optional (first column is host))
+  collections: |
+    ,_default_256
+    ,_default_128
diff --git a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/restore-job.yaml b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/restore-job.yaml
index 23185fe..a7ca4f0 100644
--- a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/restore-job.yaml
+++ b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/restore-job.yaml
@@ -47,19 +47,21 @@ spec:
                   name: qdrant-credentials-minio
                   key: QDRANT_API_KEY
             - name: QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS
-              value: "http://qdrant-headless:6333" # change this to your source qdrant kubernetes headless service name
+              value: "" # leave empty if source host is not available
             - name: QDRANT_S3_ENDPOINT_URL
               value: "http://minio.default.svc.cluster.local:9000" # change this to your s3 endpoint url
             - name: QDRANT_RESTORE_HOSTS
-              value: "http://qdrantr2-headless:6333" # change this to your target qdrant kubernetes headless service name
+              value: "http://qdrant-headless:6333"  # change this to your target qdrant kubernetes headless service name
             - name: GET_PEERS_FROM_CLUSTER_INFO
-              value: "true"
+              value: "false"
             - name: QDRANT_SNAPSHOT_DATETIME_FILTER
-              value: "" # change tis to filter snapshts based on date (glob matching is used)
+              value: "" # set this to filter snapshots based on date (glob matching is used) e.g "2026-01-29" = all snapshots in 29th January 2026, "2026-01" = all snapshots in January 2026.
             - name: CURL_TIMEOUT
               value: "3000" # increase if more time is needed for a single restore
             - name: MC_CONFIG_DIR
               value: "mc" # sets the configuration location for mc S3 client
+            - name: BACKUP_COLLECTION_ALIASES_ON_S3
+              value: "true"
           resources:
             requests:
               cpu: "100m"
diff --git a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/restore-specific-snapshot-job.yaml b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/restore-specific-snapshot-job.yaml
index 0fb8b41..6b2818e 100644
--- a/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/restore-specific-snapshot-job.yaml
+++ b/qdrant-backup-restore/k8s/restore-specific-snapshot-job.yaml
@@ -47,19 +47,21 @@ spec:
                   name: qdrant-credentials-minio
                   key: QDRANT_API_KEY
             - name: QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS
-              value: "http://qdrant-headless:6333" # change this to your source qdrant kubernetes headless service name
+              value: "" # leave empty if source host is not available
             - name: QDRANT_S3_ENDPOINT_URL
               value: "http://minio.default.svc.cluster.local:9000" # change this to your s3 endpoint url
             - name: QDRANT_RESTORE_HOSTS
-              value: "http://qdrantr2-headless:6333" # change this to your target qdrant kubernetes headless service name
+              value: "http://qdrant-headless:6333" # change this to your target qdrant kubernetes headless service name
             - name: GET_PEERS_FROM_CLUSTER_INFO
-              value: "true"
+              value: "false"
             - name: CURL_TIMEOUT
               value: "3000" # increase if more time is needed for a single restore
             - name: QDRANT_SNAPSHOT_DATETIME_FILTER
               value: "" # change tis to filter snapshts based on date (glob matching is used)
             - name: MC_CONFIG_DIR
               value: "mc" # sets the configuration location for mc S3 client
+            - name: BACKUP_COLLECTION_ALIASES_ON_S3
+              value: "true"
           resources:
             requests:
               cpu: "100m"
@@ -71,9 +73,14 @@ spec:
           - name: qdrant-backup-restore-script
             mountPath: /scripts/qdrant_backup_recovery.sh
             subPath: qdrant_backup_recovery.sh
+          # this is used to restore specific collections
           - name: qdrant-snapshots-file
-            mountPath: /scripts/snapshots
-            subPath: snapshots
+            mountPath: /scripts/collections
+            subPath: collections
+          # this is used to restore specific snapshots
+          # - name: qdrant-snapshots-file
+          #   mountPath: /scripts/snapshots
+          #   subPath: snapshots
           - name: scripts
             mountPath: /scripts
       volumes:
diff --git a/qdrant-backup-restore/qdrant_backup_recovery.sh b/qdrant-backup-restore/qdrant_backup_recovery.sh
index 6597e56..c5dbd16 100755
--- a/qdrant-backup-restore/qdrant_backup_recovery.sh
+++ b/qdrant-backup-restore/qdrant_backup_recovery.sh
@@ -74,7 +74,11 @@ get_collections() {
   fi
   _printf "fetching collections!\n"
 
-  local host="${source_hosts[0]}"
+  local host="${source_hosts[0]:-}"
+  if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+    _printf "source host is not available for fetching collections. Please ensure QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables.\n"
+    exit 1
+  fi
 
   collections_count=0
 
@@ -99,6 +103,13 @@ track_collection(){
   local result="$2"
   _result=$(jq -c '.result.collections // [] | .[]' <<< "$result")
 
