So far Ive tried the dumpBackup.php and that only gets part of it. It has been suggested that its a php script timeout issue and that's possible. It is a large site with over 5000 articles on it so it will be large. I would appreciate any tips on how to do this. I've also looked at XCloner as another suggested and it does not appear to provide the functionality to do what I need. Does fine on existing hard pages in /html directory, but does not seem to be able to pull files from a mediawiki and place them into a .xml file for importing. Even something that could break up a backup so that it gets everything could help. Dumping the databse ( mysql) will not work as that part of the issue. The existing data base in somewhat filled with old no longer relevant tables that SLOW it way down. Any tips please? Thanks John