Plesk includes a Backup Manager, but sometimes you may need a manual backup — for example, before a risky change, or when you want a quick copy of files and the database.
A manual backup has two parts:
- Website files (usually
httpdocs)
- Database dump (SQL)
Step 1 — Download website files
Option A: Plesk File Manager (easy)
- Log in to Plesk.
- Open Files (File Manager).
- Open the website root folder (usually
httpdocs).
- Select all files/folders and click Add to Archive (ZIP).
- Download the created ZIP file to your computer.
Option B: FTP‑SSL (recommended for large sites)
- Connect using FTP‑SSL with your hosting credentials and download the required folders to your computer.
Tip: If you use WordPress, make sure your backup includes wp-content (themes, plugins, uploads) and wp-config.php.
Step 2 — Export the database
- In Plesk, open Databases.
- Select your database and click phpMyAdmin.
- Go to Export.
- Choose:
- Quick export for smaller databases, or
- Custom export for large databases (recommended), and enable compression (gzip) if available.
- Download the
.sql (or .sql.gz) file.
Step 3 — Store the backup safely
- Keep at least one backup copy outside the hosting server (local drive, Cloud Storage, etc.).
- Name files with a date and the domain so you can identify them later.
How to restore from a manual backup (basic overview)
- Files: upload the ZIP back to the domain’s document root and extract it.
- Database: create a database/user in Plesk (if needed), then import the SQL dump via phpMyAdmin.
- Update the site config with the correct database credentials if they changed.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Backing up files but forgetting the database (dynamic sites will not work without it).
- Storing the only backup copy on the same hosting account.
- Forgetting to include hidden files (like
.htaccess).
