If something has gone wrong with your website — a bad update, a mistaken file deletion, a compromised WordPress install, a database mishap — a backup restore can roll everything back to a working state. This article covers how our backups work, what we can restore, and how to request a restore.
What we back up
Every active hosting account on our servers is backed up automatically. A complete backup snapshot includes:
- Website files — everything in your home directory, including all domain document roots
- Databases — every MySQL database on your account
- Email accounts and message contents — inboxes, sent folders, and configured forwarders/autoresponders
- DNS zones, SSL certificates, cron jobs, and cPanel configuration
Backups are stored on a separate, off-site backup server — so even in the unlikely event of a hardware failure on your main hosting server, your data is recoverable.
How to request a restore
Restores are handled by our support team so we can make sure we get the right data and don't accidentally overwrite something you wanted to keep. To request one:
- Log in to your client area and open a support ticket.
- Tell us:
- The domain or cPanel account involved.
- What you'd like restored: the whole account, just files, just a database, just email, or a specific file or folder.
- A rough date or time to restore to — e.g. "before my WordPress update yesterday around noon" or "last week, before I deleted the old product photos." The more specific you can be, the better we can pick the right snapshot.
- Whether you want the restore to overwrite your current data, or restore alongside it (e.g. into a separate directory or with a renamed database) so you can copy the parts you need.
We typically respond within a few minutes to confirm what you need, identify the closest available snapshot, and get started. The restore itself varies in time depending on what's being restored — we'll give you an estimate in the ticket based on the size of the data.
Restore options
Full account restore
The whole cPanel account — files, databases, email, DNS zones, the lot — rolled back to a specific snapshot. Best for major issues: a site that's been hacked and needs a clean slate, a botched migration, a general "start me over from last week" situation.
Heads up: a full restore overwrites everything. Any changes made between the snapshot and now (new content, new emails received, new database entries) will be lost. If there's anything you want to preserve, let us know and we can restore alongside your current data instead.
Files only
Website files restored without touching the database or email. Good for recovering from a bad plugin update, a deleted directory, or accidental file changes. The restored files can replace your current ones, or land in a separate folder so you can compare and copy what you need.
Database only
A specific database restored to a point in time. Useful when a plugin migration went wrong, a WordPress post or page was accidentally deleted, or an e-commerce order got corrupted. We can either overwrite the live database or restore as a new database name for selective recovery.
Email only
A specific mailbox — or all of them — restored. Handy if messages were accidentally deleted from an Inbox, or an email account was purged and you need to bring back the message history.
Specific file or folder
Just pulling a single file or directory out of a backup. Often the fastest option when you know exactly what's missing (e.g. an old wp-config.php or an accidentally-overwritten PDF).
Before you request a restore
A few things worth checking first — it's not unusual for what looks like a lost file to be recoverable more easily:
- For WordPress issues: look in the admin's Posts → Trash and Pages → Trash. Deleted posts stay in trash for 30 days. Post revisions are also kept indefinitely for the last edit — see Revisions on the post edit screen.
- For deleted files in cPanel's File Manager: check the Trash folder (top of File Manager). Deletions go there first unless "Skip Trash" was checked.
- For email: check the Trash or Deleted Items folder in webmail or your email client. Deleted messages often stay there for a while.
- For e-commerce orders and customer data: WooCommerce, EasyDigitalDownloads, and similar plugins store these in dedicated tables. Check for plugin-specific trash or archive features before assuming they're gone.
If the built-in recovery options don't have what you need, that's when to come to us for a restore.
Preventing the need for a restore
Our backups are a solid safety net, but they're point-in-time — if something is corrupted for days before you notice, you may lose data between the last clean snapshot and now. A few habits to avoid ending up there:
- Test major changes on a staging copy first. WP Toolkit in cPanel has a one-click staging feature for WordPress. Clone the site, test the update, then push to production when it's clean.
- Take your own backup before risky work — a full cPanel backup or a plugin-based WordPress backup right before you update five plugins at once. See cPanel Files Section's Backup Wizard.
- Keep WordPress, plugins, and themes updated regularly. Most site compromises come from outdated plugins with known vulnerabilities. See WordPress security hardening checklist.
- Use strong passwords and 2FA on all administrative accounts — cPanel, WordPress admin, client area. See Enable two-factor authentication.
Related articles
- cPanel Files Section
- WordPress security hardening checklist
- Common WordPress errors and how to fix them
Ready to request a restore? Open a support ticket
