Copy a huge sql database one table at a time?

  • Resolved 2fer

    (@dominolady)


    12 years, 1 month ago

    My most recent sql backup is over a year old and I’m hesitant to keep updating WP without being able to export a complete sql backup. Export via phpMyAdmin stops at 44 Mb and the total size reported is 178Mb. I realize it is time consuming to export one or two tables at a time, but is that a workable solution? I mean, if I needed to restore the existing DB could I import one table at a time and have it work?

    I am not a wiz with sql so although I read that there are some other methods, I was lost at the second sentence. I have exported smaller databases and imported them to move WP sites without issue. This is just to have a usable backup, I’m not moving the site. There’s over 4 years of work in the site and it is a worry not to have a complete backup.

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

  • You can do it one table at a time. The only difference is that it will be slower to backup/restore. Having said that I haven’t had a problem downloading an SQL backup file from phpMyAdmin that was about 145MB so the size shouldn’t be an issue (I would hope).

    Thread Starter 2fer

    (@dominolady)

    Thank you for your help, I’ve been holding off updating, too worried about working without a backup to do any real changes.

    Don’t make changes without a backup. Take the backup and then make the changes. If the DB is to big you can use mysql’s command line tools to export it easier then with phpmyadmin.

    Thread Starter 2fer

    (@dominolady)

    Thank you again, catacaustic, that is what I meant when I said that I had read that there are other methods, I read it here in the WordPress support articles, but I have no clue how to download using mysql’s command line. They tell you to do it but no way to find out how that works. I don’t use mysql for anything except WP so like I said I am not a wiz in using it. That is why I am planning to export one table at a time, because I know how to do that.

    I looked at different sites to try to find out how, but they are all about different things like importing files via ftp from another site and don’t get to the part I need to read. I need to set up folders for the different tables, to keep it organized, but I don’t know another way to copy the database. If you know a place to find the information I would be happy to go and take my time to read.

    Thread Starter 2fer

    (@dominolady)

    OK, I chickened out and asked my host to do the backup, downloaded 198Mb, so it was more than it looked like anyway. The idea of not messing up something on the way to putting it all back together if I needed to was too much.

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