To move a website to a new hosting account, you need to have a backup that you will use to restore the full functionality of the site. However, in some cases where bloggers and site owners can’t create backups, they find themselves in a difficult situation to download their full website home directory to their local computers. Then, they need to upload that same folder to the new destination.
That’s a hard job if you have a slow connection and a large site folder size. Luckily, there is a smart solution that lets you transfer any file you want from cPanel to another cPanel without complicating things.
The process is simple, you need to create a free Mover account, then follow the below step by step tutorial to move your files to the new server, without downloading them locally. It’s a migration from your actual server to the new one.
All things happen in real-time, and you can schedule the transfer if you want. This service plays the intermediate role, between the two servers that you want to use, like source and destination.
After creating your account, log in and you will see that the dashboard is divided into 3 main sections, the left part is the source of the backup.
In this case, you will need to select the FTP account that you have in cPanel. The middle section is the destination of your backup or the folder that you want to transfer from the source.
You can select the FTP in our case, and the third section is simply the menu to start the transfer process, or schedule it if you want, later. At the same time, you can select to use a compressed backup by checking the “Archive (Zip files before transfer)”.
Step 1: Link the source cPanel
To get started, click “Select Source” from the left, then, you will get the pop-up window. There, you need to click on “New” as the following screenshot.
Now, you will get all the available cloud services that you can use to move files, with an amazing list that suits your needs. In our case, you need to select the FTP option, and then, the button “Next” at the bottom of the window.
As you can see, it’s a way to transfer files between cloud services. The above screenshot is just a part of the full list that they have. All the popular cloud storage services are available to use for your backup or migration process.
It’s time to add your FTP details, so the service can access your files and let you manage them, by moving, editing, or deleting what you want.
It’s exactly like the standard cPanel file manager but through third-party software. The FTP login details that you need are:
- “FTP Server address”: In general, it’s in this form, “ftp.yourdomain.com”, but you can use your server IP address if you have issues with your FTP login.
- “Your FTP username”: Just use your cPanel username, it’s the same in most cases, if you have your own custom username, use it.
- “Your FTP Password”, like the username, it’s the same password as your cPanel password.
If you have trouble with login in, check the welcome email that you’ve received during the sign-up process with your hosting provider, it contains all the details. Or, simply, log in to cPanel and click on “FTP account” and you will see them.
If you have the default FTP account, then, focus on the one with a “person’s icon” and click “Configure FTP Client” next to it. Anyway, use the cPanel login details and the below FTP structure example, it will work for the majority of cases.
Step 2: Link the destination cPanel and move the folder
Exactly like the first step, but this time, you need to select the destination location. Click the “Select Destination” button, then, follow the above steps exactly.
Now, add your new FTP details, use your new cPanel login information, and you will be able to set up the destination FTP account to send the backup to it.
When the source and the destination FTP are ready, you can select the exact folder that you want to send, and the exact location to save it. Just check the small circle next to each folder, that will define the source and the destination.
Next, click the “Run” button on the right section of the screen. You can also check the “zip” options if you want.
Wait sometime during the process, it depends on your two server connection speed, and their limitation for the maximum download and upload per minute or second.
The transfer will run, even when you exit your account and leave it completely. Their server does the job automatically and you can see your backup or file transfer activity from the dashboard.
That way, you can easily move any file or backups between two servers and cloud storage account like Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and all the others.
You can move all your FTP and cloud storage account files easily from the same dashboard, and without the need to download them locally. Then, upload them to their destination. This method saves lots of time, especially, for companies and large websites.
Please make sure to create a full backup of your cPanel account that includes the database. There is a dedicated option to link your databases directly, but, I prefer to use the full backup to avoid errors with the database logins.
