How to Restore a Site from Backup on Hostinger

Every website owner dreads the moment something goes wrong. A botched update, a malicious attack, accidental deletion, or even a simple misconfiguration can bring your hard work crashing down. In these critical situations, having a reliable backup and knowing how to restore it is your ultimate lifeline. Hostinger, a popular web hosting provider, understands this necessity and offers robust backup solutions designed to give you peace of mind.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the entire process of restoring your website from a backup on Hostinger. Whether you’re a beginner encountering this for the first time or an advanced user seeking a refresher, we’ll cover everything from understanding Hostinger’s backup system to the step-by-step restoration process and essential post-restoration checks. By the end, you’ll be equipped to confidently recover your site and minimize downtime.

Table of Contents

• Understanding Hostinger’s Backup System
• Why You Might Need to Restore Your Website
• Essential Preparations Before Restoring Your Site
• Method 1: Restoring from Automated Backups via Hostinger’s hPanel

  • Step 1: Accessing Your hPanel
  • Step 2: Navigating to the Backups Section
  • Step 3: Selecting Your Backup Point
  • Step 4: Choosing What to Restore (Files, Databases, or Both)
  • Step 5: Initiating the Restoration Process

• Method 2: Manual Restoration – For Advanced Users

  • Option A: Restoring Files via File Manager/FTP
  • Option B: Restoring Databases via phpMyAdmin

• What to Do After Restoring Your Website
• Common Issues and Troubleshooting During Restoration
• Best Practices for Proactive Backup Management
• Frequently Asked Questions About Hostinger Backups

Understanding Hostinger’s Backup System

Hostinger offers different types of backups, primarily catering to both ease of use and flexibility. It’s crucial to understand these to make informed decisions when it comes to site recovery.

Automated Backups:

Hostinger provides automated weekly or daily backups depending on your hosting plan. These are incredibly convenient as they run in the background without any manual intervention from your side.

• Frequency: Daily backups for Business and Cloud hosting plans, weekly for Premium Shared Hosting and above.
• Storage: Backups are stored on separate, secure servers.
• Coverage: Typically includes your website files (WordPress core, themes, plugins, uploads) and databases.
• Retention: The number of retained backups varies by plan (e.g., 7 days for weekly backups, 7-30 days for daily backups).

Manual Backups:

You also have the option to create manual backups at any time via your hPanel. This is particularly useful before making significant changes to your website, such as updating themes, plugins, or WordPress core, or before performing a migration.

• Control: You decide when and what to back up.
• Flexibility: You can download these backups to your local computer for off-site storage.
• Scope: You can choose to back up only files, only databases, or both.

Here’s a quick comparison:

Understanding these options ensures you leverage Hostinger’s backup capabilities effectively to protect your site.

Why You Might Need to Restore Your Website

Restoring a site isn’t just for catastrophic failures. Various scenarios can necessitate a website restore:

• Malware or Hacking: Your site gets infected, compromised, or injected with malicious code. Restoring a clean backup is often the quickest way to recover.
• Accidental Deletion or Modification: You or a team member accidentally delete crucial files, an entire database table, or make a change that breaks the site.
• Failed Updates: A WordPress core, theme, or plugin update goes wrong, causing conflicts, errors, or a blank screen.
• Corrupted Database: Database issues can lead to “Error establishing a database connection” or other data loss problems.
• Incorrect Configuration: A wrong setting in a plugin, theme, or server configuration file (like .htaccess) can render your site inaccessible.
• Testing Gone Wrong: Experimenting with new features or code on a live site without a staging environment can lead to unexpected errors.
• Reverting to a Previous State: You simply want to revert your site to a version from a specific date and time for various reasons.

In all these cases, a Hostinger site restore operation is your best friend.

Essential Preparations Before Restoring Your Site

Before you initiate any restoration process, especially one that overwrites existing data, it’s crucial to take a few preparatory steps. These actions can prevent further data loss and ensure a smoother recovery.

