Could not move old files out of the way.

[alartiusParticipant]

Restoring a backup, I am receiving this error. Hosted on Siteground and a WordPress website. I have checked permissions and storage. No issues with permissions and no issues with storage space. Please assist ASAP.

Move /home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs -> /home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs-old: Failed. Destination Directory UID=942, GID=888. Effective/real user IDs of the current process: 942/942. Effective/real group IDs of the current process: 888/888.
Error message: Could not move old files out of the way. You should check the file ownerships and permissions in your WordPress installation (/home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs)

Error message: Could not move old files out of the way. You should check the file ownerships and permissions in your WordPress installation (/home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs)
Restore failed…
Error message: Could not move old files out of the way. You should check the file ownerships and permissions in your WordPress installation (/home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs)
Restore failed

[alartiusParticipant]

Some clarification. It is only OTHERS that is failing in my backup. See log below. Permissions and storage space check out and do not seem to be the problem.

Others
Unpacking backup… (backup_2019-09-01-0100_Advanced_BioRecovery_Solutions_36014077b223-others.zip, 5.1 MB)
Unzip progress: 27 out of 27 files (11.5 MB, wflogs-old/config-transient.php)
Move /home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs -> /home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs-old: Failed. Destination Directory UID=942, GID=888. Effective/real user IDs of the current process: 942/942. Effective/real group IDs of the current process: 888/888.
Error message: Could not move old files out of the way. You should check the file ownerships and permissions in your WordPress installation (/home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs)
Restore failed…

Move /home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs -> /home/advanxxx/public_html/wp-content/wflogs-old: Failed. Destination Directory UID=942, GID=888. Effective/real user IDs of the current process: 942/942. Effective/real group IDs of the current process: 888/888.
Actions: Return to UpdraftPlus configuration

[Bryle CroduaModerator]

Hi,

‘Error message: Could not move old files out of the way’

It appears to be a file permission/ownership issue, meaning UpdraftPlus or WordPress does not have the correct read or write permission to a certain folder or file.

The following article on Smashing Magazine is a good guide as to the file permissions/ownerships that are required for WordPress: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/05/proper-wordpress-filesystem-permissions-ownerships/#file-and-folder-ownership-for-wordpress

Kind Regards,
Bryle

[alartiusParticipant]

Thank you, Bryle.

We already checked into permissions and ownership. We also checked into storage space. I came across the article you referenced several days ago. We confirmed permissions and ownership are correct and that we have ample space. In addition to verifying this ourselves, we also verified with SiteGround.

[Bryle CroduaModerator]

Hi,

Please could you take another backups and exclude the “wflogs” folder from the backup? The files appears to be from WordFence plugin.
Here’s how you can exclude a file/folder from a backup – https://updraftplus.com/faqs/how-can-i-exclude-particular-filesdirectories-from-the-backup/
Once done, please do another migration process.

Regards,
Bryle

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