Find backups again after a total loss

Your website has been set up afresh, the plugin is freshly installed, the list of backups is empty. The backups themselves are still stored at the target. This is how you bring them back into the list.

Why the list is empty

Every installation of the plugin has its own folder code, and the backups of an installation are stored at every target in the folder cloneworx-backup-<code>. A fresh installation has a new code and does not know the folder of the earlier one. The plugin finds it again as soon as you have set up the target.

Step 1: Set up the target again

On the Targets page, set up the target as before: the same storage, the same folder. The article for the target type shows how, for example Store backups on an SFTP server.

After saving and a successful connection test, the plugin looks at the location of the target. If it finds the folder of another installation there, the tile Backups found at “…” appears.

Step 2: Choose the folder of the earlier installation

1. The folder of the earlier installation: the address of the website from its catalog, the number of backups, the date of the last one, the version of the plugin and the name of the folder.
2. This is my website: take it over

Check the address: it has to be your website. Then click This is my website: take it over.

If the tile does not appear, open it yourself: in the More … menu of the target with Find backups at this target.

If a folder has no readable catalog, it shows unknown website (no readable catalog) and the number of backup folders the plugin was able to count.

Step 3: Confirm in the confirmation dialog

1. Cancel
2. Take over

The confirmation dialog names the folder and, below it, the address of the website. With Take over this happens:

• This installation continues with the folder code of the earlier one.
• The log folder and the work folder move along.
• Empty folders with the previous code are removed at local targets.
• The backups stored in the folder are added to the list.
• The catalog at the target receives the fingerprint of this installation. The plugin then treats the website as moved.

Step 4: Wait until the backups are in the list

1. The message: the folder has been taken over, the backups are being added to the list.
2. The progress: how many entries have been read already and how long it will still take.
3. Abort search

The plugin reads the catalog at the target, fetches the info file of every backup and checks whether every file of the backup is stored at the target in its size. At the end, the result appears:

1. The result: how many backups were found, how many were added to the list and how many were already in it.

The backups are now in the list on the Backup page. You can restore them on the Restore page: Restore the website from a backup.

• A backup that is missing a file or whose file is cut off appears in the list with a red cross.
• The full check reads every backup completely: in the More … menu of the target with Check the backups at this target.

Other cases

Backups in the plugin’s own folder are missing from the list

This happens when a target was removed and set up again. The tile names the number of these backups.

1. Add them to the list adds the backups from the plugin’s own folder to the list.
2. The folder of another installation: address, number of backups, name of the folder.
3. This is my website: take it over is greyed out as long as taking over is not possible.
4. The reason, for example: the list of this installation already contains backups.

Nothing found

At the location of the target there is no folder of another installation, and every backup in the plugin’s own folder is already in the list. Check whether the server and the folder of the target are the same as before.

If something does not work

Message	What you can do
A job is running. Try again when it has finished.	Taking over only works when no job is running any more.
No backups found in the plugin’s folder at “…”.	Check the server and the folder of the target.
“…”: … backups found, … added to the list; … incomplete, marked with a red cross.	For restoring, take a backup without a red cross.
The backups at “…” could not be added. See the log.	The link in the message leads to the log. Then start again: in the More … menu of the target with Find backups at this target, then Add them to the list.

Good to know

• The plugin never deletes found backups automatically.
• For the warning about overdue backups they do not count as backups of this website. So switch a backup plan on again: Schedule backups automatically.
• Locks recorded in the catalog are kept.

See also

• The “Targets” page
• Restore the website from a backup
• Check backups at a target and clean up leftovers
• The website has moved or is a copy
• Manage targets with WP-CLI

On the command line

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

Finding backups also works with WP-CLI. Set up a target with credentials on the Targets page beforehand: the command line does not accept passwords and keys.

# Show what is stored at the target's location
wp cloneworx-backup target sites sftp-1

# Take over the folder of a previous installation
wp cloneworx-backup target adopt sftp-1 --folder=cloneworx-backup-0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef

# Add backups from your own folder to the list
wp cloneworx-backup target rebuild sftp-1