Restoring Your WordPress Website: A Guide to Backup Recovery

Restoring a WordPress website from backup can seem like an overwhelming and technical task, especially for those unfamiliar with website management. Nevertheless, it is a crucial task that every website owner or administrator should know how to undertake in the event of data loss or website failure.

The Importance of Restoring from Backup

Before diving into the step-by-step guide, let’s highlight why restoring from a backup is crucial for any website:

1. Restore to last backup: In case of website malfunction, you can restore it to the state when everything was working correctly by restoring it to the last backup.
2. Save time: By restoring from a backup, you can save time in redoing the entire website.
3. Data recovery: If a hacking attempt or accidental data loss occurs, you can use the backup to restore and recover lost data.
4. Increase website security: Regular backups guarantee restoration of the website in case it gets attacked by malware or hackers.

Steps to Restore Your Website from Backup

Now, let’s discuss how to restore your WordPress website from backup, whether you have a backup plugin installed or used a manual backup method:

Step 1: Download Backup

The first step is to download the backup from your backup location. This could be a plugin that automatically generates the backups, or manually created files that you saved on your computer or external hard drive. If you’re using any plugin such as UpdraftPlus, locate the backup file(s) either on your website or cloud storage, and download all the required files, including backups for files and database.

Step 2: Install WordPress

The next step is to install WordPress on the server where you want to restore your website. You can install WordPress manually or use a hosting provider that supports one-click installation.

Step 3: Upload Backup Files

Now that you have WordPress installed on your server, it’s time to upload the backup file(s) to the server. You can do this by logging in to your server or hosting account, going to the File Manager or FTP Manager, and locating the root directory of the WordPress installation. Usually, this is in the public_html directory. Thereafter select all the files you want to upload and start the uploads.

Step 4: Restore the Database

If your backup files include a database backup, the next step is to restore the database. Your backup files may include a SQL file or a compressed file of the database. To restore the database, go to the cPanel and locate the database section. Select the database that matches the backup and select ‘Restore Database’. You may have to enter the username and password that you created at the time of the database creation. Once the .sql file from the backup is uploaded, you will receive a message that the database has been restored.

Step 5: Run Website Restore Script

At this stage, you have uploaded the files and restored the database. The next step is to run the website restore script. If you’re using a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus, go to the backup plugin dashboard and select the restore option. Follow the prompts and select the backup date you want to restore. If you did a manual backup, you will need to run the installation script. This can be done by going to the WordPress installation folder and locating a php file called wp-config.php. Open the file in a text editor and locate the following line of code:

define('DB_NAME', 'Database name');

Replace “Database name” with the name of your database, save the file and upload it back to the server.

Step 6: Test Your Website

Once the script or plugin is run, log in to your website admin panel to test the website’s functionality, files, pages, and other critical aspects such as menus and widgets.

In conclusion, ensure that you regularly have a backup of your website files, folders, and database, to minimize data loss or compromise on your website. By following these step-by-step procedures, you’ll be able to restore your WordPress website from any backup, no matter its origin.