Site backup and restore

i have had several modifications done on my site by a programmer. I would like to test backup and restore. 

I  used FileZilla and downloaded all the files to my local machine, then I used phpMyadmin to export the database.  I tested restore by uploading all the files to a new domain.  I imported the database, cleared the cache, public cache and tmp directories.  I changed inc.header file to new domain.

Here is the problem, 

1. Some of the background images and colors didn't come over for the mobile app.

2. I used FileZilla to upload the files from my local machine to the server several times, but the server times didn't update; so I wasn't sure if permissions were an issue.

3. Some of the data, site modifications have disappeared. I will need to get the programmer to fix the site.

can someone help me figure out how to backup and restore my site, don't forget the mobile app files also.

thanks

Does the server have cPanel? If so, use the file manager to compress the site directory into a ZIP - either reupload that or move it over to the test directory, if this is on the same server/account. This will ensure no files are missed or corrupted when uploaded. Dolphin is very large, so it's not recommended to upload the individual files over FTP.

Agreed. Especially with Filezilla which is not very reliable.

Also. You may not remember doing this when dolphin was first setup, but there are normally permissions that have to be set for various folders and files. After uploading a site to a new location those permissions are normally lost, so will have to be done again.

if you have shell access on your server,you want to tarball the site and keep owner/group/permissions,

tar -pczf name of backup.tar.gz site-directory

Then you untar and everything is back the way it was.

Thanks for all the responses.  I am using cpanel by the way.  I will not use filezilla to move Dolphin files.

Hey Nathan, is zip better than tar for compressing files, Will I lose anything in compression. Once I unzip or untar the files in the new directory, Is this an exact copy of all the files with no loss. All I need to do is change inc/header.php file?

Hey Deano, tar or zip prevents me having to set permissions again in the new location?

Hey Geekgirl, I want to make sure I have the command line correct. I did some reading on that Unix command. When I untar, I use tar --pczf myfile.tar.gz?  I used 2 dashes there.

Thanks for everyones help?

What about the database, should I use custom or quick configuration to export database in phpMyadmin? I wasn't sure if  I was doing the database extraction correctly

I should ask, is this on the same account? If so, you don't even need to do this step - simply select all the files and use Copy in the file manager's toolbar to copy the files and directories over to wherever the new site is (e.g., if it's a subdomain under /public_html/test.mysite.com). Compressing is only needed if the files need to be downloaded, such as if the test site is on a different server or under a different account.

As for the difference between ZIP and TAR.GZ - either works. TAR.GZ is simply more compressed. If you're using the cPanel file manager to decompress the archive, then ownership won't be a problem. And unless you really understand how to use the shell, I recommend keeping away from it for safety's sake.

For exporting the database, use phpMyAdmin and use the quick export. Then create a new database for the test site, and back in phpMyAdmin, import the SQL file into the new database.

Thanks for the response Nathan.  I'm going to try backup and restore again. Thanks