How to Backup WordPress Using cPanel
If you are using cPanel as your web hosting control panel, you can easily create backups and restore from backups all through the cPanel interface. And although the process is very simple and quick, we actually recommend against relying on cPanel for your backups.
That’s because we believe the best backup system is an automated one, preferably through the use of a plugin. It will guard against user error and save you a ton of time. It’s also more secure since you can have your backups automatically store in a remote location or cloud server, whereas cPanel downloads backups onto your local drive.
In the event that you are unable to use a plugin because of your website’s configuration or due to an unusually large database, you’ll have to manually back up your WordPress website using FTP and phpMyAdmin.
Therefore, with these two options as the best options for most users, we don’t believe that using cPanel is a great option. But for those of you who insist on using cPanel to create backups or learning how to do so, this guide is written for you.
Create Backups Using cPanel
The screenshots in this example might look a little different depending on the version of cPanel you’re using but the steps will be the same.
1. Log in to your cPanel.
2. In the Files section, click to open the Backup Wizard.
3. In Step 1 of 3, and in the Backup box, click the Backup button to go to step 2.
4. In Step 2, you’ll see two boxes again; one titled Full Backup and the other titled Partial Backup. Downloading a Full Backup is the simplest way to create a backup. It’ll create a single zip file on your computer.
However, you won’t be able to restore your site through cPanel with it. So you’ll have to go through each of the three options shown in Partial Backup to download three separate zip files, as these are used to restore your site.
Click any of the three options such as Home Directory to go to Step 3.
5. In Step 3, click the Download button to download the backup onto your computer’s local drive.
6. Repeat the process until you download the other two backups onto your local drive.
When you get to MySQL Databases, you’ll just simply click on the name of your database, and it will start downloading immediately.
Once you have all three files downloaded onto your computer’s local drive, you’ll have downloaded a full backup of your WordPress site.
Restore Your Site Through cPanel
If you ever find the need to restore your WordPress site through cPanel using the backups you downloaded, you’ll go back to the Backup Wizard. But instead of clicking Backup, this time, you’ll select Restore and follow the steps to upload your backups onto the site.
Questions about the process or need help with your version of cPanel? Connect with us in the comment section below.