You can create a MySQL backup with Percona Xtrabackup by running: $ innobackupex –user=DBUSER –password=DBUSERPASS /path/to/BACKUP-DIR/ You can then restore the backup with: $ xtrabackup –prepare –datadir=/var/lib/mysql –target-dir=/path/to/BACKUP-DIR/ $ sudo service mysql stop $ sudo mv /var/lib/mysql ~/dbbackup $ sudo mv /path/to/BACKUP-DIR /var/lib/mysql $ sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql $ sudo service mysql start $ Read More