1. Identify the Correct Backup Point:

   • Know when the problem occurred. Your goal is to restore a backup from before the issue arose.
   • If your site was hacked, ensure the backup is from a clean state, prior to the infection. Restoring an infected backup defeats the purpose.

2. Create a Fresh Manual Backup (Precautionary):

   • Even if your site is currently broken, it’s a good practice to take a new manual backup of its current state (files and database). This is your “last resort” backup in case something goes wrong with the restoration, or you realize you need a specific file from the broken version later.
   • Navigate to hPanel -> Files -> Backups -> Generate a new backup.

3. Inform Your Users (Maintenance Mode):

   • If your site is still somewhat functional but you’re about to make major changes, consider putting it in maintenance mode. This prevents visitors from seeing a broken or incomplete site and avoids them generating new data that would be lost during the restore.
   • Many WordPress plugins (like WP Maintenance Mode) can help with this.

4. Download Important New Data (if applicable):

   • If the problem is recent and new user data (e.g., comments, orders, contact form submissions) has been generated after the desired backup point but before you discovered the issue, try to back up or export this data separately if possible. This way, you can re-import it after the restore to minimize data loss.

Method 1: Restoring from Automated Backups via Hostinger’s hPanel

Hostinger’s hPanel provides a straightforward interface for restoring your website from its automated backups. This is the recommended method for most users due to its simplicity and direct integration.

Step 1: Accessing Your hPanel

First, you need to log in to your Hostinger account and access your hPanel.

1. Go to the Hostinger website (hostinger.com).
2. Click on the “Login” button, usually found in the top right corner.
3. Enter your email and password.
4. Once logged in, you’ll see your main dashboard. Locate the website you want to restore and click “Manage”.

Step 2: Navigating to the Backups Section

Within your hPanel, the backup management tools are easy to find.

1. On the left-hand sidebar of your hPanel, scroll down until you find the “Files” section.
2. Click on “Backups”.

   • Screenshot Description: An image showing the hPanel sidebar with “Files” expanded and “Backups” highlighted.

Step 3: Selecting Your Backup Point

Here, you’ll see a list of available backups.

1. Hostinger will display a list of available backup dates. These are your automated backups.
2. Carefully review the dates and times. Select the backup that was created before your site encountered the issue.
3. Once you’ve identified the correct date, click the “Select” button next to it.

   • Screenshot Description: An image showing the “Backups” interface with a list of backup dates and “Select” buttons.

Step 4: Choosing What to Restore (Files, Databases, or Both)

This is a critical step where you decide the scope of your restoration.

1. After selecting the backup date, you’ll be presented with two main options: “Restore Files” and “Restore Databases”.
2. Restore Files: This option will restore all your website’s files, including your WordPress installation, themes, plugins, images, and other media.

   • Choose this if the issue is related to corrupted files, a bad plugin/theme update, or malware in your files.

3. Restore Databases: This option will restore your website’s database(s). For WordPress, this contains all your posts, pages, comments, user information, plugin settings, and more.

   • Choose this if you have an “Error establishing database connection” or if data within your posts/pages is corrupted.

4. Restore Both: In most major recovery scenarios (e.g., hacking, severe breakage), you’ll likely want to restore both files and databases to ensure a complete and consistent recovery.
5. Click on the relevant button based on your needs. For a full Hostinger site restore, select both.

   • Screenshot Description: An image showing the options to “Restore Files” and “Restore Databases” after a backup date has been selected.

Step 5: Initiating the Restoration Process

After making your selection, confirm and start the process.

1. You will be prompted to confirm your choice. This is your last chance to review the selected backup date and what you are restoring.
2. Hostinger might warn you that the current files/database will be overwritten. Confirm you understand this.
3. Click the “Restore” or “Start Restoration” button.

   • Screenshot Description: A confirmation dialog box for starting the restoration.

4. Wait for the process to complete. The time taken depends on the size of your website. You’ll usually see a progress indicator. You’ll receive a notification or email once the restoration is finished.

