Restoring from a Backup in DirectAdmin

<h3>Full and Partial Restore Procedures</h3> <p>If your website has been compromised, data was accidentally deleted, or you need to roll back to a previous state, you can restore from a backup in DirectAdmin. The restore process lets you recover your entire account or select specific components.</p> <h3>Restoring from a Server-Stored Backup</h3> <ol> <li>Log in to DirectAdmin.</li> <li>Navigate to <strong>Advanced Features &rarr; Create/Restore Backups</strong>.</li> <li>Under the <strong>Restore Backup</strong> section, you will see a list of available backup files stored on the server.</li> <li>Select the backup file you want to restore from (identified by date and time).</li> <li>Choose which components to restore: <ul> <li><strong>Home directory / Files:</strong> Restores all website files.</li> <li><strong>Databases:</strong> Restores MySQL/MariaDB databases. This will overwrite current databases.</li> <li><strong>E-mail data:</strong> Restores email messages and accounts.</li> <li><strong>E-mail settings:</strong> Restores forwarders, filters, and autoresponders.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Click <strong>Restore</strong> to begin the process.</li> </ol> <div class="alert alert-warning"><strong>Warning:</strong> Restoring a backup will overwrite the selected components with the data from the backup. Any changes made after the backup was created will be lost for the restored items. Consider creating a fresh backup of your current state before restoring.</div> <h3>Restoring from an Uploaded Backup</h3> <p>If your backup file is stored locally (on your computer), you need to upload it before restoring:</p> <ol> <li>Upload the <code>.tar.gz</code> backup file to the <code>/home/username/backups/</code> directory using FTP or the File Manager.</li> <li>Navigate to <strong>Create/Restore Backups</strong> in DirectAdmin.</li> <li>The uploaded backup file should now appear in the list of available backups.</li> <li>Select it and follow the restore steps above.</li> </ol> <h3>Partial Restore Tips</h3> <ul> <li><strong>Files only:</strong> Deselect databases and email options to restore only website files without affecting your current databases.</li> <li><strong>Database only:</strong> Deselect files and email to restore just the database. Useful if a database was corrupted or accidentally modified.</li> <li><strong>Single file recovery:</strong> If you only need specific files, download and extract the backup archive on your local machine, find the files you need, then upload them individually via FTP.</li> </ul> <h3>After Restoring</h3> <p>After a successful restore, verify your website is functioning correctly. Check that pages load, forms work, and database-driven content (such as a CMS) displays properly. Clear any caching plugins or CDN caches to ensure you see the restored content.</p>