Format and reinstal Local by Flywheel

Support
1

Hi! :slight_smile:

I have to format my computer. I have Local by Flywheel with several projects in development.

Do I have to make backups of each and every one of the sites, and then restore them one by one?
Or just saving the files and dumping them to the new installation will work?

I want to point out that I have Local installed on a secondary disk that will not be formatted.
If I leave everything that will work without any problem?

Thanks!

2

Hey @entumas –

The safest way to do this would be to export each site from Local so that you have a complete backup of each site contained within various zip files. From there, you can import them by dragging and dropping them onto Local.

In theory, you might be able to save the various config files:

  • ~/.docker
    • Contains the virtual machine
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Local by Flywheel
    • Contains settings for Local specifically
  • ~/Local Sites
    • Contains the site files, which you mention being on a separate HD

But I’ve never tried saving those folders and then putting them back in place after formatting the main harddrive so I wouldn’t recommend trying it without at least taking a backup of each individual site.

If you do end up trying that workflow (saving and restoring those config folders) – let us know how it goes! Hope that helps give you something to go on!

3

Thanks for your reply Ben, and sorry for taking so long to respond.
I can’t find the files you are talking about in my operating system.

4

Were you still able to format the drive and get things working?

The easiest way to back things up is to export the sites and then re-import them.

With the more recent 5.x version of Local, we’ve done away with Virtual Machines to manage the sites, so this sort of backup process is easier. All you have to do is stop the site to have the database exported to sql files on the disk, and then backup the site folder. This could be manual, like compressing that folder, or you could have the site folder synced with something like Dropbox.

I’d recommend starting to use the latest version of Local which can be downloaded from the Releases page here in the Forums:

5

Hi Ben!

I stopped using Local in favor of Laragon, since the issue of backups seems vital to me. And Laragon allows me to have my db safe thanks to Cobian Backup.

Right now I have my computer in the workshop, making modifications. When I have the PC again I will try it, since Local seemed better in several aspects.

Thanks!