Troubleshooting: ArchiveIOException - Failed to write to archive stream during Export

Symptoms

During Prime Mover export – it generates a runtime error like this:

Uncaught Codexonics\PrimeMoverFramework\build\splitbrain\PHPArchive\ArchiveIOException: Failed to write to archive stream in /yourpath/wp-content/plugins/prime-mover/build/splitbrain/php-archive/src/Tar.php:713

The export then stops and unable to proceed. This is a troubleshooting guide for user to try all possible workarounds before contacting technical support to check your site.

Possible cause #1 – Disk is full

When disk is full – PHP is unable to write to the disk anymore. Prime Mover cannot write anymore files during the export process thus it returns error. This is common issue if your site is large and you have insufficient disk space in your account.

There is a tech support case before where a user is exporting a 25 GB site (its an internet radio website) but has this error. After investigation – it turns out lack of disk space is the problem. The user upgraded his disk space (via hosting account) and the issue is resolved.

If you suspect insufficient disk size is the issue – please try doing the following:

Login to your hosting account.
Refresh all disk usage statistics (so it reflects latest values.)
Find out the disk usage. If its full or almost full – that’s the problem. Ideally you should provide adequate headroom for your export process to complete. For example if you have a 10 GB website but you are in a 15 GB hosting plan. This is insufficient since after export (it creates a 10 GB additional package + 10 GB existing disk usage (for your website files) which is 20 GB and now exceeds your 15 GB hosting plan. In this case – you might want to upgrade to 30 GB plan or higher.
If you are not sure of your disk usage – it is good to double check with your hosting support so you will always get correct and accurate disk usage values.

Also – it’s recommended that you check your Prime Mover package disk usage and delete unneeded files.

Possible cause #2 – PHP fatal errors

To get a clearer view of the runtime error – it is good to check whether PHP generates fatal errors also when a runtime error occurred. This helps us isolate whether a conflicting process exists (e.g. third party plugin code / theme code or other PHP codes).

Please enable WordPress debugging by adding these lines to your wp-config.php:

// Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );

// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );

// Disable display of errors and warnings
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
@ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );

And then once WordPress debugging is enabled – run the export again until you will be able to reproduce the runtime error.

This time check the error being logged at /wp-content/debug.log

Check if the fatal error is familiar to you so you will know the workaround. For example – if it says disk usage exceeded issue ,etc. then it’s clear that’s the problem.

IMPORTANT: Please keep a copy of this debug.log so you can provide to the technical support if you still need technical assistance at the end of these troubleshooting steps.

Possible cause #3 – File permission issues

Double check that your /wp-content/plugins/, /wp-content/themes/ and /wp-content/uploads/ directory as well as all its files are using correct permissions.

If your hosting has features to reset file permissions, this is great as you can use this feature to make sure your files have correct file permissions.

Possible cause #4 – Invalid file names (too long or having invalid character)

Sometimes your site has some invalid file names that cannot be added to a Linux tar archive. To double check if this is the case – enable detailed logs by adding this to your wp-config.php:

define('PRIME_MOVER_ENABLE_FILE_LOG', true);

This will generate detailed file logs and when runtime error occurs again – you can download the runtime error log and check which file has issues adding to the archive. Check if the file has unusual file names ,etc.

If there are problematic files detected – the quickest workaround is to delete them so they will be included in the export package Make sure you backup these files manually (e.g. download a copy of that file to your Desktop) so you can easily restore this deleted files after your troubleshooting.

Once you are done doing this step, remove this constant again in wp-config.php:

define('PRIME_MOVER_ENABLE_FILE_LOG', true);

IMPORTANT: Keep a copy of this detailed file export runtime error log so you can provide to the technical support if you still need technical assistance at the end of these troubleshooting steps.

Possible cause #5 – Hosting security feature enabled

Double check your hosting security panel if they have enabled tight security features that can interfere with your export. For example they might enable common hosting security solutions like ModSecurity, Imunify360 Pro active defense, etc. You might want to temporarily disable these security features to see if it resolves the export issues.

Please double check if you Imunify360 enabled and try disabling it first before running export or restore. You can re-enable them again once you are done with this troubleshooting step.

Possible cause #6 – Hosting resource limit exceeded

Finally – If you are on a shared hosting plan and have very limited CPU/ RAM or disk resources – your host will silently terminate any running processes to avoid over usage in your account. This error will not be logged anywhere but only your hosting support knows this.

If the above troubleshooting steps fail to detect the issue – double check with your web hosting support regarding your hosting resource usage. Your hosting support should tell you if there is issue with your usage or not. Temporarily you can ask them to remove this hosting limit or you can upgrade your hosting account to a higher plan if they advise you to do so.

Next step – contact Prime Mover technical support

Finally – when the above troubleshooting steps fails and you are still unable to generate the export – please provide the following to technical support:

Zip all requested logs in your troubleshooting (e.g. your debug.log , updated file to file runtime error log, other logs if it exists).
Add relevant screenshots if it exists.
Upload these logs and screenshots to Google Drive or other platforms and make sure tech support can download these files via a link provided.
[Optional but highly recommended] WordPress access to your site – please provide your WordPress site URL, username and password. It should have network admin access if this is a multisite.

If you want a faster resolution on this issue – it would be great to provide your WordPress site login so tech support can immediately check your site for issues that is not detected with the above troubleshooting.

Please send us the link to download your logs and WordPress access credentials to the technical support contact form. Once we received your logs, access, etc. – please give us time to analyze the issue so we can find a workaround that works for your site.

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Troubleshooting: ArchiveIOException – Failed to write to archive stream during Export