There have been some recent product developments in WordPress Cloning Software. As someone who likes to try new software, I thought I’d write a little about what I’ve learned.

The first product I tried is named EZ WP Cloner Plugin. As the name implies, it is a WordPress plugin – a single .php file that you upload into your wp-content/plugins folder. Once activated, it presents a screen with text boxes into which you enter the FTP information for the location at which you want your cloned blog to be installed.

It’s pretty straightforward, actually, and should work. However, my first attempt to clone this blog became an excruciating exercise in patience, and I finally gave up. The problem, in this case, was that the plugin will create a backup .zip file of the entire contents of the folder in which the blog is located. In this case, it was attempting to create a backup of a folder containing almost 1GB of files, including videos, audio files, other .zip files and additional software and scripts. After waiting almost three hours with the job undone, I stopped. I have no idea how long it might have taken.

My second attempt also failed. I chose a far smaller and less complex blog to clone. After installing and activating the plugin there, and filling out the FTP details, I hit the “Clone” button, and in a few minutes the job was done. That was much better! However, when I went to the new location to view the newly cloned blog, only the front page worked. Any links clicked on turned up 404 Not Found pages. Trying to log in to wp-admin was unsuccessful, as there was no wp-admin page to be found. Nothing worked at the cloned blog site.

EZ WP Cloner Plugin carried a $47 price tag, and I felt it was money wasted. I did get a prompt refund, and was told that an update to the plugin would solve known issues. So far, though, I have not received word of the update being available. If and when it is, I’ll try again and report my findings here.

In the meantime I am not recommending this product.

Update January 11, 2011

I got my hands on the updated version of EZ WP Cloner last week, and have attempted three cloning jobs using it. I’m sad to say it didn’t work any better than the original (which didn’t work at all). In fact, in two of the three tries, not even the front page was cloned.

I read somewhere in the WordPress Codex about permalink structures and how they may affect such things as installing or re-installing backups, and it’s possible that my permalink structure might be affecting EZ WP Cloner’s operation. But I’m not going to change my permalinks for the sake of a software, especially when the other program I’ve used, WPTwin, does work well for me.

It should also be noted that a user who had success with EZ WP Cloner did so on a dedicated server, not on a shared hosting account, as most people use, including myself.

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Filed under: Wordpress Cloning Software • Wordpress Plugins

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