Your WordPress Blog…Living in a danger zone.
Importance of Backing Up Your WordPress Site
A few months back I installed Website Defender which basically scans your site and tells you what changes to make to strengthen your security. I did this. Not sure what I did wrong but totally screwed up my site. I couldn’t access anything and visiting my url presented me with php giberish. Seems one of the database changes it requested I do, I did wrong. Though I, tech geek, was following detailed directions, I still managed to screw my site.
The Danger Zone
Anyone with a computer knows how easily the operating system can go to crap. Windows, Linux, Mac. Whatever your flavor.
I’ve had PCs die on me from installing an application that wasn’t compatible or running a script that screwed up the backend files. I’ve lost permissions to my Mac folders because I set one permission wrong.
Then there’s hardware.
I’ve lost pictures and music just from drives dying. I’ve almost lost everything on my computers from the power supply hardware dying.
There are so many things that can endanger your most precious digital files. And don’t get me started on viruses and hackers.
Now think about your WordPress Blog
It’s sitting on a computer too. Yes, the server space you’re paying your host for, is just another computer. Most people don’t realize that the internet is not quite as ‘virtual’ as it seems. It may feel like it’s out there in cyberspace, but your website is actually a bunch of files on a computer sitting somewhere in a completely physical building.
So your blog is just as vulnerable there as it would be if it was sitting on your own computer. Sure they have super high better security. But shit happens. Drives die. It can get overloaded and go bust, or it can get hacked. Sometimes it needs to be rebooted.
And unless you’re paying your host a special fee for backing up daily, then you never know when they’ll run a backup.
It’s not the responsibility of your host to protect your site.
Seriously, go read the fine print of their Terms and you’ll find responsibility of protecting your website and your business rests entirely with you.
So what do we do? We back that sucker up and keep multiple copies on multiple drives AND we schedule to do it regularly.
Yes there are plugins that you can pay for, but I’m going to show you how to use what you already have to get it done.
Backing Up Your WordPress Blog
I’m not familiar with all hosting server backends, but if you’re hosting with Godaddy or have a cPanel, keep reading. I’m going to give you quick and dirty steps because it’s too damn easy.
Step One
Content Backup
From your WordPress Dashboard go to Tools and Export and export EVERYTHING. Save a copy on your local drive and on an external drive. Wherever you have storage, save a copy. These are your posts, the post pictures, the pages and the comments if you’re using the native commenting system of CommentLuv. This backup is crucial. If your database is screwed up beyond repair or your WordPress is just buggy, you can do this backup, wipe out your WordPress installation and start with a fresh install but still have your most important elements.
Step Two
Host Server Backup.
This backup will backup your Database. This backup is a database replacement if you screw up your database as I did.
If you’re a GoDaddy User:
Sign in
Scroll down to Web Hosting
Click Launch for the blog domain you’re going to backup.
From the Hosting Control Panel, Scroll down to Databases.
Click MYSQL.
You’ll see this list:
Click the pencil icon located under Action.
(you can
You’ll get this box. Don’t feel overwhelmed by all the gibberish.
Click BackUp
That’s it. You’ll get a screen that says how long the process takes and once you click OK, it will return to this screen again and the status will say Pending. You’ll get an email when it’s done backing up.
Go back to the Hosting Dashboard and click FTP File Manager. There’s a folder named “_db_backups”. Dowload the .sql file and save that wherever you’re saving your WP export.
Database and Settings Backup
I saw no point in rewriting this cause it’s available on WordPress.org so check out this link -> http://codex.wordpress.org/Backing_Up_Your_Database
To access this option via Godaddy
From the Hosting Control Panel, Scroll down to Databases.
Click MYSQL.
Click Manage via MyphpAdmin and follow the instruction here http://codex.wordpress.org/Backing_Up_Your_Database.
Theme, Plugin, etc Backup.
So we’ve backed up your posts, pages,comments, etc. We’ve backed up your database. Now we need the actual website (but not if you’re planning on a fresh install.
Head over to FileZilla and download and install the free application.
Login using your GoDaddy FTP Admin User Name and Password (this can be found on the Godaddy Hosting Panel under FTP File Manager)
Download your wp-content folder.
Save it wherever you’re saving the other stuff.
If You have a cPanel:
So much damn easier.
Login to cPanel through your hosting.
Scroll down to Files and Click Backup Wizard
Click “Backup.”