Tips for Automated Restoration:

• Patience is Key: Restoration can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more for larger sites. Do not close the browser tab or navigate away until the process is confirmed.
• Clear Cache: After restoration, always clear your website’s cache (if you use a caching plugin), Hostinger’s server cache, and your browser cache. This ensures you’re seeing the newly restored content.
• Check Status: You can often check the status of a restoration in the “Activity Log” or a similar section within hPanel.

Method 2: Manual Restoration – For Advanced Users

While Hostinger’s hPanel provides an excellent automated restoration tool, there might be situations where a manual approach is necessary or preferred. This could include:

• Restoring a backup not managed by Hostinger (e.g., from a third-party plugin or a local copy).
• Only needing to restore specific files or database tables rather than the entire site.
• Troubleshooting complex issues where more granular control is required.

This method typically involves using the File Manager or an FTP client for files and phpMyAdmin for databases.

Option A: Restoring Files via File Manager/FTP

This approach is for restoring your website’s files (WordPress core, themes, plugins, media, etc.).

1. Download Your Backup: Ensure you have a .zip or .tar.gz archive of your website files. If it’s a Hostinger manual backup, you can download it from the “Backups” section of hPanel.
2. Access File Manager or FTP:

   • File Manager (hPanel): Go to hPanel -> Files -> File Manager. Navigate to your public HTML directory (usually public_html for your primary domain).
   • FTP Client: Use an FTP client like FileZilla. You’ll need your FTP credentials (Hostinger usually provides these under hPanel -> Files -> FTP Accounts). Connect to your server.

3. Delete Existing Files (Optional but Recommended for a Clean Restore):

   • If you’re doing a full file restore, it’s often best to delete all existing files and folders within your public_html directory first. Be extremely careful with this step! Make sure you have a reliable backup before deleting anything.
   • Alternatively, you can overwrite files during upload, but deleting ensures no old, potentially corrupted files remain.

4. Upload Your Backup Archive:

   • File Manager: Use the “Upload” feature to upload your .zip or .tar.gz backup file to the public_html directory.
   • FTP Client: Upload the entire unzipped contents of your backup directly into public_html. This can take a long time for large sites.

5. Extract the Archive (if uploaded as a zip):

   • File Manager: If you uploaded a .zip file, right-click on it and select “Extract.” Ensure it extracts directly into public_html.
   • Screenshot Description: File Manager showing a .zip file with an “Extract” option.

6. Verify Permissions: After extraction/upload, ensure your files and folders have the correct permissions (e.g., 644 for files, 755 for folders). Hostinger typically sets these correctly, but it’s good to check.

Option B: Restoring Databases via phpMyAdmin

This approach is for restoring your website’s database(s) (for WordPress, typically wp_ tables).

1. Download Your Database Backup: You’ll need an .sql file of your database. You can download this from hPanel -> Files -> Backups (select “Restore Databases” and then “Download backup”) or from a previous manual export via phpMyAdmin.
2. Access phpMyAdmin:

   • Go to hPanel -> Databases -> phpMyAdmin.
   • Click “Enter phpMyAdmin” next to the database associated with your website.
   • Screenshot Description: hPanel “phpMyAdmin” section with an “Enter phpMyAdmin” button.

3. Select Your Database: In phpMyAdmin, on the left-hand sidebar, click on the name of your website’s database.
4. Drop Existing Tables (Optional but Recommended):

   • For a clean restore, you might want to drop all existing tables in your database first.
   • Check the box next to “Check All” at the bottom of the table list.
   • From the “With selected:” dropdown, choose “Drop.” Confirm the action. Again, be extremely cautious and ensure you have a backup!
   • Screenshot Description: phpMyAdmin interface with database tables listed and the “Drop” option highlighted.

5. Import Your Database Backup:

   • Click on the “Import” tab at the top.
   • Click “Choose file” and select your .sql backup file from your computer.
   • Ensure the “Format” is set to “SQL.”
   • Click the “Go” button at the bottom right.
   • Screenshot Description: phpMyAdmin “Import” tab with file selection and “Go” button highlighted.

