Backing up your database is an essential part of a healthy Movable Type maintainance schedule and critically important any time you endeavor to upgrade your system.

Downloading your database

Since the SQLite database is a simple file, backing it up is as easy as downloading it and saving it to a safe place. The file path and name is listed in mt-config.cgi just in case you forgot. Just make sure to download it in your FTP software's binary mode.

Command-line backups

If you have shell access, you can simply make a dated, compressed copy of your database with the following command:

tar cvfz `date +%Y%m%d`_mtdb_bkup.sql.tar.gz DATABASE

Just replace DATABASE with the path and filename of your SQLite database. Because the backup archive is dated, this is an excellent way to set up a cron job on your system to achieve regular backups.

Command-line restore

To restore the files from the archive, you execute the following:

tar xvfz ARCHIVE.tar.gz

...where ARCHIVE is the archive file that contains your database. This will recreate the directory and files of your original database.