The day may come when you need to restore a database. If you have already backed up your database then this will be a fairly simple process.

If, however, you haven’t backed up your databases and need to restore one (or more) then your hosting company can probably do this for but they will likely charge a fee. Read my instructions on how to do this at http://www.nichestorestrategies.com/how-to-backup-your-sites-database/ and save your hard-earned money by doing it yourself.

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 restore your database from cPanel:
Step One
	Log in to your hosting account’s cPanel.
	Click on the ‘Backups‘ icon or link:
	Look for the ‘Restore a MySQL Database‘:
	Click the ‘Browse‘ button to locate the file for the database you want to restore and then click the ‘Upload‘ button.
Step Two
	You will now see something that looks similar to this image:
	Press your browser’s back button to return to the previous screen.
	Chances are that is all you need to do. View your site and see if it looks correct or if there are errors. If all looks the way it should then you are done. But if you see errors then you may need to do a little more work.
Step Three
	Go to cPanel’s Home page and click on the ‘MySQL® Databases‘ link or icon:
	Scroll down until you find the database you just restored. When you find it look to see if there is a user associated with the database. If there is you will see the following information directly under the database:
	Here is an image of a database that doesn’t have a user associated with it and one that does directly under it:
	The database in the picture above called neeznood_testdatabase does not have any users. If this was the database I just restored then my niche store would not function and I would see errors on the site.
	Scroll further down on the screen and create a user and password for the restored database.
	Save the new user and click the ‘Go Back‘ link.
	Scroll down to the bottom and add the user to the database. Click the ‘Add User To Database‘ button then click the ‘Go Back‘ link.
	Scroll down to find your restored database. Hopefully it now has a user associated with it. Here is an image of my database with a user added to it:
.

Hopefully that will be all your database needs to resume working. If it doesn’t then I am the wrong person to turn to. The above is the extent of my knowledge on this. I would suggest contacting your hosting company for additional help.

Rochelle