6. Wait for Import: The import process can take time depending on the database size. You’ll see a success message upon completion.

Advanced Tip: If you’re restoring a WordPress database from a different domain or location, you might need to update the siteurl and home options in the wp_options table (or whatever your table prefix is) within phpMyAdmin after import to reflect your current domain.

What to Do After Restoring Your Website

Restoring the files and database is a major step, but your work isn’t quite done. A post-restoration checklist ensures your site is fully functional, secure, and ready for visitors.

1. Clear All Caches:

   • Hostinger Cache: If Hostinger’s caching is enabled (LiteSpeed Cache), clear it from your hPanel.
   • WordPress Caching Plugin: If you use a plugin like LiteSpeed Cache, WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or Super Cache, clear its cache.
   • CDN Cache: If you use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare, purge its cache.
   • Browser Cache: Clear your own browser’s cache, or access your site in incognito/private mode to ensure you’re seeing the fresh version.

2. Test Site Functionality Thoroughly:

   • Front-end: Visit your homepage and several internal pages. Check navigation, images, and embedded media.
   • Forms: Test contact forms, opt-in forms, and any other interactive elements.
   • Login: Try logging into your WordPress admin dashboard (yourdomain.com/wp-admin).
   • E-commerce (if applicable): Test adding products to the cart, checkout process, and order placement.
   • User Accounts: If you have user registration, try logging in with a sample user.
   • Internal Links: Click on various links to ensure they lead to the correct pages.

3. Check for Broken Links: Use an online broken link checker or a WordPress plugin to identify any links that might have become invalid during the restoration.

4. Review Core Settings:

   • WordPress Settings: Go to Settings -> General in your WordPress dashboard and ensure your Site Title, Tagline, WordPress Address (URL), and Site Address (URL) are correct.
   • Permalinks: Go to Settings -> Permalinks and simply click “Save Changes” (without making any changes) to re-flush the permalink rules.

5. Update Passwords (if restoration was due to a security breach):

   • Immediately change your WordPress admin password.
   • Change your Hostinger hPanel password.
   • Change any associated FTP passwords.
   • Change database user passwords (and update wp-config.php accordingly).
   • Force logout of all users (if possible via a security plugin).

6. Scan for Malware (if applicable):

   • If the restoration was due to a hack, run a fresh malware scan using a reputable security plugin (e.g., Wordfence, Sucuri, MalCare) or a server-side scanner to ensure the restored backup is truly clean.

7. Remove Maintenance Mode: Once you’re confident everything is working, disable maintenance mode to allow your visitors full access to your site.

Common Issues and Troubleshooting During Restoration

Even with careful planning, you might encounter bumps during the restoration process. Here are some common issues and how to troubleshoot them:

1. “Error establishing a database connection”:

   • Cause: This usually means WordPress can’t connect to its database. This could be due to incorrect database credentials, a corrupted database, or the database server being down.
   • Solution:

     • Check wp-config.php: Ensure the DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, and DB_HOST values in your wp-config.php file (located in your public_html directory) are correct and match your database credentials in Hostinger’s hPanel (under Databases -> Management).
     • Restore Database: If you suspect the database itself is corrupted, try restoring only the database from a good backup using the hPanel tool or phpMyAdmin.
     • Hostinger Support: If everything seems correct, contact Hostinger support; there might be a server-side issue.

2. Site Looks Broken / CSS/Images Missing After Restore:

   • Cause: Often a caching issue, or incorrect file paths.
   • Solution:

     • Clear All Caches: This is the most common fix. Clear Hostinger, WordPress plugin, CDN, and browser caches thoroughly.
     • Check File Paths: Ensure WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) in Settings -> General are correct.
     • Permalinks: Go to Settings -> Permalinks and hit “Save Changes” to refresh permalink structure.
     • wp-config.php: Double-check if WP_HOME or WP_SITEURL constants are defined and correct.

