Backup Your Data: A Cheat Sheet for WordPress Site Owners

If you have ever had the unfortunate luck of losing files due to your computer crashing, you already know the importance of backing up your files. Your files are constantly being changed when you share a new blog post or when a user posts a comment. Because updates are always happening, it’s vital that you do a backup or take the chance of losing your data if your site should go down.

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Does It Really Matter?

All hosting companies have flaws. It’s inevitable. After researching you may decide to go with a top-rated host that has an uptime rate of 99.9%. Still, there is a chance that something could go wrong, and you end up with a problem. If your site goes down and you have not done a backup, you can lose information that is invaluable.

Just as you would click save when you’re working on a document or spreadsheet, you need to be sure to back up your data on your website. By integrating regular backups, you will have the reassurance of knowing you can recall your data if you need to.

Because it is such an important procedure, some site owners will have multiple backup methods they use to back up their files. An example of this would be doing a manual regular backup where the information is sent to the cloud, combined with a regular backup that’s completed using a plugin.

Backup Tools

You will have to decide if manual backups will be part of your routine. Here are some tools you may want to consider.

All-in-One WP Migration is My Favorite because it is free, easy to install, and easy to use. It offers a full backup file to reinstall your total website should anything “break” when doing updates. I personally use it to backup my site frequently as a backup in case of a hack or Malware infiltration.

BackWPup is one of the top backup tools for WordPress. It offers a complete backup, email notifications, a list of all installed plug-ins, and a large choice of storage options.

VaultPress is another great choice that offers backups, malware checks, and real-time syncing of your data on your website.

BackupBuddy would be another good choice that offers site restoration, malware protection, and complete backups

Testing a Backup

The only thing worse than not doing a backup is thinking that you have one and then find out that it didn’t work. It is imperative that you test your backups on a regular basis to make sure they are working properly.

In order for your backups to be effective, you need to have virus protection. If your system gets infected with a bug in the system caused by malware or a virus, your backup can fail. For more information on WordPress security see our previous post.

Your specific backup procedures will be determined by the particular software that you are using. However, below are conventional steps to follow:

Access and unzip your backup file
A local environment needs to be created to test your site. (Instructions here)
Locate your database’s name and username in the uncompressed file
Create a new database user and database
Import backup file
Open up the backup file on the test site
Compare information to the regular site to verify it being up to date

You should become familiar with your backup software’s troubleshooting procedures. It’s not as difficult as you may think. The procedure can be pretty simple. If it isn’t successful you need to find out why right away. Contact customer service if necessary, to have them assist you.

If you find a problem with your automatic backup, then you should immediately do a manual backup. Then test the manual backup also. You should also run scans for malware and viruses.

You can log into your cPanel’s File Manager or use an FTP client like Filezilla to reach your site files.
Compress those files if you’re using your cPanels File Manager. If you are using an FTP client then you will select all files and download onto your computer into a file labeled with the site name and current date.
If you’re using your cPanel then be sure after downloading to delete the zip file.

Site Database

To get to the Database you go to the phpmyadmin from your cPanel. Click on Export in the top menu, then click on Go and download it to the same location as your site files.

WordPress Website Management is here to assist you in making the choice that will best fit your business and website. If any of the solutions above are something you don’t wish to tackle, please email me @ terry at TerryLoving.com.

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Terry