Moving your Website from a Previous Host
SSH
If your old host has SSH access and can make outbound shell connections from that server, you can do quite a large bit of the file transfer directly from your old server. Please note that this process will only transfer the files located in a specified folder. This will also require shell access to be enabled on your account with us.
For more information on obtaining SSH/Shell Access, just click here.
First, compress the folder on the old host's server with tar. We are creating a compressed copy of your site folder called archive.tar.gz.
tar -czf archive.tar.gz /nameoffolder/
This will create a file called archive.tar.gz and should contain your site folder.
Second, we push archive.tar.gz to your Bluehost account.
scp archive.tar.gz [email protected]:
Important Note: This SCP command (Secure copy protocol) is also run from your old host's server. Also, "domain.com" can be replaced with your domain name or the IP address of our server your account is on, whichever one will work correctly.
Next, log into our servers through the shell, and run these commands. They will first move your archive into the directory you want to unpackage the files into (usually the public_html directory), then change directories to that same one, so you can extract the archive.
mv archive.tar.gz path/to/destination/folder/
cd path/to/destination/folder/
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz
This should have moved much, if not all, of your website's documents.
File Manager
The best way to restore a backup without using SSH is to use File Manager in the cPanel.
- Create a folder on your Bluehost account called temp1.
- Upload the tar.gz file from other hosting into the temp1 folder.
- Extract the file's contents by clicking on the file's name and click the Extract icon along the File Manager's top bar. This will extract the backup into the temp1 folder.
- Move contents of the backup into the appropriate folder like the HTML files into the /public_html directory.
- Right-click on the file or folder to select the Move option.
- If you move a folder, you will need to make sure the permissions are set to 755.
If you need further assistance, feel free to contact us via Chat or Phone:
- Chat Support - While on our website, you should see a CHAT bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Click anywhere on the bubble to begin a chat session.
- Phone Support -
- US: 888-401-4678
- International: +1 801-765-9400
You may also refer to our Knowledge Base articles to help answer common questions and guide you through various setup, configuration, and troubleshooting steps.