Knowledgebase

Redesigning your site, moving hosts, switching themes, running a big WooCommerce update, cleaning up old email -- any big change is safer with a fresh copy of everything in your hands first. This website backup checklist walks you through what to save before you make big changes, which tool to use for each part, and how to check the backup actually works before you need it.

Why you need your own backup when we already make one

Your account is backed up automatically by JetBackup 5 three times a week, and the last 7 backups are kept off the server. That's your safety net for disasters. But it has two gaps when you're planning a change:

• Timing. The last scheduled backup might be two days old. Anything added since then -- orders, form entries, new posts, email -- isn't in it.
• Retention. After about two weeks, a backup rolls off. If a problem from your change only shows up a month later, the "before" copy is gone.

A backup you make yourself, right before the change, and keep on your own computer, fills both gaps. See How Website Backups Work on Your Hosting Account (JetBackup 5) for the full picture of our automatic backups.

The checklist at a glance

1. Take a WP Toolkit backup (WordPress sites)

This is the fastest undo button you have. It saves the site's files and database together, and restores them in one click.

1. In cPanel, go to Domains > WordPress Management.
2. On your site's card, click Back Up / Restore, then Back Up.
3. Wait until the new backup appears in the list with today's date and time.
4. Click the download icon next to it and save a copy to your computer, so you still have it if the site's disk fills up or the backup is deleted.

WP Toolkit backups are stored inside your account and count toward your disk space, so delete old ones once the change has settled. Full steps are in How to Back Up and Restore WordPress in WP Toolkit.

2. Export the database

For a WordPress site the WP Toolkit backup already includes the database, but a separate export is still useful: it's a single .sql file you can open, check and import anywhere. For other software (a shop, forum or custom script) this is essential.

1. Find the database name. For WordPress, open wp-config.php in File Manager and look for DB_NAME. Otherwise check Databases > MySQL Databases.
2. Go to Databases > phpMyAdmin and click the database name in the left column.
3. Click the Export tab, leave Quick and SQL selected, and click Export (or Go).
4. Save the file with a clear name, such as example-db-before-redesign-2026-09-28.sql.

More detail, including importing: How to Import and Export a Database with phpMyAdmin.

3. Download a full copy from JetBackup 5

For a redesign, a move or anything that touches more than one site feature, download a full account backup. It contains your files, databases, email, DNS zone and more in one archive.

1. In cPanel, open JetBackup 5 (in the Files section).
2. Click Restore & Download, open the Full Account tab and pick the newest backup.
3. Click Download, review the items, and click Download Selected Items.
4. Watch Queue until it says Completed, then save the file from Downloads.

Remember this is a copy of the last scheduled backup, not of this minute -- which is why steps 1 and 2 matter. Full instructions: How to Download a Copy of Your Website Backup (JetBackup 5).

4. Protect your email

Email is easy to forget because it doesn't live "in" your website, but it's on the same account. Before you delete mailboxes, clean up with Email Disk Usage, change email providers or change MX records, save what you need:

• JetBackup 5: in Restore & Download, open the Email Accounts tab, tick the mailboxes and click Download. Good for a complete snapshot.
• Your mail app: in Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird connected by IMAP, drag important folders into a local folder ("On My Mac", "Local Folders" or an Outlook data file). Messages you move there stay on your computer even if the server copy is deleted.

Also write down every email address, forwarder and filter you have (Email > Email Accounts, Forwarders and Email Filters) -- a list is much quicker to recreate from than a backup archive.

5. Record your DNS and settings

If the change involves nameservers, a CDN such as Cloudflare, or moving email to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, capture how things look now:

• Open Domains > Zone Editor, click Manage next to your domain and take screenshots of every record (especially A, MX, CNAME and TXT records such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC).
• Note your PHP version and settings from Software > MultiPHP Manager and MultiPHP INI Editor.
• Copy the list of commands in Advanced > Cron Jobs.
• Save a copy of public_html/.htaccess -- redirects and custom rules live there.

6. Test the backup before you start

A backup you've never looked at is a hope, not a backup. Spend five minutes checking it:

1. Check the sizes. A database export of a few kilobytes for a site with hundreds of posts means something went wrong. A full account download should be roughly the size of your disk usage shown on the cPanel home page (compressed, so often smaller).
2. Open the archive. On Windows use 7-Zip; on a Mac, double-click the .tar.gz file. Make sure you can see your website files (look for public_html) and the database files.
3. Look inside the .sql file. Open it in a text editor such as Notepad++ or TextEdit. You should see CREATE TABLE and INSERT INTO lines with your table names, and it should end cleanly rather than stopping mid-line.
4. Do a test restore somewhere safe. For WordPress, the best test is a staging copy: create one in WP Toolkit (see How to Create a WordPress Staging Site and Push It Live). Even better, make your big change on the staging copy first. For a database, you can create an empty test database in Databases > MySQL Databases, import your export into it with phpMyAdmin, check the tables are all there, then delete the test database.

Never test by restoring over your live site -- that's the one thing that can make matters worse.

Store it safely

• Keep backups on your own computer and one other place (an external drive or a cloud storage account).
• Don't leave backup files in public_html. Anyone who guesses the name can download them, and they contain your database passwords and customer data.
• Name files with the date and reason, for example example-full-2026-09-28-before-theme-change.tar.gz.
• Delete server-side copies you no longer need so they don't eat your disk space.

Troubleshooting

The WP Toolkit backup failed

The most common reason is not enough disk space for the backup to be written. Check the disk usage on the cPanel home page, delete old backups and large files you don't need, and try again.

phpMyAdmin's export stops or gives a partial file

Very large databases can time out in the browser. Try again at a quiet time, or use the database download from JetBackup 5 instead. If you use SSH, wp db export (WP-CLI) exports a WordPress database from the command line without a browser timeout.

The JetBackup download is taking forever

Accounts with lots of email take the longest. Download the Home Directory and Databases separately, and email on its own, rather than the full account in one go.

Common questions

How long should I keep a "before" backup?

Until you're sure the change worked -- usually a month or two. Keep it off the server.

Can you make a backup for me right before my change?

The steps above let you do it yourself at exactly the right moment, which is better than waiting for us. If something doesn't work, open a ticket and we'll help.

Do I need all six steps for a small change?

No. For a plugin update, a WP Toolkit backup (step 1) is enough. Save the full checklist for redesigns, moves and anything you can't easily undo.

Related guides

• How Website Backups Work on Your Hosting Account (JetBackup 5)
• How to Download a Copy of Your Website Backup (JetBackup 5)
• How to Back Up and Restore WordPress in WP Toolkit
• How to Import and Export a Database with phpMyAdmin
• How to Restore Your Whole Account to an Earlier Date (JetBackup 5)

Still stuck? Open a support ticket and the Instant Access Internet Services team will help.