Prevent global values to get reset on update

ESPHome
1

For ESPhome there are often updates available, when installing them, the whole firmware of the sensors get’s recompiled and also the configuration get’s reapplied to the sensors.
As i use a global value as persistance for count values like gasmeter, powermeter, watermeter, etc. their values get reset to the value i once added to set the start count.

globals:
  - id: total
    type: int
    initial_value: '1234567'
    restore_value: false

How can i prevent that the value get’s reset or lost?
Where is it saved anyway? Inside HA or inside the sensor?

2

It’s saved in the flash memory of the ESP device. Update your initial values before performing the ESP device update.

3

Ah, ok, means that this value of ID “total” is stored inside my ESP-node non-volatile memory. Means that HA only get’s the value from there, but don’t store it himselfs, right?

If i comment out the “initial_value” param, would that help?
What is the “restore_value” used for?