Hello Ulrich, no worries about the slow reply 🙂
Wow, 100 dollars is A LOT! I am guessing they wont give you the backup and allow you to do the recovery yourself, right? I am not an affiliate for any hosting company, but my honest oppinion is that you should change your host… That is a big red flag…
Yes, basically backing up from phpMyAdmin is just simply making an export, with a bit of caveat that you have to watch out for.
First, when you make an export, you have to watch out that you are exporting the whole database, not just a table (been there, done that, and regretted my mistake a lot 🙂 ). The easiest way is to check on the top of the Export page, does it say Exporting rows from xyz table or Exporting tables from xyz database, you need the latter one 🙂
The other part is to set up, or should I say, to specifically set how phpMyAdmin will create the backup. There are two options. The first one is to backup only the information, the contents of the database, and the other is to backup the database structure and the data, meaning the backup file will contain instructions on how to recreate the database tables (CREATE TABLE commands if you are familiar with mySQL).
I think there is no general solution, so I suggest we try 2 things. First, let’s try just creating a new database, import the backup you have just made, and modify WordPress to use that database instead of the old one.
If that does not work, then the other possible solution is to reinstall WordPress and try to import the data from the backup database, it is the harder way, and it is almost sure you will lose some comments. The two tables malfunctioning, contain the comments made by visitors on your site, and the WordPress settings, that is why the site is not working, the settings info is necessary for WordPress to function properly.
Just a question, how big is your database?
Sorry for this becoming too long, bear with me 🙂
Here is how to export the database for creating a new one for WordPress, without reinstalling the site. I am sorry that I cannot show it with an actual WordPress database, but you should be able to follow along nevertheless.
When you are at the Export page in phpMyAdmin, select Export Method: Custom (like on this screenshot)
Scroll down to the Object creation options part. (Screenshot)
Make sure you check Disable Foreign Key Checks in the upper part like on the screenshot, and make sure your settings match exactly in the lower part (Object creation options). When you have done that, make the export.
When you have done that, you should create a new database in PhpMyAdmin. Here is a video how to do it in phpMyAdmin, or here is an article how to do it from cPanel.
Make sure you write down somewhere the database name of the database you have just created, and the database username and password, if you needed to create one.
After you have created the new database, go to Import in phpMyAdmin, and import what you have previously Exported, your backup from the corrupted database.
When it is finished, you have to edit the wp-config.php file, it is beside the wp-contents folder, probably right in public_html or www. (Screenshot). You will need to edit it with a code editor, and change some things.
You will need to change a couple of things, here is the part we are interested in: Screenshot, of course your file will have the settings for your site.
you will have to change the database name (DB_NAME), type in the new one you have just created. If you have asked for a new database username and password when you have created the new database, you will have to change the DB_USER and DB_PASS values respectively. If you did not have to create a new user, then don’t change those two values. DB_HOST will remain the same. When you have made the changes, save the file and check your site.
I have tried to describe it as good as I can, if you have any questions, just feel free to ask. And let me know how it goes.
Balint
