To complete a manual backup of your Joomla MYSQL database please complete the following. This can be useful if you wish to export / migrate your database to a new web hosting provider.

1) Access your web hosting control panel ( http://www.yoursite.com/cpanel)

2) Select the option MYSQL Databases

3) Now select phpMyAdmin

4) One the left had side you will see a drop down option to choose the database you wish to export. Select your Joomla database you wish to export.

5) After choosing the database a list of MYSQL tables will now appear.

6) Located at the top of the screen you will the option called export as noted in the image below.

7) Click on the export option and the following will now be displayed. Choose the select all option which will highlight all the MYSQL tables for your joomla database.

8) Use the default options as noted in the below screen shot.

9) Now select the tick on the 'Save as file', tick on '"gzipped", then click "go" as noted in the screen shot below

10 ) After you have clicked on the Go button you will be able to download the database which you can then use as a backup to recover your web site or it could be used for migrating to another server.