Why Updraft Plus beats other WordPress Transfer Solutions (A Step-by-Step Guide)

Samedi S. Amba — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 18:08:47 +0000

If you're like me, you've often had to change servers, for whatever reason. I was moving a client of mine from my Hostinger server (which I love), to a Namecheap account (which they preferred).

I this short tutorial, I'll show you what I did (so you can copy me). But first...

What Didn't Work

Well, I'm an enthusiast of several migration tools, including Duplicator and WP Migrate DB Pro. While the tools are cool, I had a problem in the past with inter-server migration. Frustrated, I tried out Updraft Plus, and there was no looking back...

Terminologies

In this tutorial, the originating server was Hostinger and the remote server was Namecheap. I will use those terms henceforth.

I will assume that the remote server already has the intended WordPress site installed and that you've also installed Updraft Plus there. If you need help with installing Updraft Plus, please follow this tutorial.

Let's now proceed as follows:

On the Remote Server

Please proceed as follows:

Login to cPanel, and set up FTP. You can check this tutorial if you're using Namecheap (or use one that's relevant to your specific server).

Please take note of the manual settings and the FTP password. We'll use them later. If you're using Namecheap, You'll see something like what's in the image below:

On the original site, go to UpdraftPlus > Settings tab. Select the FTP icon, then enter the FTP credentials (from step 1 above).

Click the Test FTP Settings button to verify if the settings are correct. If you've succeeded, you'll see a popup similar to the following:

Now that you have the FTP credentials installed, go to the Backup/Restore tab, and click on the Backup Now button.

A popup message will appear. Make sure the "Send this backup to remote storage" checkbox is active, then click on Backup Now button.

A progress bar will appear to show that a process is ongoing, followed by a success message.

You've now successfully backed up your site.

Proceed to the remote site, then go to UpdraftPlus > Backup/Restore tab. Scroll down and proceed to the link labeled "Rescan local folder for new backup sets". It will display the files you backed up previously in step 3 above.

Click on the Restore button to begin the restoration process.

Go to the relevant folder that matches the date you made the backup. Click on the *Restore * button next to the relevant folder.

You'll be directed to a window. Check all the relevant boxes related to what you'd like to restore. I suggest checking all of them since we're restoring a full site. Click the Next button to proceed.

In the next window, you'll be presented with a message indicating a retrieval process. Click on the Restore button to proceed.

The next window shows an activity log.

Once the process is done, you'll see a success window similar to the one below. Click on the Return to UpdraftPlus configuration to end the process.

And that's it on how to successfully and seamlessly backup your site using UpdraftPlus. I found the process easy, intuitive and fast.

Please let me know if there are other tricks around WordPress migration that you think would be good for us to know.

DEV Community: Samedi S. Amba

Why Updraft Plus beats other WordPress Transfer Solutions (A Step-by-Step Guide)

What Didn't Work

Terminologies

On the Remote Server