cPanel's Backup Wizard makes a copy of your website that you can download and keep. Take one before any big change — an update, a new theme, a migration.
Tip
Want backups that happen by themselves and are kept off the server? See Website Backup.
Take a backup
- Open your control panel.
- In cPanel, under Files, click Backup Wizard, then Backup.
- Choose the kind of backup:
| Backup | Contains | Restore it |
|---|---|---|
| Full | The whole account: files, databases, email, settings | Not from cPanel — open a ticket |
| Home directory | Your files, as .tar.gz | From the Backup Wizard |
| MySQL databases | One database, as .sql | From the Backup Wizard |
| Email forwarders and filters | Your mail rules | From the Backup Wizard |
- For a partial backup, click the item to download it straight away. For a full backup, choose where to save it — your home directory, or a remote FTP or SCP server — then click Generate Backup. You can ask for an email when it's done.
Full backups are named backup-MM-DD-YYYY…tar.gz and appear under Download when ready.
Important
A backup can fail if the account is at or near its storage limit — the server can't write the files it needs. Free some space first. And download your backup: a copy left on the same server doesn't protect you if the server has a problem.
Restore a partial backup
- In the Backup Wizard, click Restore.
- Choose what to restore: Home Directory, MySQL Databases or Email Forwarders & Filters.
- Click Choose File, select the backup file on your computer, and click Upload.
The restore overwrites what's there now with what's in the backup.