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Akeeba Backup for WordPress

#31408 Upgrade error: Destination folder already exists. /home/[mysite]/public_html/wp-content/plugins/akeebabackupwp/

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Environment Information

WordPress version
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PHP version
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Akeeba Backup version
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Latest post by on Monday, 22 July 2019 17:17 CDT

ernienet
I've searched up and down the documentation and though there's a heading for upgrading, I can't find anything in the text that explains what I could be doing wrong.

Why can't I just install the Pro version over the Core version when upgrading from the free version to the paid version?

I'm not exactly sure what to do next.

Thank you,
Ernie

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Based on your subscriptions I understand that you come from the Joomla world and you're quite possibly relatively new to WordPress or didn't have to update any WordPress plugins from their free version to their premium version. Unlike modern Joomla, WordPress does not allow you to upload and install a new version of a plugin already installed. It's a lot like using Joomla! 1.0.

There are two solutions, just like back with Joomla! 1.0 in the early '00s.

The first but not recommended solution is uninstalling Akeeba Backup Core and installing Akeeba Backup Professional. Watch out! By doing this you will lose all your existing backups and your backup settings. Not quite the ideal solution if you already have a decent backup history.

The second and recommended solution is to overwrite the files using FTP. We have made a video tutorial about it. Please watch that video and let me know if you have any questions.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

ernienet
Yes. I'm primarily a Joomla user. I have a few WordPress sites but have not built a lot of backup/security around them as yet. A paying client came along and asked me to host and manage their existing site, which prompted me to upgrade to the pro version of Akeeba Backup for WordPress.

I ended up uninstalling the Core version and installing/configuring the Pro version from scratch. Since it was a "new" site for me, and the previous manager didn't use Akeeba Backup, there was no major loss of anything. The configuration appears to be working with the CRON job and the offsite (Dropbox) copy of the backup is being created.

I will apply your recommended FTP approach to my other WordPress sites.

There is one issue with the backup: the filename is "akeeba-backup-..." instead of the website name. The Archive Backup Name is set to [SITENAME]-[DATE]-[TIME_TZ] (just like I have it in Joomla). Does that not work in WordPress?

Thank you,
Ernie

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
It does work in WordPress. In fact, it works in the same way as it does with Joomla. Whenever you are visiting the Akeeba Backup Control Panel page we check if the site's URL is stored in the database. If not, or if it's different from the current URL, we replace it with the current URL. This is what is used at backup time if we are running a backup outside the CMS where we don't have the CMS' API to tell us the site's URL.

If you are, however, getting this from a backend backup the problem would be that WordPress is not reporting the URL to Akeeba Backup. If that's the case please let me know and I will let you know how we can proceed to troubleshoot this issue.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

ernienet
The backups are generated by the CRON job (/usr/local/bin/php /home/[accountname]/public_html/wp-content/plugins/akeebabackupwp/app/cli/backup.php and is successfully generating the nightly backups to my Dropbox account every night. I'm not sure if the CRON is considered a backend or outside the CMS.

This same way it's set up on the 30 Joomla websites running a nightly CRON job - the file name is the website name.

The siteurl and home records in the wp_options table contain the URL for the website (i.e., https://www.websitename.com) and the blogname record contains the proper name of the website (i.e., "my website").

When I made my first backup manually after installing the Pro version, the file name was the website name as stored in the blogname record of the wp_options table.

So I can assume that the CRON job is considered outside the CMS.

Thank you,
Ernie

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
The CRON script does run outside of the CMS, just like we do with Joomla. The idea has always been to sidestep the CMS completely so that you can take a backup of your site even if the web server is all messed up (it's happened to me).

In this case we look into our own configuration to get the site domain. This is stored whenever you are accessing Akeeba Backup's Control Panel in the wp-admin area of your site, into the file wp-content/plugins/akeebabackupwp/helpers/private/config.php. Try visiting your Akeeba Backup main page in the wp-admin of your site. If that file is not created first go to Akeeba Backup, System Configuration and click on Save & Close. If that file is still missing please check whether the wp-content/plugins/akeebabackupwp/helpers/private folder is writeable.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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