Title: Duplicate into the same database
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# Duplicate into the same database

 *  Resolved [Ewout](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pomegranate/)
 * (@pomegranate)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/)
 * Hi There,
    Thanks for this awesome plugin. I was wondering if there is a way 
   to work around the ‘needs an empty database’ requirement? I would like to duplicate
   into the same database using another table prefix if possible…
 * Thanks!
 * [http://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/](http://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/)

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

 *  [Buko](https://wordpress.org/support/users/buko/)
 * (@buko)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523432)
 * that would cause issues because you would be duplicating data, and it would cause
   more trouble than it was worth.
 *  Thread Starter [Ewout](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pomegranate/)
 * (@pomegranate)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523435)
 * I don’t understand, isn’t that the purpose of this plugin? I have several websites
   running on one database without any issues.
 *  [Cory Lamle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/corylamleorg/)
 * (@corylamleorg)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523451)
 * Hi Ewout,
 * The plugin uses a generated dump sql file of your database when you create the
   package. The dump file is a snapshot in time with only the data you had in your
   DB at that exact point.
 * So when you go to create a new database or connect to an existing one, that data
   that is used is unique and should not be mingled with other data because the 
   plugin is not capable of handling different versions of your data…
 * Hope that helps!
 *  Thread Starter [Ewout](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pomegranate/)
 * (@pomegranate)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523457)
 * Thanks for explaining. So if I duplicate a wordpress site that is in a database
   it also copies all the tables from other wordpress sites? I still don’t really
   see how there are ‘different versions’ of my data, since it’s just as if I would
   install another site on that db right?
 *  [Cory Lamle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/corylamleorg/)
 * (@corylamleorg)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523584)
 * The data becomes different because when you create a package its all from that
   point in time. So if you add new posts, get comments or change any settings then
   the data becomes different from the package that was made.
 * Also the plugin does not merge or append data. It creates brand new tables with
   each install. So if you had a table named wp_posts then it would overwrite that
   table with the new data.
 * Hope that helps!
 *  Thread Starter [Ewout](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pomegranate/)
 * (@pomegranate)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523585)
 * Isn’t that always the case no matter what db you are using? As long as the table
   prefixe
    s are different, they have become two completely separate installs (
   which is the reason for duplicating in the first place). So you’d have two (or
   more) installs on the db, each with their own tables:
    - db1 > wp_posts
    - db1 > wpbeta_posts
    - db1 > anotherwp_posts
    - etc
 * instead of
    - db1 > wp_posts
    - db2 > wp_posts
    - db3 > wp_posts
    - etc.
 * This is default wordpress functionality, since it will ask you which prefix to
   use on install, which is why it’s possible to have multiple installs (each with
   their own data) on the same db.
 * Either way, thanks for explaining, I guess I’ll just have to create another db:
   o)
 *  [Cory Lamle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/corylamleorg/)
 * (@corylamleorg)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523590)
 * Hi Ewout,
 * Yes your correct if you were creating brand new tables that currently don’t exist
   then your scenario would be true. This might be a feature in the future… Possibly
   something like ‘ignore existing tables’
 * Thanks
 *  Thread Starter [Ewout](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pomegranate/)
 * (@pomegranate)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523591)
 * Thanks! I think letting the user define a new prefix (on export or on import)
   would make more sense, especially if I’m going to duplicate into the same db.
   My duplicated install would then be `wp_` and the new something like `dupewp_`
 * Thanks for this great plugin and excellent support!
 *  [Cory Lamle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/corylamleorg/)
 * (@corylamleorg)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523597)
 * Good suggestion and thanks for the feeback!
 *  Thread Starter [Ewout](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pomegranate/)
 * (@pomegranate)
 * [12 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523720)
 * Just wanted to report here that I noticed that if you duplicate a site that’s
   on a shared database with multiple wordpress installs, it copies all tables from
   the other installs (with different table prefixes) too.
 *  [Cory Lamle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/corylamleorg/)
 * (@corylamleorg)
 * [12 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523722)
 * Thanks for the update [@ewout](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ewout/)…
 *  [ric668](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ric668/)
 * (@ric668)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-into-the-same-database/#post-4523746)
 * it is one of the best plug in i found, and that will be a really great feature
   if you allow user to add a prefix in future.

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

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