overwriting files when backing up

  • ketanco

    (@ketanco)


    5 years, 5 months ago

    I am creating a backup of my wordpress site. I opened a new folder on my computer desktop and, through ftp, i am downloading all my site files and folders to this new empty folder on my computer… so far very straightforward….

    but while downloading, every once in a while, it stops and asks me a file with the same name , under the same folder exists and asks me if it should overwrite it etc…

    how is this possible? the folder i am copying to, was empty, i just created it on my desktop. how can a file with the same name and under the same folder exist in advance, when i am downloading?

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • George Appiah

    (@gappiah)

    5 years, 5 months ago

    how is this possible? the folder i am copying to, was empty, i just created it on my desktop. how can a file with the same name and under the same folder exist in advance, when i am downloading?

    That’s simple enough :

    The FTP client attempted downloading the file previously (during the same session), but it could not complete it, perhaps due to a network issue, server timeout, or some other problem. Perhaps it even “finished” downloading it, but the checksum did not match, so it decided to redownload it.

    This happens all the time with FTP transfers.

    Note that you could zip/archive the folder on the server, so that you download one single file. Even if you don’t have SSH access to the server, most hosting control panels (eg cPanel, Plesk, etc) have a utility to archive a folder in the browser into a single file so you can easily download it (via browser or FTP).

    Thread Starter ketanco

    (@ketanco)

    5 years, 5 months ago

    great. i learned something new… thanks

    and this zip archiving, .. other than preventing this issue, are there any other advantages in doing that?

    danthefan

    (@danthefan)

    5 years, 5 months ago

    Advantages:
    – one single file
    – less space needed

    Disadvantage:
    – have to unzip it before using it

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • The topic ‘overwriting files when backing up’ is closed to new replies.