---
title: "How to Create a Backup of Your Website"
id: "2198"
type: "ht_kb"
slug: "how-do-i-create-a-backup-of-my-site"
published_at: "2012-07-31T02:24:52+00:00"
modified_at: "2025-10-09T18:30:07+00:00"
url: "https://www.greengeeks.com/support/article/how-do-i-create-a-backup-of-my-site/"
markdown_url: "https://www.greengeeks.com/support/article/how-do-i-create-a-backup-of-my-site.md"
excerpt: "There are two options for backing up your GreenGeeks website. If your account is under 10 GB in size, you can use the cPanel backup tool. For larger accounts, you can make a backup yourself. Option 1: Use the cPanel..."
taxonomy_ht_kb_category:
  - "Server Questions"
---

There are two options for backing up your GreenGeeks website.

If your account is under 10 GB in size, you can use the cPanel backup tool. For larger accounts, you can [make a backup yourself](#manual-backup)
.

## Option 1: Use the cPanel Backup Tool

If your account is over 10 GB in size, this option **will not** be available. Please see the section on [making your own backups](#manual-backup)
.

[Log in to GreenGeeks](https://am.greengeeks.com/)
 and [access your cPanel](https://www.greengeeks.com/support/article/how-to-use-quick-login-to-access-your-hosting-services/)
. Locate the File section and click on the Backup option.

If you need a backup of your entire account, click the “Download a Full Account Backup” button.

Click the “Home Directory” button to download a backup of your website home directory.

If your website uses a MySQL database, download a copy of the database by clicking the database name in the “Download a MySQL Database Backup” list.

cPanel backups saved to your home directory will be **automatically deleted after 48 hours**. Once you’ve generated a backup, please **download it to your local computer** as soon as possible.

**cPanel backups are disabled for accounts greater than 10 GB in size**. For accounts larger than 10 GB, follow the backup instructions below. Alternatively, you can request that GreenGeeks generate a full cPanel backup. There is a $5 fee (per cPanel) for backups performed by GreenGeeks.

## Option 2: Make Your Own Website Backups

If you’re running a content management system, such as Drupal, WordPress, or any website that runs a database, you’ll have to back up the database as well as the website files. If you’re running a simple website, you’ll just back up the website files.

### Backing up Website Files

We recommend [using an FTP program such as FileZilla to back up your files](https://www.greengeeks.com/blog/2016/11/22/the-ultimate-guide-to-using-filezilla/)
. Copy the entire /public_html directory from your web hosting account to your local PC. If your email is also hosted with GreenGeeks, you can back it up by downloading the /mail directory.

### Backing up Databases

[Log in to GreenGeeks](https://my.greengeeks.com/)
 and access your cPanel.

Locate the Databases section, and click the phpMyAdmin option.

Click the name of the database you want to download.

Click the Export tab.

For most common applications, such as preparing a backup that will also be imported using phpMyAdmin, the default settings within the Quick export method are sufficient.

To select only specific tables, or to export the database structure, etc., select the Custom export method. You will see a full list of every table within the selected database that you can choose from.

Once everything is in order, click the “Export” button to start the backup.

The backup will be downloaded to your computer as a .sql file.