Restoring a WordPress Site from an `rclone` Cloud Backup

This guide covers the disaster recovery process: your server has failed, and you need to rebuild your WordPress site from scratch using the off-site backups stored in your cloud provider via rclone.

1. Prerequisites: A New Server

This scenario assumes you are starting with a fresh, clean Ubuntu server.

Set up a LAMP Stack: You need Apache, MySQL, and PHP installed.
- Reference: Setting Up a LAMP Stack on Ubuntu
Install and Configure rclone: You must install rclone and configure it with the exact same remote you used for your backups (e.g., gdrive).
- Reference: Syncing Backups to the Cloud with rclone (Follow steps 2 and 3).

2. Step 1: Download Backups from the Cloud

First, we need to pull the backup files from your cloud storage down to your new server.

Create a local backup directory:
```
sudo mkdir -p /var/backups/wordpress
```
Sync from the cloud:
- This command copies the contents of the WordPressBackups folder in your gdrive remote to your local backup directory.
```
rclone sync gdrive:WordPressBackups /var/backups/wordpress
```
Verify: Use ls -l /var/backups/wordpress to confirm your .sql and .tar.gz files have been downloaded.

3. Step 2: Restore the WordPress Database

Before restoring the files, set up the database that WordPress will use.

Create a new database and user: Follow the exact steps from the original installation guide to create the wordpress database and the wp_user.
- Reference: Installing WordPress on a LAMP Stack (Follow Step 2 only).
Import the database backup:
- Find the name of your latest .sql file.
- Replace your_strong_password with your actual database password.
```
mysql -u wp_user -p'your_strong_password' wordpress < /var/backups/wordpress/db_backup_YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS.sql
```
  (Note: There is no space between -p and the password).

4. Step 3: Restore the WordPress Files

Now, extract the archived website files into Apache's web root.

Clear the default web root:
```
sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/*
```
Extract the backup:
- Find the name of your latest .tar.gz file.
- The -C / flag is crucial; it tells tar to extract files relative to the root directory, preserving the var/www/html path.
```
sudo tar -xzf /var/backups/wordpress/files_backup_YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS.tar.gz -C /
```

5. Step 4: Fix Ownership and Permissions

This is the final, critical step. Files restored from a backup often have incorrect permissions, which will cause your site to show errors.

Set correct ownership: The web server (www-data) needs to own the files.
```
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html
```

Set correct permissions: Apply the standard secure permissions for WordPress.

sudo find /var/www/html/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/html/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo chmod 600 /var/www/html/wp-config.php

Reference: Securing a WordPress Installation

Your site should now be live and fully restored. Navigate to your domain to verify that everything is working as expected.

Created: March 17, 2026 • Last Modified: February 24, 2026

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Restoring a WordPress Site from an rclone Cloud Backup