Over the last few months, Picsopedia has bugged me a lot. It all began when I decided to move Picsopedia from DreamHost to HostGator and then from HostGator to Hostony. Just imagine how hard would it have been for me to transfer the whole 5GB big backup from one server to the other.
In all this time I managed to discover some tips and tricks that can be used to transfer files/backup from server to server. These tips and tricks make use of tools and utilities and are recommended for users who want to transfer huge files from one server to another in least possible time.
1. cPanel Remote Backup
This is the most easiest method used to transfer whole site backup from server to server. It makes use of the “Backups” feature in cPanel and needs to be enabled by your host.
To use this
- Open the Backups manager in your cPanel and click “Generate/Download a Full Backup”
- For Backup destination choose “Remote FTP Server (Passive Mode Transfer)”
- Enter the FTP server, username and password
- Enter the FTP server port (this is usually “21″)
- Leave Remote Dir field empty
- Hit “Generate Backup”
Your backup will now be passively generated and transfer from server to server using the net2ftp protocol. If you don’t see this option in your cPanel then you need to ask your host to enable it.
2. SSH
SSH is a network protocol that allows data to be exchanged over a secure channel between two computers. Now a days nearly every web host provides this on request. You will need the PuTTy client to connect to your server via SSH.
Once you are connected via PuTTy just follow the instructions:
- Login to server 1 via SSH and open the folder which you want to backup e.g.
cd /home/somepath/to/yourwebsite/public_html - Make a compressed archive out of this folder using the command
tar -cvf sitepack.tar ./ - Login to server 2 via SSH and use the command below to fetch the backup from server
wget yourdomain.com/sitepack.tar - Now uncompress the archive using the command
tar -xvf sitepack.tar - To check the hirearchy of files and their permissions, use the command
3. FlashFXP
FlashFXP is one of those few FTP clients which allow you to transfer files through FTP from one server to another without downloading them to your local PC first.
I haven’t ever tried it myself but it is one of the most recommended FTP software across the Internet. You can download it from here.
4. SST Web Script
SST is basically a server to server file transfer PHP web script. It is really useful as I have used it myself several times however it is recommended for small backup/file transfers. It has a complete GUI which lets you operate it easily. You need to install this on server 2 (the server where you want to download your backup)
Download the script from Sizlopedia.
Thats all! I knew only 4 best techniques to transfer files/backup from server to server. If you have any more, please share in the comments.
Wow! Thanks for the great tips! I might need them anytime for my image hosting site
It must be hard work for you managing such large sites (though Picsopedia is not yet large). Kudos!
On a side note, don’t you think Sizlopedia’s current theme is too minimalist? I like the logo, but everything else is just gray/white/black. wtf, no colors?
@Haris
You are welcome!
@Sumesh
I know Picsopedia, as compared to a good image hosting site, is still not large enough but with time it will get really big and I am sure of that.
I just like the way Sizlopedia looks now. Less ads and more content for users.
Thanks for the tip Dj. It will be helpful when i will move my site to a new server.
Thanks DJ For these Tips.
Very soon am going to transfer my 2GB Data to some other server. So this will help me a lot.
Hi,
As I am having limited bandwidth here in India so does the above mentioned process gonna affect that…Or it will just transferred without any connection to the PC?
Thanks! for creating sizlopedia
@ Mayank
All these methods use passive server to server connections so you don’t need to worry about your local Internet bandwidth
Hi,
i used the above php script , but it’s not working for me properly
Request Status :
Error downloading from http://www.songspedia.com/abc.exe
I want to transfer my site to another sever, i got about 70 Gb data ,
Thanks,
Regards Sumair
70GB is a little too big to handle as the script will need a lot of memory to do this transfer and will eventually end up in a timeout.
You should use the cPanel Backup method, perhaps thats the only method that can handle the transfer of such big amount of data.
SST (Server to Server Transfer) is a great script. Just that i was thinking to find a edited copy / editing it with someone so that it could be freed of that 5 MB filesize transfer restriction. If that could be done, things would be quite sweet than they are at the moment. Please assist if you can, ill be more that pleased than ever if this happens !!!
@R.D.
SST file, “downloader.php” - line 155:
Changing this line:
$maxsize=1048576*5;to
$maxsize=1048576*20;gives a 20 MB limit.
If you go too large, you will run out of memory. I ran out at approximatey 120 MB
Hi DJ,
I made backup successfully using cPanel Remote Backup now can you plz tell me how to restore that backup file on to my new server so that everything become correct as it is on previous server.
To restore the backup the best thing to do is contact your web hosting support as they are more skilled in this mapper.
Otherwise you can simply extract the TAR and use your files and folders the way you want.
Can anyone suggest me a way to sync my local back files with the server files? And if I can sycn it everyday? I need a local backup files, up-to-day.
Thanks!