How to Take a Full Website Backup Using cPanel

DozeHost runs scheduled offsite backups on every plan, but it’s still worth knowing how to pull your own backup on demand — before a big update, a theme change, or a migration.

Using the Backup Wizard

1. Open Files > Backup Wizard in cPanel.
2. Choose Back Up, then Full Backup for everything (files, databases, email accounts, and configuration), or a partial backup if you only need one piece.
3. Pick a destination — Home Directory works for a quick download; if you have remote storage configured, you can send it there directly instead.
4. Click Generate Backup. Larger sites can take several minutes; cPanel will email you when it’s ready.

Downloading and storing it safely

Once generated, the backup appears in your Home Directory as a .tar.gz file. Download it via File Manager or FTP and store a copy somewhere off the server entirely — a full backup living only on the same account it protects doesn’t help if that account has a problem.

Restoring from a full backup

A full backup generated this way needs to be restored by your hosting provider (it’s designed for account migration, not a self-service restore button). Open a support ticket with the backup file attached or referenced, and our team will restore it to your account.

Lighter alternative: partial backups

If you only need your database or a folder of files back, use Backup Wizard > Restore for the partial-backup files (Home Directory, individual MySQL databases) — those you can restore yourself without a ticket.

For anything WordPress-specific, a plugin-based backup (UpdraftPlus, All-in-One WP Migration) is a good complement since it can restore itself without shell access.