Title: backup doesn't work
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# backup doesn't work

 *  Resolved [robidemo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robidemo/)
 * (@robidemo)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/)
 * Hi!
    I used to receive my back up every two days via email, but it hasn’t been
   working anymore since about the middle of last december. I tried to make a back
   up directly from the plugin dashboard, but it says
 * “Something went wrong with your backup. It looks like another process might already
   be trying to backup your database. Please try again in a few minutes. If the 
   problem persists please contact support.”
 * So here I am.
 * can you help me please ?
 * All the best
    Roberto Demo [robidemo@tiscali.it](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/robidemo@tiscali.it?output_format=md)
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/)

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  [dwinden](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwinden/)
 * (@dwinden)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/#post-5719932)
 * Before the backup is started the iTSec plugin tries to get a file lock.
    The 
   error you get is because the file lock fails.
 * The file lock is actually a directory named backup.lock and it is by default 
   created in the wp-content/uploads/ithemes-security/ directory.
 * After the backup is completed the file lock is (normally) removed.
 * So check the wp-content/uploads/ithemes-security/ directory for the file lock
   and if it exists try to manually delete it. Then retry making a backup.
 * If this solves your backup problem please mark this topic as “Resolved”.
 * dwinden
 *  Thread Starter [robidemo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robidemo/)
 * (@robidemo)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/#post-5720007)
 * Thank you dwinden, but it doesn’t work…
 * I deleted the backup.lock file and tried to make a backup again, but the result
   was the same… same message error and a new backup.lock file appeared in the directory…
   
   I noticed that the backup.lock file appears into the ithemesecurity folder, not
   into the backups one… In other words, backups and backup.lock are in the same
   folder “ithemesecurity”…
 * Any other idea ?
 * Thank you
    Roberto
 *  [dwinden](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwinden/)
 * (@dwinden)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/#post-5720069)
 * My apologies, in my initial response post I made a mistake.
    I immediately corrected
   it (For just a few minutes there is a possibility to edit a post). You probably
   only received an email of my initial post or did you receive 2 emails ? So wp-
   content/uploads/ithemes-security/ is the correct directory.
 * Anyway not sure what is going wrong with the file lock.
 * Is the “Enable Scheduled Database Backups” checkbox ticked in Settings tab\menu
   option “Database Backups” section ?
    If so please temporarily disable Scheduled
   Backups. Save settings. Then remove the backup.lock again and try and manually
   start a backup by clicking on the “Create Database Backup” button.
 * If that does not solve the issue we’ll need to take a closer look at the get_file_lock()
   function (or disable file locking completely).
 * dwinden
 *  Thread Starter [robidemo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robidemo/)
 * (@robidemo)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/#post-5720104)
 * Thank you Dwinden !
 * It worked !
 * Now I have re-enabled the scheduled database backup.
    Hope it can work like it
   did before.
 * Thank you !
    All the best Roberto
 *  [dwinden](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwinden/)
 * (@dwinden)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/#post-5720113)
 * Roberto,
 * Ah that’s good news.
    Probably right after manually deleting the file lock the
   scheduled backup was automatically triggered (and thus recreated the file lock)
   before you could start a backup manually.
 * As it looks like your backup problem is solved please mark this topic as “Resolved”.
 * dwinden
 *  [whoop_john](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whoop_john/)
 * (@whoop_john)
 * [11 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/#post-5720291)
 * OK, I don’t have any file called backup.lock in a folder called wp-content/uploads/
   ithemes-security/ but I can confirm that that folder exists with a permission
   of 755.
 * I did a search within the entire site code for get_file_lock() but I don’t see
   it anywhere.
 * Any more ideas? I disabled automatic updates and reinstated it, but nothing happens.
 * I am still getting: Something went wrong with your backup. It looks like another
   process might already be trying to backup your database. Please try again in 
   a few minutes. If the problem persists please contact support.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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 * 6 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [whoop_john](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whoop_john/)
 * Last activity: [11 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-doesnt-work-1/#post-5720291)
 * Status: resolved