Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Melinda Waffle -
Number of replies: 12

I am attempting to download a backup (mbz) from our Moodle 2.1.1+ server to use on another server.  I can do just about anything with the backup EXCEPT download it.  I can rename it, move it to my private files area, completely restore a new course on the existing server with it.  When I attempt to download it, I get a "File not found: Firefox can't find the file at http://moodle.ourserver.org/pluginfile.php/100/user/backup/Backup2CourseName.mbz?forcedownload=1."  I have other backups on the server that I am able to download.  I'm not sure if it has an impact, this course is fairly large (for our server) at 320 MB, but I believe all the settings are set at 2GB so that shouldn't be an issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions for why this is occuring?  And, better yet, a solution for getting the download? 

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In reply to Melinda Waffle

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Yehuda Zimmerman -

I found that you can't download a file greater than 100Mb. I'm not sure why.

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In reply to Yehuda Zimmerman

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Melinda Waffle -

There is a limitation on the user which can be increased so you can download larger files.  

I my situation, I discovered it was something with the  legacy files still being a part of the course.  Probably I had contradictory settings for allowing/not allowing legacy files.  I deleted all the legacy files (which I had already converted into the new course filing system so didn't need) and it worked like a charm then.

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In reply to Melinda Waffle

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Elena Ivanova -

Great solution, Melinda. Thank you! smile
I can confirm that it worked for me as well. And the issue seems to  be course-specific, since it did not occur with all courses that have LCF enabled. 

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In reply to Melinda Waffle

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Amy Brown -

Melinda,


Curious, how did you convert the legacy files into the new course filing system?  We have hundreds of courses now with legacy files that we need to convert that we need a solution.

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In reply to Melinda Waffle

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Karen Williams -

Hiya

I'm having this exact problem (on a very old, very fragile server - Moodle v2.3.3, windows 2008, MySQL) and we are moving over to a much more robust server, hence the backup and download scenario). I've been happily (!) backing up and downloading files for the last few days and now one just will not download. It's nearly 0.5GB admittedly, but I've managed to download others much larger (largest at 976MB), so I'm not sure if it's size or not.

I tried deleting the legacy course files, no joy. I removed them (in edit settings) before doing a back up, no joy.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

Karen smile

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In reply to Melinda Waffle

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Tracey Collins -

Hi Melinda,

I also had the same problem with downloading a backup file. I found that the file name had a "-" in it and this was causing the problem. Once I removed the - and re-backed up the course I was able to successfully download the file.

So it might be worth checking that your course name doesn't have any unusual characters in it.

Tracey

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In reply to Tracey Collins

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Karen Williams -

Hello

I'm having this problem and it's so frustrating, I've successfully backed up and downloaded courses well over 1GB in size, but randomly I can't download the backups.

I've tried turning of the LCF before doing the backup, I'm ensuring that there are no strange characters in the back up file name. The default which I've downloaded lots of has '-' throughout the name and still can't do some files.

Any pointers would be very gratefully received.

Thanks

Karen smile

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In reply to Karen Williams

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Karen Williams -

I have now resolved my issue! With a little pointing in the right direction I have managed to locate the backups and move them to the appropriate area in order to migrate them across for restoring on our new install.

In case anyone else has the same issue and you're having problems finding a file using the new file structure in Moodle 2+, this is what I had to do:

  • I renamed my backup to something that was only a few characters long
  • I went into the database using Adminer (very useful plugin)
  • I found the mdl_files table
  • I clicked on select data
  • In the search field, I changed (anywhere) to filename (using the dropdown menu)
  • after the = I put in my new filenname
  • I clicked on search
  • My file's details would appear
  • I clicked on the contenthash field and copied the name (40 characters I believe!)
  • I went onto my server, I went into the files directory where the physical file is uploaded to (moodledata/filedir)
  • I did a search on that folder using the contenthash that I'd copied from adminer
  • When the file was located I would copy and paste it into the location where I wanted it to be
  • I renamed it the original name (eg backup.mbz)
  • Hey presto, I have my file smile

I used this for locating backup files that for some inexplicable reason would not download. However, if you need to find any file for whatever reason, as long as you know the file name, you can now use the above steps (from step 2) to find it and restore it to another location.

Kind regards

Karen smile

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In reply to Karen Williams

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by james mergenthaler -

Bravo Karen, your steps solved my problem too.   Very nice and a big thank you.  I using moodle 2.2.4, MySQL Workbench (to search the mdl_file table).  In hindsight its obvious - find the file name in the table, use the content hash name, copy it and use it to find the actual file in the file system!  I was able to use the moodle interface to download files smaller than 120 MB, each of the files that I tried to download larger than that, the browser would fail...

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In reply to Karen Williams

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Alexander Adadurov -

Thank you for your help!

In my situation, I found that I cannot use Russian letters in backup filenames. This letters were automatically taken from "Short course name" field and that made it impossible to downdoad backup files.

Also I should note that this only happens on Windows installations, as I have one Linux server and it's perfectly OK.

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In reply to Karen Williams

Re: Unable to Download backup file from Moodle 2.1.1+

by Jason [Moodle Enthusiast] -

I followed this.  i could not for the life of em download any file from the backup.  Each and every time I tried the system logged me out, 


One tidbit to add, if you are not comfortable getting into the database, you can simple go to your file system editor in cPanel or on your hosting account so you can see the file tree structure, backup the course, then immediately go to the file system to (moodledata/filedir) and locate the absolute latest created folder.  locate the latest created folder by date and time, and download that text file, then rename it to .mbz.


i have verified it works, and you can get your courses backup.


happy hunting.

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