How Black Bike Media Rescued a 2.4GB Corrupted Database 

Picture this: A 2.4GB database. Corrupted tables. A client’s job search website hanging in the balance.

For many web designers, this scenario is a disaster. But for Black Bike Media, it’s just another work day.

How does this Canadian agency tackle such huge challenges with ease?

The answer lies in a tool that’s revolutionized their workflow: Duplicator.

Let’s explore how Black Bike Media learned to conquer complex migrations and restorations while keeping client sites running smoothly.

Meet Black Bike Media

Black Bike Media, founded in 2011 in Guelph, Ontario, is more than just a web design agency. They’re digital problem-solvers who create websites that work as good as they look.

At the helm is Coen Commijs, a pro with a background in both graphic design and multi-media design. Coen’s skills in HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript allow the agency to tackle complex web projects with ease.

Black Bike Media serves small and medium-sized businesses, offering web design, front-end development, and branding. They believe in creating visually striking websites that communicate a brand’s message without unnecessary clutter.

Their clients are always in the loop, understanding each step of the design and development process. This collaborative approach ensures that the final product truly reflects the client’s vision and meets their specific needs.

The Challenge of Restoring a Corrupted Database

With some clients, Black Bike Media had to deal with poorly maintained websites with cluttered databases. Unnecessary data added bloat, slowing down the site and complicating any attempt at backups or migrations.

But the real test came in the form of sheer size. Black Bike Media increasingly found themselves working with databases so large they pushed the limits of what conventional tools could handle.

In one project, the agency was tasked with managing a job search website that had a 2.4GB database and many user profiles. This wasn’t a static site; it was a living, breathing platform with new data being added constantly.

A server outage struck at the worst possible moment, corrupting tables in the database. This also made the site’s email function fail. 

Fortunately, Black Bike Media had set up automatic daily backups with Duplicator. But since the website was updating all the time, they needed a way to restore the corrupted database without removing any new data. 

Restoring Backups with Duplicator 

Black Bike Media has been using Duplicator Pro since 2016. This backup and migration plugin has been the key to protecting their clients’ websites.

The job search website project was about to put their trusted tool to the ultimate test. This wasn’t just a routine restoration — it was a complex challenge that would require extra attention.

First, they needed to get rid of the job board’s corrupted database tables. Black Bike Media used Duplicator to back up the current version of the site, excluding the bad data. The database table filters made this easy. 

They installed a fresh copy of the site using this backup. Although the database was huge, Duplicator could handle it with a low server throttle setting. The PHP database chunking broke down the 2.4GB into manageable pieces, quickly getting the site back online.

At this point, Black Bike Media had restored the site, but it was still missing the original database tables that were corrupted. Fortunately, there was a clean backup from the previous day. This gave them a good copy of the original database. 

When restoring this backup, they used a manual extraction to select the missing tables the site still needed. This precision approach rolled back the corrupted tables without compromising any new data.

But it wasn’t just about solving this one crisis. Duplicator Pro became an integral part of Black Bike Media’s workflow. Here are just a few ways this tool helps the agency:

• Reliable backups of the client’s data
• Migrations from live to local testing environments
• Large databases were no longer a headache thanks to the chunking feature

“Since we are using Duplicator Pro for all our projects, there is always a solution. We can fine-tune the settings, and it practically never happens that we are unable to recover a database, reduce the overall size of the media library, and eventually compress the website.”

Results

With Duplicator Pro, Black Bike Media was able to:

• Restore websites with corrupted databases
• Back up and migrate large databases with extensive media libraries
• Manage backups and migrations for over 20+ websites
• Analyze database health with backup scans
• Protect client data with automatic daily backups
• Achieve a 100% success rate migrating sites to and from local development
• Increase data security through reliable backups and restorations 
• Reduce the need for support calls

Summary

From rescuing time-sensitive projects to fine-tuning server settings for optimal performance, Duplicator has been Black Bike Media’s go-to solution. They’ve successfully restored large databases and continue to keep their clients’ data safe. 

“I will continue to use and recommend Duplicator to everyone I work with, including clients, fellow designers, and even my partner. Quite frankly, no other plugin offers the same level of flexibility, trustworthiness, and reliable value as Duplicator.”

Joella Dunn Content Writer

Joella is a writer with years of experience in WordPress. At Duplicator, she specializes in site maintenance — from basic backups to large-scale migrations. Her ultimate goal is to make sure your WordPress website is safe and ready for growth.

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