Backup a SharePoint 2010/2013 Site Collection From One Farm and Restore into another SharePoint 2010/2013 Farm

This post is going to describe the step by step of taking backup from One SharePoint 2010/2013 Farm and Restoring into another SharePoint 2010/2013 Farm.

(1) Backup the Source Site Collection using STSADM Command. (You can do the same thing using PowerShell Commands)

stsadm.exe -o backup -url http://intranet -filename E:\bkup-20May2012.bak -overwrite


(2) Login to the Destination Farm

(3) Create a New Web Application (You can use existing Web Application with no destination Site Collection)

(4) DO NOT CREATE DESTINATION SITE COLLECTION

(5) Install any WSP Solution Packages

(6) Activate Web Application Level Feature

(7) Restore the Source Site Collection from the backup file taken in STEP (1) using stsadm command. (You can do the same thing using PowerShell Commands)

stsadm.exe -o restore -url http://destinationurl -filename E:\bkup-20May2012.bak 

(8) Change the Site Collection Administrator of this Destination Site Collection Admin Account

(9) Enjoy Testing Destination. This is an exact copy of Source Site Collection

Happy SharePointing.
Cheers