Knowledgebase

The Backup Wizard is a user-friendly interface you can use to create a backup of the entire site, a partial backup, or allowing a site restoration from the last backup saved. This tool may be useful to new users.

With the Backup Wizard, you can back up and save your entire website or a portion of your website. You can also use the Restore link to select files to restore portions of your site. To begin, first select whether you would like to back up or restore your website.

Back up your entire site

To create a full backup:

1. Select Backup from the first page.
2. Select Full Backup from the second page.
3. Select the destination for the backup files. You have three options:
   • Select Home Directory from the menu to store the files in your home directory.
   • cPanel can also utilize FTP or SCP to store the files to a remote machine. To do this, fill in the appropriate information and select the method for file transfer from the menu.
   • If you wish to download the file to your computer, skip to the next step.
4. Click Generate Backup.
   • If FTP or SCP was used, an email will be sent to the email address that you specified at the beginning of the process.
5. To download a copy of the backup file to your computer, click the filename under Backups Available for Download.

The date the backup was created appears in the filename (which begins with backup-MM-DD-YYYY). The file will be stored as a “tar ball,” or compressed data file, with the filename extension .tar.gz.

Create a partial backup

To back up a portion of your site:

1. Select Backup from the first page.
2. Click Home Directory, MySQL Databases, or Email Forwarders & Filters to select the portion of your site to back up..
3. Click the appropriate link or button on the following page to store the required information to your computer or web server.

Restore a portion of your site

To restore a portion of your site:

1. Select Restore from the first page.
2. Clock Home Directory, MySQL Databases, or Email Forwarders & Filters to select the portion of your site that you wish to restore.
3. Select the file from your computer that should be used to restore the portion of your website that you have selected.
4. Click Upload to finish the restoration process.

Important information about your backups

What's included in my home directory backup?

When you back up your home directory, the backup includes:

• All of the files that you own.
• Files that you do not own but have access to.

Can I exclude files from a backup?

You can exclude certain files and directories from a backup by placing a configuration file in your home directory. For more information, read our documentation about how to Exclude Files from Backups.