+  # Guard against the bash `<<<` quirk: a here-string of an empty value still
+  # produces a single newline, so the loop below would iterate once with an
+  # empty item and write a bogus `host,` line to $QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE.
+  if [[ -z "$_result" ]]; then
+    return
+  fi
+
   while read -r item; do
     local collection_name=""
     collection_name=$(jq -r '.name' <<< "$item")
@@ -132,7 +143,11 @@ create_snapshot_from_peer() {
 
 # creates and appends created collection snapshot from a qdrant node to $QDRANT_SNAPSHOTS_FILE
 track_created_collection_snapshot() {
-    local host="${source_hosts[0]}"
+    local host="${source_hosts[0]:-}"
+    if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+      _printf "source host is not available for fetching collection snapshots. Please ensure QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables.\n"
+      exit 1
+    fi
     local collection_name="$1"
     local result=""
     local status=""
@@ -333,11 +348,61 @@ fetch_collection_snapshot_from_s3() {
   fi
 }
 
+# discovers collection names from the S3 snapshots prefix and stores them in $QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE
+fetch_collections_from_s3() {
+  local prefix="snapshots"
+  local result=""
+
+  _printf "fetching collections from s3 bucket %s under %s/\n" "$QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME" "$prefix"
+
+  result=$(mc ls --json "$QDRANT_S3_ALIAS/$QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME/$prefix/")
+
+  if [ "$result" = "" ]; then
+    _printf "no collections found in s3 path: %s/%s/ ...skipping!\n" "$QDRANT_S3_BUCKET_NAME" "$prefix"
+    return
+  fi
+
+  collections_count=0
+  _result=$(jq -c '.' <<< "$result")
+
+  while read -r item; do
+    local status=""
+    local object_key=""
+    local collection_name=""
+
+    status=$(jq -r '.status?' <<< "$item")
+    if [ "$status" != "success" ]; then
+      _printf "failed to list collections from s3, got this instead %s\n" "${item//[[:space:]]/}"
+      continue
+    fi
+
+    object_key=$(jq -r '.key' <<< "$item")       # e.g. "my_collection/" from mc ls on snapshots/
+    object_key="${object_key%/}"                 # strip trailing slash (folder marker)
+    collection_name="${object_key##*/}"          # use last path segment as collection name
+
+    if [[ -z "$collection_name" || "$collection_name" == "$prefix" ]]; then
+      continue
+    fi
+
+    ((collections_count=collections_count+1))
+    printf ',%s\n' "$collection_name" >> $QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE
+  done <<< "$_result"
+
+  _printf "%s file updated, found %d collection(s) from s3!\n" "$QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE" "$collections_count"
+  collections_count=0
+}
+
 # generates a list of collection snapshots from a s3 and appends it to $QDRANT_SNAPSHOTS_FILE
 generate_snapshot_file_from_s3() {
   local datetime="${1:-}"
+
   if [[ ! -s "$QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE" ]]; then
-      get_collections
+    fetch_collections_from_s3
+  fi
+
+  if [ ! -f "$QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE" ]; then
+    _printf "non error exit since file %s does not exist.\n" "$QDRANT_COLLECTIONS_FILE"
+    exit 0
   fi
 
   snapshot_count=0
@@ -487,7 +552,11 @@ recover_collection_snapshots(){
 
 # gets the collection aliases from a qdrant node and appends it to $QDRANT_COLLECTION_ALIASES file
 get_collection_aliases() {
-  local host="${source_hosts[0]}"
+  local host="${source_hosts[0]:-}"
+  if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+    _printf "source host is not available for fetching collection aliases. Please ensure QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables.\n"
+    exit 1
+  fi
   local result=""
   local status=""
 
@@ -588,7 +657,11 @@ recover_collection_alias() {
 # restores collection aliases to a qdrant node and appends progress to $QDRANT_ALIAS_RECOVERY_HISTORY_FILE
 recover_collection_aliases() {
 
-  local host="${restore_hosts[0]}"
+  local host="${restore_hosts[0]:-}"
+  if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+    _printf "restore host is not available for recovering collection aliases. Please ensure QDRANT_RESTORE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables.\n"
+    exit 1
+  fi
 
 
   if [ "$BACKUP_COLLECTION_ALIASES_ON_S3" = "true" ]; then
@@ -658,7 +731,12 @@ delete_files() {
 
 # gets qdrant peer host url using cluster info endpoint. Sets the port to $QDRANT_HTTP_PORT the http port.
 get_peers_from_cluster_info() {
-  local host="${source_hosts[0]}"
+  local host="${source_hosts[0]:-}"
+  if [[ -z "$host" ]]; then
+    _printf "source host is not available. Please ensure QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS is set correctly in your environment variables. If restoring snapshots set QDRANT_SOURCE_HOSTS and GET_PEERS_FROM_CLUSTER_INFO to empty string.\n"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
   result=$(_curl GET "$host/cluster" --header "api-key: $QDRANT_API_KEY")
   entries=$(jq -r '.result.peers // {}' <<< "$result")
   peer_uri_entries=$(jq -r 'to_entries[] | "\(.key) \(.value.uri)"' <<< "$entries")