3. Restoration Fails or Times Out:

   • Cause: For very large sites, the restoration process might time out, especially with manual methods or if server resources are limited.
   • Solution:

     • Use Hostinger’s Automated Restore: This is generally more robust for large sites as it’s optimized for their servers.
     • Split Manual Backups: If manually restoring, try uploading files and databases separately. For databases, break large .sql files into smaller chunks using a tool like SQLSplit.
     • Increase PHP Limits (if applicable): Sometimes increasing max_execution_time or memory_limit in your PHP configuration can help for manual imports (Hostinger support can assist with this if needed).
     • Contact Hostinger Support: They can often assist with failed restorations or provide insights into why it’s not working.

4. Backup Not Found or Too Old:

   • Cause: The desired backup might have exceeded Hostinger’s retention period, or you’re looking in the wrong place.
   • Solution:

     • Check Retention Policy: Understand your hosting plan’s backup retention policy. If it’s outside this window, the automated backup won’t be available.
     • Manual Backups: This highlights the importance of keeping your own manual, off-site backups regularly. If automated ones are gone, your manual backup is your only hope.
     • Support: Ask Hostinger support if they have any extended archives, though this is rare.

5. Restored Site Still Infected with Malware:

   • Cause: The backup you restored might have been taken after the infection occurred, or the infection source wasn’t fully removed.
   • Solution:

     • Choose an Earlier Backup: Go back further in your backup history to find a truly clean version.
     • Thorough Scanning: After restoration, immediately run a comprehensive malware scan using a reputable security plugin.
     • Change All Passwords: Assume all credentials are compromised and change them.
     • Review Recent Changes: Check for any recently installed plugins, themes, or custom code that might have introduced vulnerabilities.
     • Wipe and Reinstall: In extreme cases, a full wipe of the public_html directory, reinstalling WordPress, and then migrating your clean database and media files might be necessary.

Always approach troubleshooting systematically, starting with the most common causes and working your way through more complex solutions.

Best Practices for Proactive Backup Management

While knowing how to restore your site is crucial, prevention is always better than cure. Implementing robust backup practices will significantly reduce stress and downtime in an emergency.

1. Understand Your Hostinger Backup Schedule and Retention:

   • Know whether your plan includes daily or weekly backups and how many days/weeks they are retained. This helps set expectations and informs your manual backup strategy.

2. Supplement with Regular Manual Backups:

   • Even with automated backups, perform manual backups:

     • Before any major update (WordPress core, themes, plugins).
     • Before making significant site changes (e.g., theme customizations, code edits).
     • Periodically (e.g., monthly) as an extra layer of security.

3. Use a Third-Party Backup Plugin for WordPress:

   • Plugins like UpdraftPlus, Duplicator, BackWPup, or BlogVault offer additional control, flexibility, and often more frequent backup options.
   • They can back up to cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, providing off-site redundancy.
   • They often simplify the restoration process as well.

4. Store Backups Off-Site:

   • Don’t rely solely on backups stored on the same server as your website. If the server fails or is compromised, you could lose everything.
   • Download manual backups to your local computer.
   • Use cloud storage for both manual and plugin-generated backups.

5. Test Your Backups Periodically:

   • A backup is only as good as its restorability. Periodically (e.g., quarterly) restore a backup to a staging environment or a local development server to ensure it’s complete and functional. This builds confidence in your recovery plan.

6. Maintain a Staging Environment:

   • A staging site is a clone of your live site where you can test updates, new features, and design changes without affecting your live website.
   • This dramatically reduces the risk of breaking your live site and the need for urgent restores. Many Hostinger plans include staging environment options.

7. Keep Software Updated:

   • Regularly update WordPress core, themes, and plugins. Outdated software is a primary entry point for attackers. While updates can sometimes cause issues (hence the backup before updating!), they are critical for security.

By adopting these proactive measures, you’ll be well-prepared for any unexpected events, ensuring your website’s longevity and minimal disruption.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hostinger Backups

Q1: How often does Hostinger perform automated backups?

