There are a few options when wanting to download or delete server backups on a VPS or Dedicated Server. The first will be how to manage it with SFTP. First you’ll need an FTP client. I use Filezilla and will explain how to use it.
To download Filezilla, go here: filezilla-project.org/index.php
In order to use SFTP you’ll have needed to set a root password and know your server IP.
If you do not know the root password or server IP, you must follow these links:
Find your servers IP.
Set your root password.
After you know the above information, you can continue…
Now open up Filezilla.
Go to file in the top left.
and select Site Manager
Now click on New Site. You’ll need to put in this information:
Host: Your Server IP
Protocol: SFTP
Logon Type: Normal
Username: root
Password: your root password
Once you have it all in, click on connect.
Now when you connect you will likely get a warning about the host key. That’s fine, you’re safe, just click on OK and proceed. Once connected you will be taken to /root which is the root users directory, but you can’t do much in there, so go up a directory.
Now that your at / you can navigate to the backup directory and then the cpbackup directory. If you are using Legacy Backup (it’s the default backup) you’ll want to go to /backup/cpbackup If you are using Backup Configuration then you’ll want to go to /backup
You are now in /backup/cpbackup You will find a daily, weekly, and monthly directory. Now depending on which backups you have running, you’ll want to go to directory for them. By default daily and weekly backups are running. So if you want to grab your daily backup you’d go to the daily directory.
The file you want to get will be username.tar.gz, where username would be your accounts username. Once you’ve got it you can drag and drop it to where you want to download it. Or you can delete it if that is your purpose for coming here.
Note: it is strongly recommend to download anything before you delete it. Deleting stuff is a bad idea unless you know what it is, you have a backup of it, or you are 100% sure you don’t need it.
That’s it. Now you download or delete server backups with SFTP.