I am using Host Gator plan and backing up the database. The Cpanel says my database is 174M in size but whenever i download, I get just about 30M, 40M sql file. I tried to save as sql, ziped, gziped format but the same thing happened. What is happening?
try exporting it through the phpmyadmin or use the backup wizard to download your database. you could always edit the swl file and change name and then import the database to compare the two and see if you are missing anything
As the poster above me says - definitely try downloading through Phpmyadmin. You could always bung a Virtual Machine together and see if it's the same on there?
If you run a database driven website, it is important to backup your databases, periodically. You can generate a full backup to do this, but you may decide it is unnecessary to backup everything. So, here is how to backup just your databases. To backup the databases please do the following: Login to your control panel and click Backups. Under Download a MySQL Database Backup, click the name of the database. Click Save As. Select a destination for where you would like the back up to be saved, locally. Once you have a backup, if you ever inadvertently lose your data, then you can restore the database easily and quickly. To restore a database, please do the following: Login to your control panel and click Backups. Click the Browse button next to the option which says Restore a MySQL Database. Select the .sql.gz file which you want restored. Click the Open button and click the Upload button. Your database driven website should be working again.