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How to Backup your Wordpress Site

Wordpress, Blogging Tools and Services September 17th, 2007

    Visited 4981 times, 3 so far today

Backup your database regularly, and always before an upgrade.

This is the advice given to you if you want to play it safe and have a peace of mind all the time. I don’t know what I would do if I lost my blog and all the content inside it…all those posts I’ve spent years writing, all those links, images etc. So how do I avoid all that? It’s easy - you backup it up and doing a backup of your entire Wordpress blog literally takes minutes trust me.

If your reading this article and so far thinking “what the hell, why should I do a backup when I pay good money for hosting, it’s them that should do a backup not me” or worse, “I don’t have to worry, my hosting provider creates backups every day”. These are a few common excuses I’ve heard of many times.

Well let me tell you what can happen if you think the same way others think by telling you my story. About 9 months ago I was hosting with a company called Bliksem. I’d been with Bliksem for a couple of years and had no problems with them at all until one fine day that all changed. I found all my sites were down as was bliksem’s support site. I was unable to contact them to find out what happened. I started visiting forums and found out I was not the only one.  It seemed they have gone out of business which was not good news for me because my backups were a month old and a few new sites I had started were not backed up at all. I was very upset but more so angry with myself for not sparing myself a couple of minutes to do a simple backup.
Remember the saying, “you only realise what you have until it’s gone”. So take my advice and backup your blog NOW if you haven’t done so already.
Spending a few minutes to create an easy, convenient backup of your Wordpress blog will allow you to spend even more time being creative and productive with your website.

How often should you backup?

I usually backup twice a week but it really depends on how often you update your blog. I update mine everyday and I spend a lot of time writing most of my articles so ideally, I want to backup almost straight after I publish to be on the safe side.

How many backups should I keep?

Well this question got me thinking because what I use to do is create a full backup and then just replace it every time with a new one. The reason I did this was the obvious really, plus I didn’t want too many backups on the server cause that just used up my disk space even though I save the backup to my hard drive also. But then I started to think…what if that backup file is corrupted or deleted? Then what would I do? So now I keep at least two backups on my hard drive, one on a CD and just the one on the server. If you want to you can save them to floppy disk, CD or even email it to yourself.

Can backups be automated?

Yes, although this can be a complicated process it can be done on one of two ways:

Backing Up Your Wordpress Site

It’s important to understand how your Wordpress blog is made up so we understand the backup process. There are two parts to backing up your Wordpress site: Database and Files. Your files consist of any plugins you have installed, your Wordpress theme, images, php files and any other code files.
You also need to backup your Wordpress database. The database are things like your posts/pages that contain all your content.

If your Wordpress site is hosted by someone then you should check with your hosting company if they provide backups. Some companies are not responsible for doing backups and this will be stated in their Terms of Conditions (TOS) when you sign up. It’s usually the case with small hosts.
With other companies they will backup the entire server, including your database and files. As mentioned at the start you should always take precaution because you just never know what might happen. That’s why you need to learn how to backup your own Wordpress site. Here are ways how:

  1. Website Hosting Provider Backup

    Most website hosting providers will offer a full backup of your site. Check with your host to find out if they do provide this and how often they backup. But MOST IMPORTANT, ask them how you can do the backup yourself. I use Oxynic.com and they provide a full backup facility where not only they do the backups but you can as well. It’s very easy to do and I can carry out a full backup from my control panel. I can save a backup to my server as well as my hard drive. It takes literally minutes to do. When you log into your Cpanel you will see the Backup option under files. Click the Backup icon. This will take you to the next page and you need to click “Download or Generate a Full Backup“. (Full backups can only be used for moving your account to another server or keeping a local copy of your account) On the next page, click the”Generate Backup” button. A message will appear to say the backup is in progress. This will backup your Wordpress site on your server. After a minute Click the “Go Back” link once. You will now be able to see the backups available for download. (tar.gz) Right-Click on todays backup and select “Save Target As…” A dialogue box will open and you need to choose a location on the hard drive to save your backup to. That’s it your done! 

  2. Wordpress Database Backup Plugin

    This one is also pre-installed by default and is recommended as part of the routine for upgrading Wordpress. Every time you increment your install, you should do a backup with this plugin.

  3. Copy Your Files to Your Computer

    You can use any Ftp program like FileZilla (recommended), WSFtp, SmartFtp to copy your files to a folder on your computer.
    Remember to keep at least three backups on the computer incase one is corrupted or deleted. It would also be worth saving each one in a different place incase the folder is corrupted or deleted like a CD, floppy drive, different hard drives, etc.

You are welcome to leave comments of ask a question if you need more help or information.
 

Read the Comments

[ # 427 ] Comment from RJ [September 24, 2007, 3:20 am]

I have 2.2 which did not have the Backup plugin. With the impending 2.3 upgrade, I am scouring the web for info on safe backups by using the following two methods:

1. wp database backup plugin - will this back up my theme also? (i use i3theme)

2. FileZilla ftp back up copy all my blog files.

Any other suggestions?

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[ # 467 ] Comment from Farida [September 26, 2007, 8:06 pm]

Hi RJ, Do you have Hosting Cpanel? If you do then you have a third option of downloading and generating a full backup when you log into your cpanel. This is the fastest and easiest option and it will backup everything including your wordpress theme.

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