Replacing old website with my new one – what are all these files!?

  • Hi,

    I’m a huge newbie and (for the first time) am trying to replace an old website with one I made on wordpress in a subdomain.

    As a first step, I plan to back up the old website onto my CPU. The issue is there are a ton of folders (admin, blog, cgi-bin, ckeditor, config, css, images, js and more) all with more files and more folders deeper within (and then a bunch of .php files.

    I am using File manager which my hosting company provides. Does anyone know if I need all these files or if there is a faster way to just download everything at once (files, folders and all) for safe keeping?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Moderator keesiemeijer

    (@keesiemeijer)

    Hi csigabiga83

    By default, the files in the directory called wp-content are your own user-generated content, such as themes, plugins, and uploaded files (images, movies etc). Pay particular attention to backing up this area along with your wp-config.php, which contains your connection details. The remaining files are mostly the core files, which are supplied by the WordPress download zip file.

    Are you sure you’re backing up the correct root folder?

    A default install of WordPress doesn’t have the folders admin, blog, ckeditor, config, css, images, js in the root.

    Here are the files used for a default WordPress install:

    .htaccess
wp-admin (directory)
wp-content (directory)
wp-includes (directory)
readme.html
index.php
wp-activate.php
wp-blog-header.php
wp-comments-post.php
wp-config.php
wp-cron.php
wp-links-opml.php
wp-load.php
wp-login.php
wp-mail.php
wp-settings.php
wp-signup.php
wp-trackback.php
xmlrpc.php
license.txt

    Check if WordPress is installed in one of the folders you’ve mentioned (blog?).

    Review before proceeding: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/WordPress_Backups#Backing_Up_Your_WordPress_Site

    Moderator keesiemeijer

    (@keesiemeijer)

    Aha, after reading some more, I see you want to backup a website not made with WordPress.

    I would backup everything. If the website uses a database back it up also.

    Thread Starter csigabiga83

    (@csigabiga83)

    Thanks keesiemeijer,

    You are right. The old website I want to backup was not made with WordPress, so I guess it will be best to just back up everything as you suggested.

    I spoke with my hosting company who suggested a free FTP service (FileZilla) which will hopefully be able to transfer both files and folders (the File Manager provided in cPanel could only do files – not folders – which would have taken forever)

    Thread Starter csigabiga83

    (@csigabiga83)

    One more Q:

    Should I only be backing up folders and files from within the Public_html folder?

    Or do you think it’s worth backing up other stuff (there’s quite a bit)
    eg.
    – .cl.selector
    – .cpaddons
    – .cpanel
    – .cphorde
    – .htpasswds
    – .kde
    – .pki
    – .softaculous
    – .spamassassin
    – public_ftp
    – ssl
    – tmp
    …and a few more

    Moderator keesiemeijer

    (@keesiemeijer)

    Read more about FileZilla here.
    https://codex.www.ads-software.com/FTP_Clients

    Only Backing up the Public_html folder should be sufficient.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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