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Hello Team!
My old website has been down for more than a year, but I downloaded total site backups with Total Upkeep. I would now like to restore this website to a new domain on a new host (currently deciding between siteground and cloudways). Would this process be just as simple as setting up wordpress on my new domain, downloading Total Upkeep, then uploading the file?
I’m not tech expert, but I feel that something would need to be done on the backend, regarding databases and the like, so that the “hard-wired identity” of the old domain doesn’t conflict with the new domain.
I truly appreciate any insight you can share here!
Hi TW,
Thanks for reaching out with your Total Upkeep questions. As long as you have a functioning backup uploading and restoring your BoldGrid backup file is fairly as simple of a process as you mentioned.
Here are the steps:
- Connect to your hosting account via FTP, or by using a file manager in your hosting control panel.
- Upload your backup file to your backups directory, typically in Home -> boldgrid_backup.
- Back in your WordPress dashboard navigate to Total Upkeep -> Backup Archives.
- You will now see your backup file listed in your Web Server backups.
- Click View Details -> Restore.
If you run in to any issues try reviewing the restoration logs for failed attempts. Navigate to Total Upkeep > Tools > Logs and look for the log with a filename similar to
restore-XXXXXXXX.logand a timestamp corresponding to the restoration that failed.You also have the option of restoring your backup using Total Upkeep’s command line utility.
If you can paste that log here, we’ll be able to determine what’s causing the failure.
I really hope this helps TW, please let us know if we can assist you further with anything.
This seems like great guidance, thank you! If you don’t hear back from me it means everything worked out just fine. If not, TTYS
Thanks TW,
We’re definitely here if you have if you have any question for us, don’t hesitate to reach out!
Hey Brandon–my old host was hostgator. They used cPanel and I was able to easily manipulate files and manually upload backups. Siteground uses their own version of cPanel, but I can’t seem to find the right folder for Boldgrid to upload my backup.
This is a screenshot of what the siteground file manager pathway to Boldgrid plugin looks like: https://prnt.sc/PSXtuk436CKI. I uploaded my backup to what appears to be the main “home” folder (although I see nothing that marks it with this nomenclature). After doing so, the backup did not appear in WordPress. The same thing happened when I moved the backup to the “admin” folder.
Could you guide me on where to upload the backup, and let me know if the wp-content–>plugins location is correct?
Hey TW,
Thanks for the screenshot! It looks like the folder you’re accessing there is actually the Total Upkeep plugin file itself. You should be looking for a boldgrid_backup folder in either your Home folder or maybe even public_html.
Once you upload your backup to this folder, log into your WordPress Dashboard, and navigate to Total Upkeep -> Backup Archives. You should now see your backup file listed in your Web Server backups.
Click View Details -> Restore.
We have a guide you can follow with this same information TW in case you get stuck. Please let us know if we can do anything to assist you further with this!
Ok. I actually ended up having to get my new host provider to create the path: /home/customer/www/3bcmob.com/public_html/boldgrid_backup
Long story short, when I tried to upload the backup finally, it broke me site 😫. I know this must be because I’m now using a different hosting provider with different databases and a lot of other backend stuff I don’t understand (side note: I did replace the “old” restored databases that populated in my wp-config file with the “current” databases from my new WP installation–still didn’t make a difference)
I decided to repurchase a basic hosting plan with my old hosting provider–hostgator–to see if restoring the backup within their framework would work. Then I could just do a “proper” transfer to my new domain and hosting provider.
After following all steps and updating all file names to ensure the manually uploaded backup file showed in WP admin panel……it broke my site as well!! After the support rep asked me to extract the files from the Total Upkeep zip, and I couldn’t do so, they told me there was most likely an issue with the file itself.
I had to give you all that backstory to ensure I wasn’t leaving out anything critical. All that to ask how I can have you verify that my backup file is good?
Thanks TW,
When Total Upkeep takes a backup you have the option of customizing your backup. Do you remember if your backup file is a complete backup file ( database + files) or are you specifically uploading files?
If you’ve made a custom backup for files specifically I think that would explain why the restore is breaking your site at the new web host.
Are you able to see anything in your restoration logs for the failed attempts? Navigate to Total Upkeep > Tools > Logs and look for the log with a filename similar to
restore-XXXXXXXX.logand a timestamp corresponding to the restoration that failed. That might reveal some info on the error.Perhaps you could upload your backup file to Dropbox and share the link with us so that we can inspect your backup file.
We look forward to assisting you further with this.
As soon as I had the backup file uploaded and showing in the WP admin panel, clicking to restore it is what broke the site. Currently I can’t access the WP admin, only the hosting file manager, and I don’t see any logs with timestamps that fit.
I uploaded a full backup with database + files that is 4.33GB. Could you tell me where to upload the file so that you may inspect it?
Thanks TW,
4.33gb does sound like a huge backup file. You may have some hosting or server limitation preventing you from uploading the file.
You can try uploading the backup file to an application like Dropbox which would allow you to share the file with us in the form of a link.
We’ll inspect the file for you and let you know what we find.
Thanks TW
Hey team, thanks for your continued assistance here. I seriously think I’m going to go pro with you guys based on this unbelievable support. Can’t thank you enough!
Here’s a link to the backup file in my google drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZK5jdA1Zvd6nLuBx-iY9stuT2Wr9Stv/view?usp=sharing
Let me know what you find
Hi TW!
Thanks for sending over the file and we’d love to have you over as a premium user! I do have some bad news unfortunately, the file does appear to be way to large to be a proper Total Upkeep backup file and due to its size we can’t even download it in order to open and view the contents.
I was hoping we could extract the correct backup file from your zip folder. Do you still have access to the old server at Hostgator? If so we may be able to at the very least create a new backup from the original site.
Hey team, sorry for all my breaks in comms. Life is busy LIFING.
That is devastating news to hear about my backup file. That essentially means all is lost, because my old hosting provider would not still have my old VPS intact almost a year after I stopped hosting with them.
One thing I will say is that ALL my backups were this size around the time that my site was still active. Since it was a business directory site with around 3000 listings, multiple pics per listing, and overall a website with several subdomains.
Is there really no possible way to extract anything, or were you thinking it would be impossible just based on the abnormal file size? And we you say you couldn’t download it, does that mean the size was too big for yall’s allowed download specs, or that it was literally corrupted and COULD NOT download no matter what?
Finally, I also had a backup from the same time that did not include the databases. Would that help? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QT-lD0HyGfWEiqz_qAto_U0hT33DLg8z/view?usp=share_link
Hi TW,
No worries on the delay we definitely understand that life happens. I actually was able to download the backup file from Google Drive. I can’t tell if the file is corrupted without attempting to restore myself but it is good news that the download is completing.
Have you tried following this guide on restoring large backups in Total Upkeep? You’ll have to scroll down a bit but you’ll see the section in the guide.
If the restoration fails Navigate to Total Upkeep > Tools > Logs and look for the log with a filename similar to
restore-XXXXXXXX.logand a timestamp corresponding to the restoration that failed.
- The topic ‘Website shut down and I need to restore Boldgrid backup’ is closed to new replies.
