Download a backup

You download a backup as a single file to your computer: to keep it in one more place, or to import it on another website.

What you need

The backup is complete at a target of the type Local folder. Only then does the menu offer the download. You fetch backups at other targets with your own access, see below.

Step 1: Choose Download

Open the Backup page. In the Backups list, click More … in the row of the backup, then Download. The Recent backups tile on the Overview page has the same menu.

1. Restore leads to the page where you restore the backup.
2. Check backup checks whether the backup is readable and complete.
3. Lock backup protects the backup from deletion.
4. Download delivers the backup as one file. The entry only appears for a backup that is stored at a local target.
5. Log opens the log of the backup.
6. Delete backup deletes the backup after a confirmation prompt.

Step 2: Save the file

Your browser downloads the file; the page of the plugin stays where it is. The file is called cloneworx-backup_<host>_<Datum_Uhrzeit>.tar, for example cloneworx-backup_example.test_2026-09-26_0300.tar. Date and time name the start of the backup; the list of backups shows its end.

If the download breaks off, for example at a time limit of the server, the browser can resume it. The plugin delivers the file in parts and, at the browser’s request, begins at the point where it stopped.

What the file contains

• The file is a tar archive. Inside is a folder with the job name of the backup, and in it the info file, the index and the parts: exactly as they lie at the target.
• The archive is not compressed, because the parts already are. The file is therefore about as big as the backup.
• macOS, Linux and Windows 11 open the file directly. Windows 10 needs tar on the command line or a program like 7-Zip.
• You do not have to open the file to import it: you import it on the Restore page with Import from file, on this website or on another one with this plugin.

If the entry is missing

If Download is missing from the menu, the backup is not complete at any local target.

1. Restore
2. Check backup
3. Lock backup
4. Log here follows directly after Lock backup. The entry for downloading is missing.
5. Delete backup

Fetching backups at remote targets

A backup that is stored only at a remote target, for example at an FTP, SFTP, WebDAV or S3 target, in Google Drive or in Dropbox, is not downloaded through the plugin. Fetch it with your own access: with a program for FTP, SFTP, WebDAV or S3 or, for S3, in the web interface of the service. You fetch a backup in Google Drive in Google Drive, a backup in Dropbox in Dropbox: Store backups in Google Drive, Store backups in Dropbox.

At the target, every backup lies in its own folder: <folder>/cloneworx-backup-<code>/<backup>/. The folder of the backup contains the info file, the index and the parts.

Restore and check do not need the download: for those, the plugin reads directly from the target.

Good to know

• If the backup is stored at several local targets, the plugin reads from the first one where it is complete.
• The plugin delivers the file itself and only to logged-in users who are allowed to manage the plugin.
• Downloading changes nothing about the backup: it stays at its targets and in the list.

See also

• Import a backup from a file
• Restore a backup on another website
• Store backups in a local folder
• The “Backup” page
• Create and manage backups with WP-CLI

On the command line

WP-CLI not set up yet? How to install WP-CLI.

WP-CLI writes the same file to the server. --to names the file; it must not exist yet, and its folder must be writable. Here too, the backup needs a complete copy at a local target.

# Show backups with job name, status and targets
wp cloneworx-backup backup list

# Write a backup to the server as a tar file
wp cloneworx-backup backup download <Job> --to=/tmp/backup.tar