Mod for doing a backup of SMF files (nopt database)

[Illori]

also if your forum goes down due to a bad mod install, you cannot access the admin panel to download the backup anyway. also you cannot restore it from the admin panel either.

[DeadMan...]

Very good point.
It's always better and safer to do backups and restores via your web hosting control panel.
If you are unable to do that, it seems to me that there's something very strange about your web hosting situation.

[live627]

While that is true, you are in luck because there is this little known feature of the package manager that creates a tarball of all files including any known themes. It can be enabled at    Administration Center » Package Manager » Options as a mislabeled setting "Create Backup versions of replaced files with a tilde (~) on the end of their names."

Thank you for suggesting this. Would this create a backup on the server for downloading it?

Yes.      They are .tar.gz files and are in ./Packages/backups

[Illori]

actually it is the option Create a backup of key SMF files whenever a package is installed or uninstalled. on that page to create the tar.gz not the one you said. this is enabled by default. the option you said just creates the backup of each file with the ~ at the end of the file name.

[live627]

Full disclosure for those in this thread excited to shout over me and prove me wrong: this is for 2.0.x. I'm aware that 2.1.x is more clear on this.

heh, who'da thunk, I predicted a totally predictable outcome

[DeadMan...]

Is there some reason you can't do it from cPanel?

Yes there is

Is there any mod for this? I am using the no longer available file manager mod but it only allows a single file download at a time

If you have a valid web hosting account, you will have access to the account's control panel, most usually cPanel.

You can either use that to back up the files, or FTP into your hosting account to do the same.

If you managed to install and get SMF running there, then you should have the ability to go back in to back up the files.