Ever since the people have started to learn about WordPress and the websites getting hacked, it’s recommended to them to have the backup of the website and its database.
Most of the people just use the full backup option but that you should know that it’s possible to backup the database consisting only of the custom tables.
As you know, whenever you install a WordPress plugin, it creates a new database table of its own which increases the size of the overall database.
Now you may be wondering as to why do people keep installing the plugins? Well, not all of them adds tables to the database.
I am going to walk you through a step by step process which will help you avoid the extra tables you don’t want.
Special Note: several leading WordPress hosting services such as CloudWays offer fully managed WP hosting where this type of actions will be taken care of for you. Managed WP plans are costlier, but often worth it due to the time this saves.
Use phpMyAdmin to Backup Your Website’s Database
As I always say, you can download the backup when you have only one website hosted on your web hosting but when you run multiple websites, you need to do it the other way.
I hope you know the name of the database of your website because that’s what you have to choose before clicking on the button to download.
Follow these steps.
Step 1
First of all, open the cPanel and look for the Databases’ section. Click on the phpMyAdmin icon to open it. A new tab will open for you.
Step 2
You may find it quite familiar. All you need to do is clicking on the database’s name from the left-side navigation menu.
Once you do it, many tables will appear to you.
Step 3
Now you have to click on the Export link from the main navigation menu of phpMyAdmin. And if you want to backup everything from the database, you just click on the Go button.
Step 4
But to have the backup avoiding the tables, you need to click on the Custom radio button and you will see the tables to select or unselect.
As in here, I have unselected the tables created by an SEO plugin. It means the backup will not have those tables. You can select and unselect all the tables.
Once you do that, you have to choose ZIPPED as the file type. That’s in what your backup will get compressed into. Click on the Go button and depending on the size of the file, it will get downloaded to your computer.
You may be wondering about unselecting all the tables but that will give you a blank file. You don’t want that.
Note: While selecting or unselecting the database tables, you must make sure what you do.
You should know which plugin creates which table. Your database tables may have the different prefix so don’t get confused.
Try to search for the name of the plugin. It’s much better.
Just a few days ago, one of my clients chose to unselect the plugin she wanted the most and migrated her website to another web hosting.
That ruined everything because there was no old data of that plugin.
It’s important for you to know that when you unselect a database table, it means you don’t want that data. You want to start fresh with that plugin.
Can You Backup the Database by Selecting the Custom Tables
It’s still a big question for many. In the fast few years, WordPress has become so popular and everyone knows that it uses the MySQL database.
So it’s better to know the easiest way to accomplish your tasks.
Backup up your website consists its data and the database. Some people get confused with the full backup and the separate files.
You should understand that while backup up your database, it’s your choice to use the one-click button or you want to choose the custom database tables.
I hope you have understood the concept. If you still have doubts or face any kind of problem while backup up the database, you can always reach us.
We’re always here to help you. You can contact us directly through the contact us page or you can just comment below. Be safe, keep blogging.
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