How to Restore Your Website from a Backup in DirectAdmin (JetBackup)

Hostking uses JetBackup to manage daily backups on all shared hosting plans. JetBackup lets you restore your entire website, individual files or specific databases yourself — without needing to contact support.

Before You Start

  • You must be on a paid shared hosting plan (Launch, Starter or Premium)
  • Backups are available for the last 7 days
  • Restoring will overwrite your current files with the backup version — make sure you want to do this before proceeding

Option 1: Restore Your Entire Website (All Files)

Use this if your website is broken, hacked or corrupted and you want to roll everything back to a previous working state.

Step 1 — Log into DirectAdmin via my.hostking.host → your service → Login to DirectAdmin.

Step 2 — Look for JetBackup in the DirectAdmin menu. It may be under Advanced Features or accessible via the search bar — type "JetBackup" to find it.

Step 3 — Click Home Directory Backups.

Step 4 — You will see a list of available backup dates. Click the date you want to restore from.

Step 5 — Click Restore next to the backup. Confirm when prompted.

JetBackup will restore all your website files to that date. This may take a few minutes depending on the size of your site.

Option 2: Restore a Specific File or Folder

Use this if you accidentally deleted or overwrote a specific file and want to recover just that file without restoring everything.

Step 1 — In JetBackup, click File Backups.

Step 2 — Select the backup date.

Step 3 — Navigate to the file or folder you want to recover.

Step 4 — Tick the checkbox next to the file and click Restore Selected or Download if you want to download it first.

Option 3: Restore a Database

Use this if your WordPress site is showing database errors or if you need to roll back database changes.

Step 1 — In JetBackup, click Database Backups.

Step 2 — Select the backup date.

Step 3 — Find your database in the list — it will be named something like username_databasename.

Step 4 — Click Restore next to the database. Confirm when prompted.

Important: Restoring a database overwrites all current data in that database with the backup version. Any changes made after the backup date will be lost.

Option 4: Restore Email

Step 1 — In JetBackup, click Email Backups.

Step 2 — Select the backup date and the email account you want to restore.

Step 3 — Click Restore.

After Restoring — What to Check

  • Visit your website and confirm it's loading correctly
  • Log into your WordPress admin to verify posts and settings are as expected
  • Send a test email to confirm email is working
  • If anything looks wrong, you can restore from a different date and try again

Can't Find JetBackup in DirectAdmin?

Contact our support team — JetBackup access may need to be enabled on your account. Open a ticket at my.hostking.host.

Need Help With a Restore?

If you're unsure which backup to restore from or the restore isn't working as expected, open a support ticket at my.hostking.host. Our team is available every day from 7am to 10pm and can perform the restore for you.