How to Backup Your Site from cPanel

icon1 Posted by Rochelle in How To... on 02 13th, 2008 | 13 responses

It is vitally important that you backup your niche stores. There are many ways to accomplish this and I’m going to share how I do this.

I use HostGator so the images and instructions below are for this host. If you host with a different company then your steps may differ.

 

My instructions to backup your site:

Step One
 Log in to your hosting account’s cPanel.
  
 Click on the ‘Backups‘ icon or link:
Image of HostGator's Backups link
  
 Look for the ‘Full Backup‘ and click the ‘Generate/Download a Full Backup‘ link:
Image of HostGator's Full Backup link
  
 Note: You may notice that under this link it says, “Full backups can only be used for moving your account to another server or keeping a local copy of your account.” I thought this meant I could only use this backup when moving to another hosting company. I contacted HostGator about this and was told you can restore files from this backup. I have since confirmed this is correct.
  
 Complete the information for the full backup. I suggest leaving the Backup Destination as Home Directory, entering your email address, and leaving the rest blank. Then click the ‘Generate Backup‘ button:
Image of HostGator's Full Backup options
  
 Wait for an email stating your backup is complete. The time for this varies depending on how big your backup is.
  
 After you get the email stating your backup is complete move on to the next step.
Step Two
 Return to the ‘Backups‘ page and click the ‘Download a home directory Backup‘ link:
Image of HostGator's Download a Backup link
  
 Save the backup to your computer. This may take a while depending on the size of your backup. I have a high-speed Internet connection and it took several minutes to download my backup.
.

Your entire HostGator site account is now backed up safely on your computer. This includes any add on domains or sub domains you may have added to your primary domain. If you ever need to restore files you can find what you want within the backup file you downloaded.

For those who may be curious, I save my site backups in a folder called, “Backups.” That folder contains folders to everything I have backups of, including one that is called, “BANS.” In there is a folder called, “System Backups (initiated from within cPanel).” In that folder is a folder I have named, “HostGator.” It is in this folder that I save each site backup with its default name.

For example, if I needed to restore site files I would look for the following file:

Local Disk (E:) / Backups / BANS / System Backups (initiated from within cPanel) / HostGator / backup-anichestore.com-2-13-2008.tar

Don’t forget that your databases also need to be backed up. You can read my instructions on how to do this at http://www.nichestorestrategies.com/how-to-backup-your-sites-database/.

Rochelle

»crosslinked«

Similar niche store strategies:

  1. How to Backup Your Site’s Database
  2. How to Add a Dynamic Sitemap to Your Site
  3. How to edit files such as .htaccess and FrontControl.php

13 Responses to “How to Backup Your Site from cPanel”

  1. How to Backup Your Site’s Database | Niche Store Strategies says:
    February 13, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    [...] February 13, 2008 – I have added instructions on how to backup your site files at http://www.nichestorestrategie.....om-cpanel/. [...]

  2. How to Restore Your Site from cPanel | Niche Store Strategies says:
    February 13, 2008 at 4:31 pm

    [...] company can do this but they will probably charge a fee. Read my instructions on how to do this at http://www.nichestorestrategie.....om-cpanel/ and save your hard-earned money by doing it [...]

  3. hartlenn says:
    February 13, 2008 at 8:53 pm

    That was a tiny bit more work than the mySQL back up but still easy as pie (whatever THAT means) No problems; another SWEET little shortcut to sanity.
    Much Respect
    HL

  4. How I Create a New Niche Store | Niche Store Strategies says:
    February 25, 2008 at 11:47 am

    [...] Backup site from cPanel. [...]

  5. Mods that will require redoing after updating to v3 of BANS | Niche Store Strategies says:
    March 4, 2008 at 10:24 am

    [...] before you update any site I strongly suggest you backup your site from cPanel and backup your site’s database before doing [...]

  6. Cindy says:
    March 8, 2008 at 7:35 pm

    Great instructions as always!

    For anyone who might have trouble at the ‘Download a home directory Backup‘ section in Step Six (mine just would NOT download), here’s a simple solution. When you create the backup in Step Four, it is automatically inserted into your home directory (where your public_html is) so you can then download via FTP to your computer from there.

    I got this from a support ticket and it worked for me.

    Cindy

  7. Rochelle says:
    March 9, 2008 at 6:45 am

    Cindy,

    Excellent! Thank you for sharing this.

    Rochelle

  8. How to Move to a New Host | Niche Store Strategies says:
    March 15, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    [...] Backup your entire site using the steps found here. [...]

  9. Tea Man says:
    March 31, 2008 at 10:05 pm

    thank you so much for this guide! I was looking everywhere for how to just backup my hostgator files to my computer. Thankyou very much for the information!

  10. Build A Niche Store Owners Back-up Your Store And Database | banslive! Build a Niche Store "Newbie" Resource says:
    April 17, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    [...] remember what all the steps were but I do remember that Rochelle had instructions on her blog (Niche Store Strategies) that details both your hosting and database back-up [...]

  11. sussex it services says:
    September 17, 2009 at 6:35 pm

    Great little post, easy to do aswell :-)

  12. mySql busines databases says:
    November 17, 2009 at 6:38 am

    thanks for this article.
    I will be adding you to my RSS reader
    Sarah

  13. faktorhosting says:
    December 17, 2009 at 12:29 pm

    Thank you for sharing your information

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