Wedge

Why should we do this when, to be honest, cPanel has a perfectly good one in it? And those who aren't using cPanel or similar should really know better anyway.

While yes, we could do something with it, I'm really not sure there is anything other than a mediocre solution to be had putting it in the software itself.

I'm not sure about it either...
Never used the SMF backup feature, so I wouldn't be in the best position to use it.
I'd recommend using BigDump for the transfer of huge database files. (Well, that's what I used last time I needed to do that. Went flawlessly on a small server.)

It has a horrible habit of crash-and-burn when it hits memory limits, seeing how it invariably attempts to get the entire SQL dump in a variable first, which on a modest sized forum is going to be unpleasant.

I used SMF backup all the time until i tried to make a local test forum and found out that my "backups" were unusable.[1]
A backup/restore function would be something like a parachute for new admins. Maybe give them a chance to restore stuff after the first fuck up[2].
Maybe a database auto backup every night, overwriting the same file as long as the forum is a small one with an option to disable it for more experienced admins. Its your call, of cource.

1.	encoding problems
2.	a new admin, saved by genius programers, would be for ever in love with wedge  ;) :eheh: :eheh:

Encoding problems will be less of an issue for us anyway since there's only one encoding ever in use.If the software were that smart, it wouldn't let the admin fuck up in the first place ;)

Sweet mother of Jesus yes the backup is horrid. Would be better to rip it right out, in my opinion, than to keep it. Japanese signs, umlauts, non-standard signs anywhere in any post? Shit's gonna dissapear.

The best way, for me anyway, to back up SMF, has been to do a MySQL dump and then copy paste the folders. I'm sure there are lazier and better ways, but this one works for me... Magical wonderful cronjobs. :)

I used to use the backup from Admin till I needed to restore a database on one of the sites once...ouch!  >:(

My host does have a backup function in c-panel, so I have been using that. Haven't been so lucky as to have to restore one yet.

Cron job would be cool, but beyond my ability.

Honestly, a guide on how to use mysqldump, cPanel, et al. to do backups and restores would be more useful to people. However, that really isn't Wedge's responsibility to provide. Any php-based backup 'solution' like the one in SMF is only viable until your forum hits 100k posts. Imo.

I have always used SSH and command line dump and import. I have used Big Dump a couple of times for others that did not have SSH access and their db was too large for phpmyadmin to import, but I prefer the command line way myself. 

Learn to use CPanel and backup yourself...

Well, it's now academic: the backup feature is now actually gone. There are multiple scripts you can use to produce a backup.