Automatic Backup
The JetBackup tool will automatically back up your website's files and databases once a day and will save 7-days of backups to restore. With automated and daily snapshots of your website, you'll be able to easily access a backup should you need one to restore your site or database. Learn more about how to download and restore your website using JetBackup in this Help Article.
Important: It is not recommended to restore a JetBackup file or folder using the cPanel Backup restore process. The restore process for both types of backups is not identical.
Manual Backup
With cPanel Backups you have the option to manually download a full or partial backup. A full backup creates an archive of all of your website's files and configuration, including the database. With a partial backup, you can select either the Home Directory or a MySQL database to download. You can restore partial backups in cPanel but not full backups. Full backups can be stored in the home directory, downloaded to your local drive, or transferred and stored elsewhere using FTP.
Important: It is recommended to download and store the full backup on your local computer, not in your account, and then delete the backup file in the File Manager.
Note: Full backups include all WordPress installations in your account, while backups using the WordPress Toolkit only include a backup of a single WordPress installation.
Jump to:
Download a full cPanel backup
- Sign in to your My Services page.
- Click the Web Hosting link.
- Click the Backup link in the Files module.
- In the Full Backup section, click the Download a Full Account Backup button.
- Select the default Home Directory from the dropdown in the Backup Destination section.
- Enter any Email Address to receive notification when the backup is completed. Or click the Radio button if you do not want an email notification. Note: The login Email Address is auto-populated to receive a backup notification.
- Click the Generate Backup button.
- Click the Backup link in the Backups Available for Download section to download the selected backup. Note: A .tar file will download to your local drive.
Download a prior full cPanel backup
- Sign in to your My Services page.
- Click the Web Hosting link.
- Click the Backup link in the Files module.
- In the Full Backup section, click the Download a Full Account Backup button.
- Click the Backup link in the Backups Available for Download section to download a prior backup. Note: A .tar file will download to your local drive.
Download a partial cPanel backup
- Sign in to your My Services page.
- Click the Web Hosting link.
- Click the Backup link in the Files module.
- In the Partial Backups section, click the Home Directory button to Download a Home Directory Backup.
Note: To download a MySQL Database, repeat the same steps above and click the Link under Databases. Note: A .sql file will download to your local drive.
Restore a partial backup
- Sign in to your My Services page.
- Click the Web Hosting link.
- Click the Backup link in the Files module.
- In the Partial Backups section, click the Choose File button to upload a Home Directory. A modal will open to find the file.
- Click the Open button to upload the file.
- A confirmation message will appear if the upload is successful.
Note: Repeat the steps above to restore a MySQL Database Backup.
Delete a cPanel backup
- Sign in to your My Services page.
- Click the Web Hosting link.
- Click the File Manager link in the Files module. A new browser tab opens to the File Manager.
- Select the Home directory (in the left column) and then click the Backup File you want to delete (in the right column), ensure the file row is highlighted. Note: The backup file name begins with backup and ends with tar.gz.
- Click the Delete link. A modal will open to confirm.
- Click the Confirm button to delete the file.
WordPress blog settings and data backup
You can also export your blog settings and data from the WordPress dashboard, and then export the blog database using phpMyAdmin.
- Sign into your WordPress dashboard.
- Click Tools | Export.
- Select the All content radio button.
- Click Download Export File.
- Save the XML backup file to your computer.
This XML file, which is called WordPress eXtended RSS or WXR, will contain your posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags. Once you’ve saved the XML export file, you can use the Import function in another WordPress installation to import the content from this site.
You'll now want to back up your blog database with phpMyAdmin, a MySQL database administration tool available in cPanel.
phpMyAdmin backup
- Sign in to phpMyAdmin.
- Click the name of your WordPress blog database. Your blog database will have the same name as the directory in which you activated the blog.
- Click the Export tab. You'll see all of your blog database tables in a box on this tab.
- Choose the Custom method for exporting your database.
- In the Output area, set the following highlighted options as follows:
- Set the following highlighted Format specific options:
- In the Object creation options area, set the following highlighted options:
- Set the following highlighted Data dump options:
- Click Go to save your backup to your computer. (You'll be prompted to choose a location to save your backup file.) Depending on the size of your blog, this can take a few minutes.
Please visit the WordPress Codex for more on backing up and restoring your blog from a backup.