About importing data

You can selectively import files from an export archive using the Download option or the FTP option.

Review the following important notes before you import files.

- If a file by the same name, as the one being imported, exists on your server, the existing file is not replaced or overwritten, in other words, the file is not restored from the backup.

- The import operation automatically uncompresses the archive and updates your working directories with the archived content.
  Do NOT manually uncompress the file to make changes to the archived files and upload them again as a compressed .gz file. If the files in the archive are manually modified, you cannot import files from the archive again. This is a security measure to ensure that the archived files are not corrupted by malicious scripts.

- When you import a site, if the server on which the site is being imported uses a MySQL database having the same name as the one being imported, then the prefix of the database name is changed. This can make your databases inaccessible. It is advised that you import the site onto a different server that does not use a database with the same name.
  Also, if the Database Administrator name already exists on the server where the database is being imported, the name is automatically changed to ensure uniqueness. You must subsequently change any references to the old administrator name, otherwise you will be unable to connect to the database.

- Restoring files may take a long time to complete, depending on the size of the archived files and the speed of your network connection. FTP is recommended as a faster and more reliable option when transferring files.