Downloading Your Backup

Exporting Backups to Your Local Machine

Keeping a copy of your backup on your local computer or external storage provides an additional layer of protection. If the server experiences a catastrophic failure, your locally stored backup ensures you can still recover your data.

Downloading via DirectAdmin File Manager

1. Log in to DirectAdmin.
2. Navigate to System Info & Files → File Manager.
3. Browse to the /backups/ directory (located in your home directory).
4. Locate the backup file (it will be a .tar.gz file with a date-stamped name).
5. Click on the file name or select it and click Download.
6. Save the file to your local computer.

Downloading via FTP

For large backup files, FTP may be more reliable than browser-based downloads:

1. Connect to your server using an FTP client (such as FileZilla).
2. Navigate to the /backups/ directory.
3. Select the backup file and download it using binary transfer mode.
4. Verify the downloaded file size matches the server file size to confirm a complete transfer.

Downloading via SSH (SCP/SFTP)

If you have SSH access, you can use SCP or SFTP to download backups securely:

# Using SCP from your local terminal
scp username@server:/home/username/backups/backup-file.tar.gz ~/Downloads/

# Using SFTP
sftp username@server
cd /home/username/backups
get backup-file.tar.gz

Verifying the Download

After downloading, verify the backup file is not corrupted:

• Check the file size matches the original on the server.
• Try extracting the archive locally to confirm it is valid:

  tar -tzf backup-file.tar.gz

  This lists the contents without extracting, confirming the archive is intact.

Storage Recommendations

• Keep at least the last three backups on your local machine.
• Use an external hard drive or cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox) for additional redundancy.
• Label backups with dates so you can easily identify which version to restore if needed.