[CMS] Restoring Data

[RichieBoy67]

Hey guys,

Hope everyone is doing well today.

One of my admins deleted some articles and because of this I guess many comments were also deleted from the forum.

I have database back ups and I want to restore this data. I was going to try to use Impex but then I figured perhaps I just import the couple tables involved. Can anyone tell me what I would need to import to restore cms articles and comments?

Thanks much,
Rich

[RichieBoy67]

Anyone?

[TheLastSuperman]

The easiest way for someone who does not know how to manually edit the database and import the data back in by hand is a time-sensitive matter.

1) Anytime this happens you immediately disable the site and re-import your database backup.
- This backup should be a very recent backup, preferred if your host has automatic backups i.e. hourly cron r1 backups etc and if so they should be able to restore promptly.
2) Import the backup and overwrite the old database.
- It's best to create a new database and test the import there, then connect to the new database name by properly editing the new details into config.php
-- If anything goes wrong it's ok because we are working on a newly created database testing the import at this point in time.
--- If everything works fine and the missing content is restored your safe to turn the site back on.

Always, I repeat always disable the site promptly so no new posts are made, if we are restoring a backup we do in fact lose all new post made after date/time the backup was made.

[RichieBoy67]

Thank you for your reply but my issue is not knowing how to import the data. Maybe I did not explain well enough.


All I really need to know is which tables I need to import for articles and comments. I am surer I could figure out those tables but the reason I am asking is because I am a bit confused about which tables are involved due to the fact that comments are also posted to the forums as well.. I just mainly want to get the comments back and instead of spending the time figuring it out I figured I would ask if anyone else had this info..

Thanks

The easiest way for someone who does not know how to manually edit the database and import the data back in by hand is a time-sensitive matter.

1) Anytime this happens you immediately disable the site and re-import your database backup.
- This backup should be a very recent backup, preferred if your host has automatic backups i.e. hourly cron r1 backups etc and if so they should be able to restore promptly.
2) Import the backup and overwrite the old database.
- It's best to create a new database and test the import there, then connect to the new database name by properly editing the new details into config.php
-- If anything goes wrong it's ok because we are working on a newly created database testing the import at this point in time.
--- If everything works fine and the missing content is restored your safe to turn the site back on.

Always, I repeat always disable the site promptly so no new posts are made, if we are restoring a backup we do in fact lose all new post made after date/time the backup was made.

[TheLastSuperman]

I understand that however let me explain it this way...

Your forum database is like a hard drive on a computer, if data is deleted on a pc you can restore from recycle bin (unless you empty it, still can be recovered if emptied but that's the hard part). Trying to add back in deleted content tends to be more tedious then one thinks and you can run into major issues so at this point in time my advice to you if your inexperienced is to revert to a backup OR hire someone to do this for you. Walking you through this via a thread on vbulletin.com is simply not an option imo.

Edit: It's also the fact that when you add in content, some of the content utilizes various tables all throughout your database, simply adding back in the content will not restore the other values that used to be in the other tables follow?

[RichieBoy67]

I understand this already. However I do think it is not that complicated to restore a few articles and comments. Ofcourse I am aware that some data posted since can be over written.

I work with databases often and I do appreciate your tutorial but what would really help would be telling me which tables are involved with articles and comments. I will have some extra time tomorrow night and will be able to find this myself without too much trouble. I just figured perhaps someone may have done this before.

Again, I really do appreciate your time but I am new to this and I have no trouble at all working with mysql. While it may not be my specialty I can get by. This issue really does not seem so complicated or difficult and I was just trying to make things easier.

Thanks