ok found that if I dump the backup file I have in the files/backup folder it appears in the dashboard, this could be a little more intuitive, why not either allow uploading from the dashboard or tell you in the dashboard ?

Also none of my images were backed up, which sort of defies the point of the backup really doesn't it.

What do you mean by 'dump' the back up files?

I'm also struggling to find out how to revert to a backed up version after a block stopped working

Go to your Cpanel on your hosting account and create a new MySQL db . Now go phpmyadim and select yout db , choose import and select ur SQL file.

Create ur new I installation of c5 and choose ur MySQL db that you just created.

You should then have what you need. PM me if u need help

I agree with geekhero. The dashboard needs improvement, one of which should be a way to simply upload the .sql file for backup restore. Don't get me wrong. I like concrete5, but it could be much, much better. I have spent a lot of my time scouring through all the tutorials and submitting support posts in the forums for help. Concrete5 needs to be more userfriendly. Anyway to pass this on to the concrete5 team? or other platform to express our wishlists?

Okay, but what's contained in the database, and what's contained in the files?

I believe that one would still need to re-make the theme. But is there anything else that is stored in the file system and not the database?

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What I did was... well... I removed the installation of Concrete 5 through the online installer thing called Softaculous in CPanel... (I did [stupidly] this because the install was labeled as a different domain)

And I think what happened was I lost the database, but not the files.

So now what happens, is I install concrete on the domain that I'm getting a database error on, and it looks like it's working, okay --- the THEME is even there. But there's no content.

It's pretty confusing. If I restore the database will it work (will the content be restored)? I'm waiting on my hosting company to help me... because they have a backup of the database.

All I have is the theme. No pages; no pictures; no content. Just fonts, background image (I don't know why), colors, bars... and the stuff that was permanent in the header and footer.

Your database contains all your text and the addresses of the files (images, pdf, etc). C5 references all this to build a page of html. Your images will not be in there but your sever host should have a complete archive of your site.