How do you download or restore a backup of your web files?

Procédure

Before restoring your web files, consult the Backup Policy for your shared web hosting to understand which backups are available depending on your plan and how long they are retained.

Objective

This documentation explains how to retrieve a backup of your web files or restore a previous version of your site from the LWS Panel.

Use this procedure if files from your site have been deleted, modified by mistake, or if you want to revert to an earlier state of your hosting.

Services concerned

This documentation is intended for customers with:

• LWS Linux Shared Hosting (Excluding domain-only plans).

Management is done from the LWS Panel.

Before you begin

Prerequisites

Before performing a backup or a restoration, make sure:

• you have access to your LWS customer account
• you understand that a restoration replaces existing files

Things to know before choosing an action

It is important to distinguish between the two available actions:

Download a backup

This action allows you to retrieve a copy of your web files.
It does not modify your hosting.

Restore a backup

This action allows you to reinject the backed-up files onto your hosting.
The existing files will be replaced.

In which cases should you use this documentation?

You can follow this procedure if:

• your site no longer displays correctly after an incorrect action
• one or more files have been deleted
• you want to recover an older version of your web space
• you want to download a backup to keep it locally
• you want to restore only a file, a folder, the home page, or an added domain on your hosting

Step 1: Check that your plan allows restoration

The LWS Panel offers a backup and restoration feature for web services.
Depending on the subscribed plan, the backup retention period may vary from 30 or 90 days.

Before going further, make sure that:

• your plan includes web backups
• the desired backup period is still available

If you do not know the backup level included in your plan, consult the LWS documentation dedicated to your hosting backup level.

Step 2: Access the backup service in the LWS Panel

11. Log in to your LWS account

22. Open the relevant hosting account

33. In the Files section, click the button: Backups / Restorations

44. Then click the tab: Web Backups

You will then access the list of backups available for your hosting.

Option A - Download a backup of your web files

When should you use this option?

Choose this action if you want to:

• keep a copy of your site
• retrieve your files without modifying the hosting
• analyze the files before deciding on a restoration

Detailed steps

11. In the Web Backups tab, locate the backup date you want to retrieve.

22. On the line corresponding to the chosen backup, click the action button on the right. (3 vertical dots)

33. Choose the option: Download link

44. A window opens. Click Generate link

55. Then open the History tab

There you can check the progress of the link generation. This operation may take several minutes, depending on the amount of data involved.

Refresh the page regularly to check whether the status has changed.

77. Once the link is ready, a download button "Click to download" appears. Click it to retrieve your backup.

Alternative recovery method

The generated backup can also be found in the root folder of your hosting. You can then download it:

• from an FTP client
• or from the file manager

If you use this method, make sure you download the correct backup file.

Limitations to know

Important limitations:

• only backups of less than 20 GB can be restored using this method
• for a larger backup, you must use a Business support option or a managed hosting service
• files larger than 500 MB placed on the FTP space may be deleted automatically if you leave them there too long

These points must be taken into account before generating or keeping a backup on the hosting account.

Option B - Restore a backup of your web files

Before restoring

Before starting a restoration, take a moment to identify what you actually need to put back in place.

You can restore:

• the entire hosting account
• only the index.php file
• a specific file or folder
• an additional domain or a subdomain

Choose the right option

Restore all : Use this if the entire site has been damaged, deleted, or replaced.

Restore index.php : Use this if only the site’s main home page is affected.

Restore a file or folder : Use this if you know exactly which item needs to be recovered.

Restore a multi-domain : Use this if the issue concerns an additional domain or a subdomain hosted on the same plan.

Common procedure to access restoration options

11. From the LWS Panel, access the list of available backups.

22. Choose the date that matches the state of your site you want to recover.

33. Click the button located to the right of the chosen backup (1).

44. Select the restoration option corresponding to your need. (2)

1. Restore the entire hosting account

When should you use this option?

Choose this option if you want to restore all web files on your hosting account.

What this restoration does

All files on the hosting account are deleted, then the backup files are restored to the web space. This is therefore the most drastic option.

Steps

1. Click the Restore all action.
2. A confirmation window opens.
   
3. Check that you have selected the correct backup date.
4. Confirm the action by clicking the "Restore" button

2. Restore only the index.php file

What does index.php refer to?

The index.php file is generally the main home page file of the site, located at the root of the hosting account.

When should you use this option?

Use this restoration if:

• the main home page has been deleted
• it has been modified by mistake
• you do not want to affect the site’s other files

Steps

1. Click the Restore index.php action.
2. A confirmation window opens.
   
3. Check that you have selected the correct backup.
4. Confirm the action by clicking the "Restore" button

3. Restore a specific file or folder

When should you use this option?

