File & Folder Restoration

When Files Go Missing

Files can disappear for many reasons: accidental deletion, a botched update, a hacked site, or a failed migration. The key is having backups — and knowing how to restore from them quickly.

cPanel File Manager Restoration

Command-Line Restoration

Restoring from tar/gzip Backups

# List contents of a backup without extracting
tar -tzf backup-2024-01-15.tar.gz

# Extract entire backup
tar -xzf backup-2024-01-15.tar.gz

# Extract a single file from the backup
tar -xzf backup-2024-01-15.tar.gz path/to/specific/file.php

# Extract to a specific directory
tar -xzf backup-2024-01-15.tar.gz -C /home/user/restored/

Using rsync for Restoration

# Restore from a backup directory to the live site
rsync -avz /backups/2024-01-15/public_html/ /home/user/public_html/

# Dry run first (shows what would change)
rsync -avzn /backups/2024-01-15/public_html/ /home/user/public_html/

# Restore from a remote backup server
rsync -avz backup-server:/backups/latest/public_html/ /home/user/public_html/

Restoring from Git

If your site is version-controlled, git makes restoration straightforward:

# See what was changed/deleted recently
git log --diff-filter=D --summary

# Restore a specific deleted file
git checkout HEAD~1 -- path/to/deleted/file.php

# Restore a file from a specific commit
git checkout abc1234 -- path/to/file.php

# Restore the entire project to a previous state
git checkout abc1234 -- .

# If you just want to see the old version without restoring
git show abc1234:path/to/file.php

Database Restoration

mysqldump Backup & Restore

# Create a database backup
mysqldump -u username -p database_name > backup.sql

# Backup with compression
mysqldump -u username -p database_name | gzip > backup.sql.gz

# Restore from a backup
mysql -u username -p database_name < backup.sql

# Restore from compressed backup
gunzip < backup.sql.gz | mysql -u username -p database_name

phpMyAdmin Restore

1. Log in to phpMyAdmin
2. Select the target database
3. Click the Import tab
4. Choose your .sql backup file
5. Click Go to import

The 3-2-1 Backup Rule

The gold standard for data protection:

• 3 copies of your data (the original + 2 backups)
• 2 different storage types (e.g., local disk + cloud storage)
• 1 offsite backup (in case of physical disaster)

Automated Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
# backup.sh — Run via cron: 0 2 * * * /home/user/scripts/backup.sh

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
BACKUP_DIR="/home/user/backups/$DATE"
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Backup files
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/files.tar.gz" /home/user/public_html/

# Backup database
mysqldump -u db_user -p'db_pass' db_name | gzip > "$BACKUP_DIR/database.sql.gz"

# Remove backups older than 30 days
find /home/user/backups/ -type d -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} +

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR"