Daily Database Backup- What's it worth?

[ZacFields]

I thought I had read something about this before but a search of 'daily and backup' didn't yield any results.

When I go into phpmyadmin and take a database backup, my database is about 215mb. Now when I get my daily database backups from PHPBB Security, they are about 104mb.... am I correct to assume that the daily backups being done are not complete?

If not, why is the backup that PHPBB security does not even half the size of the real database? This makes me a tad nervous to trust these backups.

Zac

[ZacFields]

Just an update, due to some thinning of the database (I ran optimize, repair, delete private messages in the "sent" folder, etc) my database is actually now down to 175mb. So it's a fair deal smaller, but still does anyone have any idea if I were to try and load up these backups, if it would work?

I have a bad feeling that there are some missing tables in these backups that are getting automatically done.

Zac

[Imajica]

I'd download one of the backups and unzip it see if the tables match...

know what?
I'll do that when I get home tonight

[ZacFields]

haha, have at it. I would do it right now but I'm so busy with homework.

Let me know what you find out. Maybe we can figure out what tables are missing and somebody can alter the code to include those tables?

If worse comes to worse, I will see if I can reproduce my website with those tables from the backup and see how functional it is.

Zac

[Drop-Forged]

Ive restored from a backup file before, and it all went well.

The sizes are all different with mine as well.

It could just be the formatting, since when it is in the database it is like separate files (at-least thats how it looks on my local host), the backup is just one file.

[Frost]

Yea it might be just different programs sizing the file differently

You ever notice how if you hold your mouse over a file/folder on say your desktop it shows a size, then say the same file you upload via ftp later, it shows a completely different size... then later in file manager it shows it a different size from either of the previous ones...

Or that could just be the programs I use <img>

Still worth testing and figuring out though, if I'm going to get an annoying pm everyday telling me it completed the backup I would like to feel safe knowing if it was true... even though I really don't care until it goes gold, as of now its just a test site with weird things I've tried and is messed up anyway, I have nothing to lose lol

[Teelk]

If you compare the backup from phpBB Security with the one from General Admin, there are quite a few differences.

Account History Table from phpBB Security

Code: Select all

CREATE TABLE phpbb_account_hist (   user_id mediumint(8) default '0',   lw_post_id mediumint(8) default '0',   lw_money float default '0',   lw_plus_minus smallint(5) default '0',   MNY_CURRENCY varchar(8) default '',   lw_date int(11) default '0',   comment varchar(255) default '',   status varchar(64) default '',   txn_id varchar(64) default '',   lw_site varchar(10) default '') TYPE=MyISAM;  

Account History Table from General Admin

Code: Select all

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS phpbb_account_hist;CREATE TABLE phpbb_account_hist(     user_id mediumint(8),     lw_post_id mediumint(8),     lw_money float,     lw_plus_minus smallint(5),     MNY_CURRENCY varchar(8),     lw_date int(11),     comment varchar(255),     status varchar(64),     txn_id varchar(64),     lw_site varchar(10));  

They are very different, it looks like the Daily Database Backup is using MySQL4 compatibility, I don't know what the General Admin formatting is. Also, the General Admin backup includes the drop table command on all tables.

If you go to phpmyadmin, select your DB and select export, you'll see all the options for backing up and each one's gonna give you a different file size.

[ZacFields]

***Here's the Answer***

Today I decided to create an archive of my website, and then prune my 103,000 posts on my main site down to about 10,000 (to speed up page loads)

So to create the archive, I used one of the database backups created by PHPBB Security.

First Discovery: It worked like a charm. Everything in it works flawlessly. Perfect.

Second Discovery: So I decided to go into PHPmyadmin and take a backup of it. Sure enough, it's about the exact same size as my original backups taken through phpmyadmin.

SOLUTION: They're just differently formatted backups. PHPmyadmin is way bigger, but when they're loaded up onto the server, they're both the same size. So once again, the phpbb security backup DOES work just fine <img>

Zac

[Teelk]

Nice one Zac <img>

[ZacFields]

haha, well it's just proving what you said Teelk. Happy to put a hypothesis into a conclusion.

I was worried that I was wasting all this server space on bogus backups. Glad to see that's not the case.

Zac