Hostinger’s automated backup frequency depends on your hosting plan. Premium Shared Hosting and above typically include weekly backups, while Business Shared Hosting and Cloud Hosting plans usually offer daily backups.

Q2: How long are Hostinger backups retained?

The retention period for automated backups also varies by plan. Weekly backups might be retained for 7 days, while daily backups can be retained for 7 to 30 days, depending on your specific plan tier. Always check your hPanel for precise details.

Q3: Can I restore a single file or folder instead of the entire website?

Yes, when using Hostinger’s hPanel backup tool, after selecting “Restore Files,” you usually get an option to choose specific files or folders to restore. This is very useful if you only need to recover a single corrupted image or a modified configuration file.

Q4: What happens if my restoration fails?

If a restoration fails through hPanel, you should first re-attempt the process. Ensure you have a stable internet connection. If it continues to fail, gather any error messages and contact Hostinger’s customer support. They can investigate the issue and often perform the restoration for you.

Q5: Are backups included with all Hostinger plans?

Basic shared hosting plans might have limitations or not include automated backups. It’s essential to check the features list of your specific Hostinger plan to confirm what backup services are included. Upgrading your plan often provides more frequent backups and longer retention periods.

Q6: Can I download my Hostinger backups to my computer?

Yes, you can. For automated backups, Hostinger often provides an option to download a copy of your files and/or databases from the “Backups” section in hPanel. For manual backups you create, downloading them to your local machine is explicitly an option.

Q7: Do I need a third-party backup plugin if Hostinger provides backups?

While Hostinger’s backups are reliable, a third-party backup plugin (e.g., UpdraftPlus) can offer additional control, more flexible scheduling, incremental backups, and direct integration with cloud storage services (like Google Drive or Dropbox). This provides an extra layer of redundancy and off-site storage, which is highly recommended for critical websites.

Q8: Will restoring a backup affect my website’s SEO?

Restoring a backup to a previous state means your website will revert to how it was on that specific date. Any content, internal links, or SEO optimizations made after that backup date will be lost. This is why it’s crucial to restore the most recent clean backup and then consider re-implementing any recent, valuable changes. Excessive downtime due to a broken site can also negatively impact SEO, making a quick restore beneficial.

Q9: Can I restore a backup from a different Hostinger account or server?

Generally, Hostinger’s hPanel backup and restore feature is tied to the specific hosting account and domain. If you need to move a site between different accounts or servers, it’s typically better to use manual backup/restore methods (downloading files via FTP/File Manager and databases via phpMyAdmin, then uploading/importing them to the new location) or a dedicated migration plugin.

Q10: How long does a full site restore take on Hostinger?

The time required for a full site restore depends primarily on the size of your website (the total number of files and database size). Small sites might restore in a few minutes, while larger, content-heavy sites can take 30 minutes to over an hour. Hostinger usually provides a progress indicator or notification upon completion.

Conclusion

Mastering the art of restoring your website from backup on Hostinger is an invaluable skill for any website owner. While we hope you never have to face a catastrophic site failure, knowing that you can quickly and efficiently bring your website back online provides immense peace of mind.

Hostinger’s user-friendly hPanel makes the automated restoration process straightforward, offering a reliable safety net for your digital presence. For those requiring more granular control, manual methods via File Manager and phpMyAdmin provide advanced options. Remember, the key to successful recovery lies not just in the restoration itself, but in diligent preparation and proactive backup management. By regularly backing up your site, storing copies off-site, and testing your recovery plan, you ensure your website remains resilient against unforeseen challenges.

Don’t let unexpected issues derail your online efforts. Stay prepared, stay protected, and keep your website thriving!

What are your experiences with website restoration? Have you ever had to bring your Hostinger site back from the brink? Share your stories and tips in the comments below – your insights could help others! If you found this guide helpful, consider sharing it with fellow website owners who might benefit.

Fash ViRal

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