Oops! I Deleted My Webpage!
Did you accidentally delete, or overwrite you webpage, and want to recover what was there? There are several ways of going about it.
Prevention
When you FTP (upload) a file to your website, it will overwrite any file with the same name. So, before you FTP a new file, it’s a good idea to keep a backup of the original file. If the new version of the page doesn’t work as expected, you can compare it to the old version to troubleshoot, or you can just replace it with the original version of the page.
Make backups
It’s always a good idea to download a backup of your site, perhaps once a month (more if you frequently make changes). Just download & keep a copy on your computer, or burn it to a disk. It will be there if you ever need it.
See the bottom of this page for suggestions as to how to back up your website, and computer.
Get a quality, paid, webhost
Free webhosts most often do not make backups, so if there’s a server crash or your page is accidentally deleted, they won’t be able to help. For this reason, it’s a good idea to use a paid >webhost who will back up your site weekly, or even daily. There are lots of good ones out there, with accounts available for just a few dollars a month.
You put a lot of work into your site, and so much depends on it! Isn’t its safety and security worth the price of a coffee or two?
(Another advantage – Search engines often pay more attention to sites hosted on paid hosts. Free-hosted sites may be ranked lower, less often visited, or just plain ignored by the search engines. Additionally, free sites are not often archived by Archive.org.)
Recovering a Deleted File
Didn’t make a backup of your page? All may not be lost; there are several ways to get a deleted page back.
Ask your webhost
Most webhosts make automatically make daily, weekly, or monthly backups. Get in touch with yours and ask if it’s possible to recover your lost file from one of their backups.
Some hosts charge a fee for retrieval of your files, but most of them offer this service free of charge.
Copy your page from Google, or Bing’s cache
The major search engines keeps (“caches”) copies of each page in their index. Once you find your webpage in their cache, scroll down past any Google, Yahoo or Bing code, then find, cut & paste whatever it was you deleted & want back (a few lines of code, or a whole page). Then you can upload the recovered page to your website.
It’s important to do this as soon as possible, because the search engines don’t keep pages in cache for a very long time – usually just a week or two, maybe a little more or even less. Sometimes images aren’t available in the cached page.
On Google, use this search syntax:
cache:www.example.com
(or whatever the URL is – do not use http://) and view source & follow the instructions above.
On Bing, use this syntax:
site:www.example.com
(do not use http://) then, click the “cached page” link & follow instructions above.
For Gigablast.com, use this search syntax:
site:www.example.com
(do not use http://) then, click the “cached page” link & follow instructions above.
Check the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine
Since 1996, the Internet Archive (Archive.org) has been regularly downloading websites & webpages, in order to keep a document of the internet as it existed in the past. They don’t usually download every page of a website, sometimes images are missing, and many websites aren’t available at all, but you may be able to find the page in question there.
Pages are typically available at Archive.org about six months after they’re first collected.
To find your page at Archive.org, go to the Wayback Machine at http://archive.org/web/web.php, then type your domain name (not an individual page) then see if you can find a recent version of your page there, in IA’s archive.
Archive.org, may, in some circumstances, be able to provide you (the site owner) with a copy of your pages which they have archived. Please see their FAQ page for more information.
In the UK, check WebArchive.org.uk
WebArchive has been archiving UK websites since 2004. Visit www.webarchive.org.uk and use the search form.
Easy ways to back up your website or computer
You should always have a backup of your website, preferably in multiple places. First, you’ll need a copy of your website. Then, you’ll want to save it on your own computer, and also in a second place, for extra security. Do this often.
How to back up your website
Here are several ways you can get a copy of your website:
- Download a backup from your webhosting account (if you have a CPanel account you can easily do this yourself). Ask your webhost how to do this if you don’t know.
- Download the site to your computer using FTP.
- Use software such as HTTrack (free, and reliable) or Local Website Archive to download the site.
- If you’re using WordPress, get a backup plugin. I configure mine to store my backups at Amazon S3, which is cheap and reliable.
- Once you’ve gotten a copy of your website and stored it on your computer, keep a backup of it somewhere else, too. So, you’ll have two backups. See below for suggestions.
How to back up files
- Attach a backup drive (external hard drive) to your computer, which automatically and constantly back up all the files on it (or just ones you select), constantly. If your computer dies, your files can easily be restored from the backup.
I use the Seagate FreeAgent Go USB Portable External Hard Drive. This is especially great, because it’s small, inexpensive, and you can take it with you when you travel so all your files are acessible wherever you are.
- Save important files to a USB flash drive
. They’re inexpensive and simple, too. Or, use a flash drive.
- Sign up for an online storage service. Some are free; others are paid. (Remember you will probably get what you pay for.) (I use Backblaze for my computer’s files and Amazon S3 for my website backups. SafeCopy Backup is also good.)
Questions?
Good luck with your site! Please let me know if you’d like to use my services, or if you have any questions. I’m always glad to help & would be delighted to hear from you. And, if you would like me to try to recover your page for you, I would be glad to do that as well, for a low fee.
cheers ~
Denise
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