Using cPanel to transfer website to another host
When you want to move your website from one cPanel host to another, there are a few ways to do it. We will show you how to transfer your website to another host in this article.
METHOD #1: The “manual” way is to download all of your files to your local computer using FTP or the File Manager in cPanel. When your new web hosting account has been activated, you can upload your files and call it a day. (Also be sure to transfer your DNS to the nameservers for your new host.)
METHOD #2: The “automatic” way is to use cPanel’s Backup utility to create a full backup of your website. Unfortunately, you can’t use cPanel to restore a full backup, so you would need to download your backup archive and provide this file to tech support at your new web host. The reason is that doing a full backup requires root access to the server, which you won’t have if you’re on a shared hosting account.
First, login to cPanel and click the Backups icon.
On the next screen, click Download or Generate a Full Website Backup.
Select Home Directory for the Backup Destination. Enter your email address if you’d like to be notified when the backup is complete. For small sites, this is normally completed within a few minutes, but if you have a large site, it could take a few hours. Click Generate Backup to start the backup process.
When the backup is finished, the backup archive will be available for download, either from within cPanel or via FTP. The example below shows the backup file in the home directory, as seen from within WinSCP (an FTP client). The file has a .tar.gz extension and contains the date and time that the backup was created, as well as your cPanel username (blocked out here for security reasons).
If you want to download the backup from within cPanel, go to the Backups utility again, and click Download or Generate a Full Website Backup. This time, you should see that there’s a file link shown under Backups Available for Download. Click on the link to download the file to your hard drive. Provide the backup file to your new web host, and their technicians can restore your website from the full backup.
METHOD #3: The “semi-automatic” way is to use cPanel to create partial backups, and then restore each partial backup individually from within cPanel. This doesn’t require root access to the server, but it also limits your backups and restorations to just your Home Directory, MySQL Databases, and Email Forwarders & Filters.
If you need to backup all of your cPanel settings, as well as your email accounts, then it’s best to use Method #2. If you don’t care about losing certain settings (e.g., DNS Zones), data (e.g., bandwidth usage, Awstats), or email accounts (including all messages), then you can use Method #3.
To start creating partial backups, go to the Backup Wizard in cPanel, and click on Backup.
Under Select Partial Backup, click on Home Directory.
Click on the Home Directory button, and save the backup file to your hard drive.
If you have any MySQL databases to backup, click the Go Back button (not shown in the above screen shot), to go back to the previous screen, and select MySQL Databases. Click on the database(s) that you want to backup and download. Follow the same basic steps as above if you want to download backups of your email forwarders and filters.
Now that you’ve downloaded your partial backups, login to your cPanel at your new web host. Go to the Backup Wizard, and this time, click on Restore. Select Home Directory, and then click the Browse button to select the backup file for the home directory that you downloaded previously. Then press the Upload button. The upload may take several minutes, during which you may see a blank screen in your web browser with “about:blank” in the address bar.
When the restoration is complete, you’ll see a list of all files that were restored. This list is for information purposes only, and you can safely close your browser or tab if you wish. You can also go to your site’s URL and verify (assuming that your DNS has propagated) that the files have been successfully restored.
Follow a similar process to restore any MySQL databases. When the restoration is finished, you’ll see a screen like this:
In cPanel, you can verify that the database has been restored by going to either MySQL Databases or phpMyAdmin.
The restoration procedure for email forwarders and filters is similar to that for the home directory and MySQL databases.