This is the most suitable option if you want to recover only part of the site, for example:

• a deleted page
• a file modified by mistake
• an image folder
• a directory containing a plugin, theme, or specific resources

Steps

1. Click the Restore a file or directory action.
2. A confirmation window opens.
   
3. Enter the path of the file or folder to restore.
4. Carefully check the indicated location.
5. Confirm the action by clicking the "Restore" button

Examples of paths to enter

• text.html
  restores the text.html file located at the root of the backup

• /myfolder/text.html
  restores the text.html file located in the myfolder folder

• /myfolder/
  restores the contents of the myfolder folder

• /myfolder/mysubfolder/
  restores the contents of the mysubfolder subfolder located in myfolder

What this option actually does

This restoration:

• puts back the files present in the backup if they no longer exist on the hosting account
• replaces existing files with those from the backup when they have the same name
• does not delete additional files that are present on your hosting account but absent from the backup

4. Restore a multi-domain or subdomain

What is a multi-domain?

A multi-domain is an additional domain added to your hosting account.
A subdomain corresponds for example to an address such as blog.yourdomain.ext.

When should you use this option?

Choose this restoration if the problem concerns only:

• an additional domain hosted on your plan
• a specific subdomain

Steps

1. Click the Restore a multi-domain action.
2. A confirmation window opens.
   
3. Select the relevant domain or subdomain.
4. Confirm the action by clicking the "Restore" button

What this restoration does

As with folder restoration:

• files present in the backup are restored
• files with the same name are replaced
• additional files already present on the hosting account are not deleted automatically

Track the progress of a restoration

How can you tell if the restoration is finished?

After launching a restoration:

1. open the History tab

2. check the operation status
   

3. refresh the page if necessary; the restoration is finished when the status "Completed" appears.
   

Verification after restoration

Once the restoration is complete, check the following points:

1. The status displayed in the History tab should indicate that the operation is completed.
2. If you restored a specific file or folder, check that it is present again on your hosting account.
3. Open your site in a web browser and check that it works properly.
4. If the site seems unchanged, clear your browser cache or refresh the page several times.
5. If your site works with a database, also remember to restore it to a consistent date with the web backup. Without this, the site may remain partially inconsistent.

What if the desired backup does not appear?

If the backup you are looking for is not displayed, several reasons are possible.

The desired date likely exceeds the retention included in your plan: some offers give access to 30 days of backups, others to 90 days. If the date you need is too old, it may no longer be available.

If you need a backup older than your plan allows (+ 30 days without a business support option within the limit of 90 days) or a special intervention, it is possible to subscribe to:

• a Business support option

• or a managed service “Backup search”

These solutions involve additional handling by LWS services.

Common problems and solutions

The download link does not appear right away

Link generation may take several minutes (several hours in some cases), especially if the backup is large.

What should you do?

• open the History tab
• refresh the page after a few moments
• check that the action is in progress or completed

The backup you are looking for is not listed

The requested date may be outside the retention period available for your plan.

What should you do?

• check the backup duration included in your plan
• verify the exact date you need
• if necessary, see whether an additional option is offered

The site does not seem changed after restoration

This is often a display problem or an inconsistency between the files and the database.

What should you do?

• clear the browser cache
• reload the page
• check that the restoration is completed in the History tab
• also restore the database if your site uses one

I chose the wrong type of restoration

If you launched a partial restoration when a full restoration was necessary, or vice versa, the result may be incomplete.

What should you do?

• identify precisely what is still missing
• then choose the correct restoration method
• if you need to restore a folder or domain exactly, remember to delete the no-longer-needed items beforehand before a new partial restoration

An error appears during the restoration

If an error occurs during restoration, you must contact LWS technical support for analysis and handling if the action remains possible.

Before contacting support

Prepare the following information:

• the name of the hosting account concerned
• the chosen backup date
• the restoration type launched
• the error message displayed
• the approximate time of the operation

This will make it easier to process your request.

My backup is very large

Some operations are limited when the backup exceeds 20 GB, and files larger than 500 MB placed on the FTP space may be deleted automatically.

What should you do?

• download the backup quickly once it is available
• avoid leaving it stored on the hosting account for too long
• if necessary, use the business support option

Conclusion

You now know how to access the web backup service in the LWS Panel, download an existing backup, and restore your files according to several scenarios: full restoration, restoration of the home page, a file, a folder, a multi-domain, or a subdomain.

If your site also uses a database, remember to restore it to a consistent date as well in order to recover normal operation.