Backups are very important part of maintaining a website. It is important to backup your files on a week to week or month to month basis. A home directory backup will backup all of the files in your home directory. This can be useful to backup the files of your site. However, it will not backup DNS, MySQL, or other system files and settings.
This video will show you how to back up and restore your website using your cPanel. It is always a good idea to make a backup of your site prior to making any major changes or to have a back up available in the event of potential data loss.
Note: Your control panel may look slightly different depending on the theme you are using, however the steps will be the same for all themes based off of the X3 theme.
Backup Your Files
To backup your files, please do the following:
- Click Backups
- Click Download a home directory backup
- Click save as
- Select a destination for where you would like the back up to locally be saved to.
- Click Save
The backup will start downloading to the destination you have chosen. The backup file will be in a .tar.gz file which can be opened with any Linux command line. Also, you can unzip this file from a windows based machine if you have the appropriate software. I recommend “winrar”. You can download a copy of it at: http://www.download.com
How do I restore my own backup?
WARNING: Restoring a backup will overwrite any existing files!
A Home Directory backup can be restored in cPanel, at the same place where you made the backup. Where is says "Restore a Home Directory Backup," click the browse button and then select the backup file you downloaded earlier. Then click upload to restore your site.