by Ken Task.
"Where is the course backup area?"
Backups are **built** in moodledata/temp/backup/
If backup fails, might check in that directory with cPanel file browser to see if there is a 'backup.mbz' file there or not.
Backup File Area means in the sea of files ... moodledata/filedir/ - none of the files in there are humanly recognizable.
In this case, think it's best to manually create a directory using cPanel in a web server accessible directory and call it 'coursebackups' ... no folder/directory is named that in moodlecode nor in moodledata.
In the backup preferences, save to that directory.
Why? You can see the files and with recognizable file names.
'spirit of sharing', Ken