Never Interrupt Plugin Updates
Never interrupt plugin updates. That’s a lesson I learned this morning.
I was in a hurry. The plug-in update screen was about to complete its update tasks, so — figuring it’d keep running on its own — I clicked out of that screen to look at the post I wanted to update.
Immediately, I saw the maintenance screen, so I clicked back to the Update Plugins page.
Uh-oh.
Here’s what I saw:
I tried to go to the Dashboard screen. No luck.
I tried to login again, but the basic screen message was the same. (Over a month later, I discovered that I might have been able to delete a file called .maintenance to get back to the site.)
This is why I have backups of my websites. I used WP-Twin to restore the site.
However, it wasn’t a matter of simply overwriting the site. When I entered the URL with /wptwindeploy.php in my browser, I still saw the maintenance screen.
Not good.
So, here’s what I did:
1. I went to cPanel and removed every file in the site’s directory. (If it had been a site that included non-WordPress files, I’d have deleted just the WP files.) I could have done this via FTP, but I chose to use File Manager in my cPanel dashboard, since I had to go there anyway.
2. I then used Fantastico to install a clean version of WP.
3. Using FTP — though I could have used File Manager, instead — I uploaded my backup (WP Twin clone) and wptwindeploy.php.
4. The site’s back. Time for all four steps: About 5 minutes. WP Twin made the difference.
So, though WP Twin is expensive (nearly $100), the time it saves me — not only during “oops” moments like this but also when I’m installing new sites — makes it a smart investment for anyone running multiple websites.
I have WP Twin clones of every site I own. I also have WP Twin clones of the basics I install on every site that I build from scratch. That saves me at least an hour’s work on every site I build.
Yes, I could do this with FlipMe Clone. That’s very good software and it costs less than WP Twin. However, I really don’t like to tweak or even look at database files. That’s the same reason I don’t use Backup Buddy, either, though I own a copy of it.
For me, ease of use and speed make WP Twin essential.
Today’s lesson could have been a lot more time-consuming and frustrating. I learned not to click out of the Update Plugins screen until it’s 100% completed its tasks. And, I was reminded to keep current WP Twin clones of my most active websites.
Link: WP Twin cloning software
