OpenCart has an option available to easily perform Backups and Restorations of your OpenCart database in the Dashboard. We recommend maintaining your own regular backups, so you can recover your website in case of emergencies. In this guide we will walk you through the backup and restore process in OpenCart 1.5.
Perform a Backup:
- Login to the the OpenCart Dashboard.
- Roll your mouse over System, and click Backup/Restore.
- Select the tables that you want to backup, you have the option to Select All.
- Click the Backup button.
You will then be prompted to download the backup in a .sql format, this will differ depending on your browser. In my tests, I am using Chrome and downloads are listed on the bottom of the screen:
- Save this file for emergency recovery, I recommend using an external hard drive, or CD/DVD.
Perform a Restoration:
- Login to the OpenCart Dashboard.
- Roll your mouse over System, and click Backup/Restore.
- In the Restore Backup section, click Choose File, and select your backup.
- Click the Restore button, and it will restore your database. The time frame will differ, since large files will take longer. You will then see a message stating “Success: You have successfully imported your database!”
Congratulations, now you know how to perform a Backup and Restoration from the OpenCart 1.5 Dashboard!
Is it possible to perform a restoration into a brand new OpenCart 3.x installation from a pre-existing Opencart 1.5.x backup? I want to do this to upgrade an existing OpenCart 1.5.x project to OpenCart version 3.0.3.7
However, I get a big Javascript alert showing an error. Am I supposed to first install all of the old website’s files into the new one and Chooseing “skip these files” on the File Explorer dialogs?
Hi Ray! As a general principle, it’s best to restore the site to the version it was originally saved as, then upgrade it from there. If you’re on a server with Softaculous, an easy way to do this without taking down the existing site would be to Clone the site with Softaculous and update that. Hope that helps!
Hey Tim,
Unfortunately I’ve been left this codebase with little information from past devs. Not the optimal situation. If I were to analyse this OpenCart application for a non-descript error such as this, where’s a good place to start?
Cheers,
Jake
500 errors literally mean that the server did not know what to do when issued a directive from your application. Typically, we can look in the apache error log and see if it triggered an error there. That’s why I suggested reaching out to the Support Department. We would have to look at the server level for an error.
Hi there,
I’m attempting to backup an Opencart Database Version 1.5.1 before upgrading to 2.X. Unfortunately when I click backup I’m returned a Error 500 internal server error. This is quite an old application and a little tricky to figure out. Have you got any tips on how I can diagnose the issue here?
Cheers,
Jake
500 errors are non-descript so your best bet to troubleshooting is to reach out to the support department. They should be able to look into the error message and help you resolve it.
Hello,
I and using opencart 2.1.0.1 and installed a paid theme 2.0.2.0.
Now its not working, can i take back up of my website and then re install my opencart to 2.0.2.0 and restore it.
I am afriad to loose the licence.
Please help me.
Hello iqbal,
Thank you for contacting us. It is difficult to say, due to themes being created by separate 3rd parties. Since it was a paid theme, I recommend contacting the developer to see if they have a possible solution or workaround. Most paid themes provide some level of support.
If you have any further questions, feel free to post them below.
Thank you,
John-Paul
How can i restore partial backup from the backupfile
Hello Jaiprakash,
As far I as I know there’s no direct way to restore a partial backup from a backup file. You would need to restore in full and then remove the data you don’t need.
I hope this helps to answer your question, please let us know if you require any further assistance.
Regards,
Arnel C.
HELP! I moved my website from a sub-directory on my server to the root. I did a fresh install of opencart at the new location, then used the “import database” feature in the opencart admin section to import the database that I previously downloaded using that same feature on the old site. I get a green message stating that the import was successful, but nothing was imported – no products, categories, pages, anything. Any ideas?
Are you getting any type of error when importing?
Dear ,
This Backup / restore does it work with diffirent versions of opencart , in my case ,
i want to make a backup from opencart 2.0.0 and restore in opencart 1.5.6.x
Please advice,
Thanks
Hello Ibrahim,
Thank you for your question about backing up and restoring OpenCart. It is not recommend to restore OpenCart to a different version, since OpenCart core files that may have been changed/updated will most likely break.
If you wish to proceed with restoring an OpenCart 2 store, in an OpenCart 1.5.6 install, I recommend contacting a developer that will help you work through the problems.
You will also have to ensure that the all OpenCart Addons/Extensions are compatible with the version you are changing to.
If you have any further questions, feel free to post them below.
Thank you,
John-Paul
hello
i did these steps many times and it says Success: You have successfully imported your database!
but when i go back to the dash board i find nothing!
any one can help
Hello Nino,
We would need a bit more information about your situation. For instance, what are you attempting to see restored? What dashboard are you looking into, cPanel or the OpenCart?
Kindest Regards,
Scott M