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How to Backup Entire Websites with One Command Using HTTrack

2025-02-13•3 min read

Have you ever wanted to save an entire website for offline viewing? Maybe you need to preserve important documentation, create a backup of your own website, or save educational content for offline access. HTTrack is a free tool that makes this incredibly simple, and I'll show you how to do it with just one command.

What is HTTrack?

HTTrack is like a time machine for websites. It creates an exact copy of a website that you can browse offline on your computer. Think of it as taking a snapshot of a website that you can access anytime, even without internet connection.

The One Command You Need

Here's the magic command that will download an entire website:

httrack "https://website-to-copy.com" -O "./website_backup" -%v

Let's break down what this means in simple terms:

  • httrack: This starts the program
  • "https://website-to-copy.com": Replace this with the website you want to backup
  • -O "./website_backup": This creates a new folder called 'website_backup' where all the files will be saved
  • -%v: This shows you the progress while it works

How to Get Started

Step 1: Install HTTrack

Before using the command, you'll need to install HTTrack. It's free and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux:

  • Windows: Download the installer from the official HTTrack website
  • Mac: Use Homebrew and type: brew install httrack
  • Linux: Use your package manager: sudo apt-get install httrack (Ubuntu/Debian)

Step 2: Run the Command

Open your terminal or command prompt, navigate to where you want to save the website, and run the command above (replacing the example URL with your target website).

What Happens Next?

HTTrack will start downloading the website. Depending on the size of the website, this might take a few minutes to several hours. You'll see a progress indicator showing:

  • How many files have been downloaded
  • The current download speed
  • Estimated time remaining

Accessing Your Offline Website

Once the download is complete, you'll find a new folder named 'website_backup' (or whatever name you chose). Inside, look for 'index.html' and open it in your web browser. You can now browse the entire website just like you would online!

Dealing with Protected Websites (WAF Bypass)

Some websites use Web Application Firewalls (WAF) that block automated crawlers like HTTrack. If you encounter access denied errors or the download fails, you can use custom headers to make HTTrack appear more like a regular browser.

What are headers? Headers are pieces of information your browser sends to websites with every request, like an ID card that says "I'm Firefox on Mac, I speak English, and I can handle HTML files." WAFs check these to spot bots.

httrack "https://website-to-copy.com" \
-O "./website_backup" \
-H "Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8" \
-H "Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5" \
-H "Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br, zstd" \
-H "Update-Insecure-Requests: 1" \
-H "DNT: 1" \
-H "Sec-Fetch-Dest: document" \
-H "Sec-Fetch-Mode: navigate" \
-H "Sec-Fetch-Site: none" \
-H "Sec-Fetch-User: ?1" \
-H "Sec-GPC: 1" \
--user-agent "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:142.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/142.0" \
-%v

Here's what each header does:

  • Accept: Tells the server what file types the browser can handle (HTML, XML, etc.)
  • Accept-Language: Indicates preferred languages (English in this case)
  • Accept-Encoding: Shows which compression methods the browser supports
  • Update-Insecure-Requests: Signals the browser prefers HTTPS over HTTP
  • DNT: "Do Not Track" privacy preference
  • Sec-Fetch-Dest: Indicates the request destination (document in this case)
  • Sec-Fetch-Mode: Shows the request mode (navigate for page navigation)
  • Sec-Fetch-Site: Indicates the relationship between request origin and destination
  • Sec-Fetch-User: Shows if the request was triggered by user activation
  • Sec-GPC: Global Privacy Control signal
  • User-agent: Identifies the browser as Firefox to the website

These headers make HTTrack look like a legitimate Firefox browser instead of an automated crawler, helping bypass basic bot detection systems.

Resuming Interrupted Downloads

One of HTTrack's best features is its ability to resume interrupted downloads. If your internet connection drops or you need to stop the download, HTTrack automatically saves its progress in cache files.

To resume a download, simply run the exact same command again. HTTrack will:

  • Detect the existing project files in your output directory
  • Check which pages have already been downloaded
  • Continue from where it left off without re-downloading completed files
  • Update any pages that may have changed since the last download

HTTrack creates several tracking files in your project directory:

  • hts-cache/: Contains the download cache and progress information
  • hts-log.txt: Detailed log of all download activity
  • *.ndx files: Index files that track which URLs have been processed

This makes HTTrack perfect for downloading large websites over multiple sessions, especially useful when dealing with unreliable internet connections or massive sites that take hours to complete.

Important Tips

  • Always check if you have permission to download a website
  • Be patient with large websites, they take longer to download
  • Make sure you have enough storage space on your computer
  • Some websites might have restrictions that prevent complete copying
  • If the basic command fails, try the WAF bypass version with custom headers
  • Use headers responsibly and respect rate limits to avoid overwhelming servers
  • Don't delete the hts-cache folder if you plan to resume or update the download later

Common Uses

People use HTTrack for many purposes:

  • Backing up their own websites
  • Saving important documentation for offline reference
  • Archiving websites that might disappear
  • Creating offline copies of educational resources

Remember to always respect website owners' rights and terms of service when using this tool.

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