When the dump refuses to load.
THE COMMON CAUSES
The file exceeds the upload limit The import times out The dump is truncated Character set or version incompatibility Tables already exist
CHECKING THE FILE FIRST
Open it in a text editor. It should end cleanly rather than stopping mid-statement.
Check the size against what you expect.
IF IT IS TOO LARGE
Compress it; phpMyAdmin imports gzipped files directly.
Or use the command line, which has no limit.
Or use cPanel > Backup > Partial Backups.
IF IT TIMES OUT
Command line, or split the file into sections.
IF TABLES ALREADY EXIST
Drop them first. Importing over existing tables produces errors on nearly every statement.
IF IT IS A VERSION PROBLEM
A dump from an older MySQL may contain values a newer version rejects, particularly zero dates.
Editing those values in the dump, or relaxing strict mode for the import session, are the usual routes.
IF NOTHING WORKS
Open a ticket with the file on the server and the target database. We can import it directly.
