What a terrible loss!!!
Before we do anything...
1) BEST CASE SCENARIO: Having a copy of the design file.Did you copy any of your
tlx design files onto REMOVEABLE storage?
- CD
- DVD
- Zip Drive
- USB thumbnail drive
- ANYTHING removeable?
Or were all your backup copies damaged/lost or on a drive that failed?
2) SECOND BEST: CSB 4 & CSB 5 can make backups for you.CSB can make a backup for you and send it to your host, just in case something bad happens.
If you had that option checked in the publishing options, it would have slowed your publishing, but you would have a complete backup of the tlx design file. (useful to do once a month or so)
When you published, did you ask CSB to make a backup copy when you publish?
MOST PEOPLE DO NOT ask CSB to make a backup. It makes publishing take longer.
If you DID ask CSB to make the backup file, it will be easy to find on your website.
Use an FTP software to connect to your website.
Then go to where your home page is.
Scroll up and down through the window and look for a file name that ends in .cab
If you have a .cab backup file, you will be in luck.
If you have it, you can download it, and follow the instructions on this page to use it again: http://kb.globalscape.com/article.aspx?id=10298&cNode=6T0V4B
You would be done if you have the tlx/cab file....
(We have a
thread all about backups. The second post discusses that CSB backup option in detail, with a screen shot of the option in CSB)
IF you DO NOT have the
.tlx design file(s) or the
.cab backup file for your website, you have limited options. And none are very good options or very fast!
If neither of those options were done, you will need to start from scratch to place your websites into CSB again.
STRONGLY RECOMMEND you immediately go to your site with FTP software and download all contents of the website to your computer, burn a disk or copy onto a usb stick. Download ALL PAGES, ALL FILES of your website to your own computer as a backup. Make a backup of everything out there so if you mess up while rebuilding you can put something back up. Depending on the size of the site this may take a long time but WELL WORTH THE EFFORT!!!!
This is your only reference for what you have NOW, all the images, text, links, etc. As you rebuild, you will be overwriting existing pages and you need to have a copy of the way it is NOW before you begin.
What ftp program should I use? Is there any freeware out there that will work to do this? I think I have all of the host information..but concerned I may not understand what all is needed.
There are several paid and FREE versions that would work. Give COREFTP a try. Free and will do everything YOU need.
Take a look at this page for DETAILED info on FTP, including screen prints of CoreFTP for reference.
DOWNLOAD A COPY OF ALL YOUR FILES/FOLDERS to be safe. You may need them as you go forward. And once you delete them, they are GONE so this is for your own reference and protection!
If you do not have CSB on your current machine and need it, you can redownload the SAME VERSION of the software
here And you will need your SERIAL NUMBER to unlock it. Do you have it stored somewhere? If not, GlobalSCAPE will help you find it. If not, you will get locked out in 30 days!
You can not import your pages into CSB.Notes for rebuild:The TlxTransfer.txt file should be your guide for rebuilding your site.
Print it out and use it for your checklist for web pages!
Every time you publish your site with CSB, a new copy of that file is put on your site.
So it shows all the things put onto the site by CSB.
Every time you publish, CSB checks this list, compares details and says, this page has changed so only that page uploads. If that file is missing or does not match the tlx file you are working on, the ENTIRE CSB tlx file will publish and you get a warning.
The
good news is that your site is currently operational.
It is a good thing that you have downloaded EVERYTHING from your website.
Make sure you save a copy of it on CD or thumbnail drive (usb stick), etc.
Your copy will help you in the long run and be your safety net in case something at your host goes wrong (yes, their web servers can go down just like your own computer did).
The
bad news is bad. Very bad.
CSB actually uses a proprietary format to compress and store your web data. Those files can be named anything you wanted to name it, and the file extension is .tlx. Only CSB can open and edit a tlx design file. CSB is an HTML generator. You do not actually write the HTML code for your webpages, CSB does it for you during the publishing process. When you ask CSB to PUBLISH, the file is converted into HTML pages, your host is contacted and the changes are verified against a file called TlxTransfer.txt. CSB then uploads only the web pages that you have added/changed.
AFTER YOU HAVE MADE YOUR COPY OF THE WEBSITE FILES:
You have the HTML for the site on the server. That is what we see when we visit your website.
(I just told you to make a copy of it on your computer before you make any decisions/changes.)
There is no way to turn the HTML back into a .tlx file.
CSB is an HTML generator. You do not directly edit the HTML files. CSB makes the HTML for you.
If you want to continue to use CSB to build and edit your website, you will have a slow process.
1) You must either start over with a blank file and build from scratch. You can make a new design, new colors, new layout and make it fresh.
2) OR: You can COPY/PASTE your content page by page back into a new tlx design file.
The only way to recapture a CSB site from the web is to go to your site online, open a new .tlx file, and copy and paste from the site into the .tlx file. Copy and paste the actual text, images, etc. - not the source code. If the site isn't too large, that can be easier than starting from scratch.
Open your website in
Internet Explorer and start to copy and paste text and images from your web pages into your new tlx design file for fastest rebuilding. You can copy entire tables with colors and images this way. Or redesign as you go along, rebuilding pages.
Make sure you keep the names of your web pages the SAME as you have them now so all your links will be the same. PAGE PROPERTIES: CSB4: SHORT TITLE filed and CSB5 use FILE NAME field.
If you want to edit the HTML directly you could start with your site's current HTML file and take it forward with a different program. This would be a good time to consider switching to an editor.
WARNING:If you republish a partial re-do of the site it will overwrite everything now online, unless you publish as a subdirectory.
But if you don't want to do the whole thing in one swoop, you can publish the redone pages to a subdirectory until you have everything ready. In fact, depending on the size of the site, this could be a great opportunity to publish different parts of it to different subdirectories to cut down on publishing time and to help organize your site.
If you build a new .tlx file and then publish it to your site address where you already have pages built by CSB, you'll probably get a warning that you're about to overwrite the entire site and asking if you want to continue. If you're ready, say yes
