I have a website with a little fewer than 200 pages. When I did a cPanel backup the size was over 1 GB. Does this seem like a normal size? I have also done an Updraft Plus backup of my own and that size is more around 150 mb to 200 mb. Is a cPanel backup everything and the Updraft Plus backup just the site? I can think of no reason for 200 pages to take up over a gigabyte.
When you do a cPanel backup it will back everything up in your account, including mysql databases, all email accounts including all emails in those accounts, the public html space (website files) and public ftp space, so this can easily explain why the cPanel backup is considerably bigger. You can go to your account "cPanel > Disk Space Usage" and find out what is taking up your space.
If I use cPanel to backup both my: Home Directory My SQL Databases Email Forwarders and Filters What else would I need to backup to be able to restore my website or to move it to a different hosting account. I have Updraft Plus and I like it but it times out a lot. The logs have error warnings. So did BackWPup. I think my host does not like long running scripts but I do not know for sure. I know very little about hosting, except that I am unhappy with my current host. What can I do to get a backup for either restoration or moving. Is there a particular folder I could download with Filezilla and then just upload it again if I need to restore or move? I am at the mercy of my hosting provider or a script that may or may not work. I need to be able to do all of this myself.
You should be able to easily backup your entire cPanel account in one go from "cPanel > Backups > Download or Generate full website backup", in there you can generate a backup containing the entire account like I've mentioned in my previous post, then when you go to a new host just upload that backup and they can fully restore your entire account just like it was on your previous host. If you're going to individually back up home folder, databases, etc, there won't be many hosting providers that will help you move, since most (if not all) will be requesting a full cPanel backup from you, not individual backups. If your current hosting provider does not allow you to fully backup your cPanel account (as described by me in this post) then ask them to give you the latest cPanel backup of your account, they are pretty much obligated to do this.
Unless you have a lot of images, for 200 page website 1GB backup looks too big. you may empty the temp files and any emails that may not be needed.
OK, this will be day 3. I am not sure why restoring a backup is so hard. Maybe I made them mad. I have been polite.
My Updraft backups are not fixing the problem. The hosts restores are not fixin the problem. Until I save that website I have to put up with them. It took me a long time to make it. But thanks for the response.
It might be ok, depending on your hoster. Depends on the content. Do you have lots of big media files? Like modern dslr photos of 5 mb each, twety in every post? You could have more than a gig then.