Restoring archived files

You can selectively restore files from a backup.

Example. You can restore a particular site or user to the exclusion of other backups.

Review the following important notes before you restore files.

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

- During the restore operation, the backed up file is automatically uncompressed and your working directories and files are updated with the archived content.
  Do NOT manually uncompress the backed up 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 restore files from the archive again. This is a security measure to ensure that the archived files are not corrupted by malicious scripts.

- When you restore a site, if the server on which the site is being restored uses a MySQL database having the same name as the one being restored, then the prefix of the database name is changed. This can make your databases inaccessible. It is advised that you restore the site onto a different control panel 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 restored, 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.

To restore data from the archive:

1. In the shortcuts area of the Home page
   , click Backup/Restore (Tools section).

2. In the Backup/Restore submenu, click Restore. The Restore form opens.

3. To restore, choose one of the following options.

4. Download. Downloads the file from the archive to your active server.

5. FTP. Uses the FTP utility to restore files from the archive to your active server.

# Restore by Download

The Download option is appropriate for small files.

1. In the Select Backup File text box, enter the name of the file that you want to restore from the archive. Alternatively, click Browse to locate the file.

2. In the Email field, enter the email address at which you want to receive email status notifications. If you do not want to receive email notifications, leave the field blank.

3. Click Restore. A confirmation dialog opens.

4. Click Ok to proceed with the restore.

A Progress window opens, displaying the status of the restore. If the restore fails with errors, the errors are listed in the Progress window.

# Restore by FTP

FTP is recommended as a faster and more reliable option, especially for large files.

- Note: You should have the FTP service running on the backup server to use this transfer mode.

1. In the FTP Server field, enter the name of the FTP server where you want to restore data.

2. In the FTP Login field, enter the user name of your account on the FTP server.

3. In the FTP Password field, enter the password of your account on the FTP server.

4. In the FTP Location field, enter the full path to the backup directory on the FTP server from where you want to restore the files. If you leave the field blank, the location will default to your home directory.

5. Note: You do not have to specify the path if the backed up data is stored in the home directory of your account.

5. In the Email field, enter the email address at which you want to receive email status notifications.

6. Click Restore.
   The Restore form opens.

7. In the Restore form, select the check boxes next to the files you want to restore.

8. Note: Files split into multiple files during backup can be restored as a single file. Select the main backup file (<backupfilename>.tar.gz), then select the Enable Recurse check box (displayed at the end of the file listing). Do not select the individual files (<backupfilename>.<x>.tar.gz> where <x> indicates each individual file) that constitute the main backup file.

8. Click Restore.

The status of the restore will be conveyed through an email notification to the specified address.