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Actually, it has nothing to do with the borked directories (which are due to a bug in 3.3.5 - you are six versions behind, please upgrade to 3.3.11). It doesn't even have anything to do with permissions or Akeeba Backup itself. What you experience (the blank page) is a server timeout or PHP memory outage. You need to ask your host to help you by increasing both the max_execution_time to 30 or 45 seconds and the memory_limit to something higher (32Mb is tight, 64Mb is good, 128Mb is plenty).

Hi Ben,

I have one idea, yes! Try disabling the "System - System Restore Points" plugin if it exists and is enabled on your site. This will allow you to install Akeeba Backup Core 3.3.11 which remove this plugin (the whole feature and the bugfixes to it are now available only to the Professional release).

You actually have to ask your host about that. It's a php.ini setting which sets up the temporary directory PHP uses for uploads. Most likely it is a false alarm, as Joomla! will detect the common setting (/tmp) or a blank setting (which PHP replaces with the system's default temporary directory, /tmp) and freak out. On most hosts this is just fine.

What's more. There's still hope! You can actually disable the "System - System Restore Points" plugin. Then, follow our manual installation instructions. Any luck with that?

Hi Ben,

I am 99.99% sure that you have caught yourself in a "permissions hell". This happens when some of your files/folders are owned by Apache's user, some are owned by your FTP user and using any permissions except 0777 makes it impossible to install most extensions (it depends on the ownership of a crapload of folders and files). Let's try the easy workaround:
- Change all folders' and files' permissions to 0777. You may have to do this twice, one time with your FTP client and one time with your host control panel's file manager.
- Turn off the FTP mode.
- Install Akeeba Backup. It should install.
- Take a backup and store it locally.
- Nuke your site. Remove all files and folders.
- Restore your site from the backup, using Kickstart in FTP mode. IMPORTANT: You MUST select the "Upload using FTP" option in Kickstart, otherwise this solution will NOT work.
- While restoring, enable Joomla!'s FTP option.
- Using Admin Tools, change all file permissions to 0644 and folder permissions to 0755. However you should use the Configure Permissions feature to change the permissions of the tmp, cache, administrator/cache and logs folders to 0777.
- In those four folders with 0777 permissions upload a small text file called .htaccess with the following content:

order deny, allow
deny from all

- Go to your Global Configuration and delete the FTP password. Leave everything else as it is (do NOT disable the "Enable FTP" option).

Now your site should work correctly and every time you are about to install/update an extension you can either provide your FTP password in Global Configuration or type it in in the extensions installer page.

The trick is in how you restore the backup, not taking one. The idea is that all files and folders must be owned by the same user, no matter if it's the Apache user or your FTP user. Problems begin when some files are owned by one user and some owned by the other.

Ultimately, the best solution is using a server with suPHP or Apache's mod_itk which essentially make sure that the Apache and FTP user are the same. Moreover, they ensure that each account uses its own Apache/FTP user, increasing filesystem security.

I think that you already know what I'm going to propose next: transferring your site to a host which uses suPHP or mod_itk, such as CloudAccess.net, iRedHOST or Rochen :) They are slightly more expensive than their cheap competitors, but the increased speed and security pay off BIG TIME. Simply put, you have now wasted a week working around ownership/permissions issues. Multiply the time you spent with how much you'd charge per hour to a client to do that. This is how much money you are wasting on troubleshooting. You realise that this sums up pretty fast and the expensive host (where no such problems exist) is actually much cheaper than the cheap host (where such problems do exist). Cheap hosting is very expensive!

You're welcome! I'm happy if I can help :)

It's exactly what I said: Permissions Hell.