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0. Open phpMyAdmin.
1. Click Export in the Menu to get to where you can backup you MySql database. Image showing the export menu.
2. Make sure that you have selected to export your entire database, and not just one table. There should be as many tables in the export list as showing under the database name.
3. Select"SQL"-> for output format, Check "Structure" and "Add AUTO_INCREMENT" value. Check "Enclose table and field name with backquotes". Check "DATA", check use "hexadecimal for binary field". Export type set to "INSERT".
4. Check "Save as file", do not change the file name, use compression if you want. Then click "GO" to download the backup file.
Restoring a backup of a MySql database
1. To restore a database, you click the SQL tab.
2. On the "SQL"-page , unclick the show query here again.
3. Browse to your backup of the database.
4. Click Go.
If you have a site where the data changes regularly then you need to be making regular backups. At least daily.
Having an archive of your backups can be very usefull if you need to later review some older data.
Thanks again for the post.
Mack.
These days I use mysqldump which creates an .sql file on the server that I can later download. Instructions I refer to are [vbulletin.com...]
If you do use PHPmyadmin check the content of the SQL file from time to time to make sure you have everything.
I'm on a windows server and to save time I've written a batch file that gives an easy weekly backup in zip format just in case the host's backups don't work, but that requires more privileges than you'd find on a shared host.
You need to make sure you download the files to get them coppied of the server. If the host`s server fails you might loose everything, including the automated backups.
Its good to see people are taking backups seriously. It is all to easy to simply rely on a host. If the said host then goes out of business and vanishes, so does your valable data.
Mack.
