Hello! I have a short question about cpanel backups. I make a full backup of my cpanel. Size of the .tar.gz backup file that supposedly containt all my files is 800 MB's. However disk space usage in cpanel shows me 4600 MB's. Where is the difference? Are all my files backed up or they aren't? Thank you in advance for your help!
Yes they are zipped in the format of .tar.gz that's why the size has decreased. Full backup is the safest and secure way to transfer your files from one server to another or taking just the backup - because this way you dont miss any of the files and database. Hope this helps...
Well I know that zip can save on size, but that is over 80% less space. There must be something else...
No, that's pretty much it. They will be considerably smaller in size. I have a site around that size. Let me full backup that site and see what happens.
Looks like it isn't finishing. Maybe going over the RAM or CPU limits. Very strange. Does it happen every time you make a backup?
It does... Maybe because I have some old backups still up there? Are they excluded in the new backup but shown in cpanel diskspace usage?
That shouldn't matter. What are the sizes of the other backups? Are they any that appear the size they should be?
Different files/file types deflate differently. For example, you could have 2 different dvds exactly the same length and size. Run them through a decrypter, convert the files to mp4 and you looking at files anything between 250MB - 1.4GB. Make a subdomain with the 800MB back up and restore it on the subdomain. That way you check if it has actually has backed everything up. If not, my guesses are Cpanel hasnt backed up your mysql databases with it
Do you have root access to your server or is this a back-up that you are running in a shared environment? If its a shared environment, you may want to talk to your web host about it. 4.5GB's is a pretty large back-up to be running, so depending on what time of day you are running your back-up, your provider might be disabling your back-up due to high cpu/ram usage.
How about this scenario: your true file+database size is only around 1,4 GB and then you have around 4 old tar.gz backup with 800 MB size each. So the cPanel counts your disk usage as (1,4 GB) + 4*800 MB (3,2 GB) = 4,6 GB (don't forget that old backup is counted as disk usage too!)