First do a Full Backup
The system will then start a backup of your entire website and all files. This may take some time depending on how many files you have.
cPanel will usually email you when your backup is ready. Then all you need to do is log back in to your cPanel and download your backup.
Return to the Backup wizard again when this is done and backup the Home Directory and MySQL Databases. In the event you don’t need to replace your whole site, having these two downloads along with your WP Export is enough to get your going.
If this all seems too complicated or if you don’t have the time or if you’re sure you’ll forget…Check out Backup Buddy. It’s a paid plugin and has been rated as one of the best. I haven’t used it yet so I don’t personally endorse it.
photocredit: air
The steps are pretty easy, but time consuming. It all comes down to whether you have room in your budget to invest in a plugin or time to invest in doing it manually to keep within budget. I’ve tried free plugins and frankly, they’re trash. Otherwise I would have suggested one.
Making backups is essential, for bloggers using Blogger to. Important notice for Blogger users: If you store pics of your website ‘somewhere’ on Google they will show up as an album in your Google+ profile. Delete that album and you loose all the pics for your website. So back that up too!
Just a tip!
// Jan
JanB recently posted..Are you blogging for a niche audience?
are u kidding me? cripes, i hope u didnt learn the hard way
Nope, not the hard way, lucky me. I store pics on Picasa and Google owns that too. I saw the album show up in my albums on Google+ where I could delete pics and albums with just one convenient click.
JanB recently posted..Going Places!
This is great, Vanita. I am using a plugin for my back-up, but I like this option, too. I host through dreamhost. Thanks for sharing!
Jessica Hinton recently posted..52|4: Girls are
thank you for stopping by sweeti
It is great to backup a blog for free. This is a great post for wordpress blogs. What of those bloggers whose blogs are on blogger platform? I am going to give this method a try. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Tillen recently posted..What is Google Panda update
i have absolutely no clue on how to help the other platforms. sorry. especially blogger. i think you can just download your whole xml file and that may be enough. but don’t take my word for it. thanks for stopping by
wow. I think it’s too complicated for me though you were nice to detail the steps. I use a database plugin to make a back up but not back up buddy. Is this enough?
Pragmaticmom recently posted..Promise the Night (Meet real life Pippi Longstocking Meets Caddie Woodlawn) and GIVEAWAY
I was using a plugin called Backup and when I broke my site, it didn’t help me at all. lucky for me i had the other backup. thanks for coming by sugar. hope you’re well.
I know exactly how you feel about screwing up your blog. That happened to me, but thankfully my hosting company helped me discover what the culprit was and I removed it immediately. After that I just used backup buddy and I haven’t looked back. I think it boils down to what matters most; keeping your content or losing it all.
Sonia recently posted..Is Social Media Etiquette Something You Should Worry About?
Sonia, thats vwhy i wrote the tutorial. nobody wants to lose it all and bloggers on a budget shouldnt have to be at risk. its a lot of steps. but its free.
When I needed to copy my site to my laptop to test design changes, I found a free plugin called Duplicator. It’s still in beta, but it really works well for me. It should also work great as a backup plugin, but I still use cPanel for my backups, so I haven’t tested it in that way yet.
One note about cPanel Full Backup is that you can’t use it to restore a site, only to move your site to a new cPanel-based server. Backing up the Home Directory and MySQL Databases is all you need to do as those files are what cPanel uses to restore your site in the event of getting hacked, a corrupted database, or editing your theme into oblivion.
Bryan recently posted..Free Simple Social Media Icons for Your WordPress Blog
Brian thanks for stopping by! I suggest doing both the full backup and the home and mysql because you never know … I’ve had NS tech support tick me off so badly that i took my blog and left. it would have been nice if while i’d been doing backups if i had actually backed up the whole darn site. lol
Great blog, Vanita. Yeah, you can never backup too much.
Bryan recently posted..Free Simple Social Media Icons for Your WordPress Blog
Hm, like Pragmaticmom I’ve been using WordPress database backup plugin solely as well. I’ll start doing the ‘exporting all content’ thing regularly, as you’ve adviced. Thanks Vanita.
Kate recently posted..Phonics Games for Kids
Kate thanks for stopping by and i appreciate your comment. this post was a walk through of the free way but there are sites that offer services to back up your whole site on schedule. so if you lose your site or decide to move to a new host, it’s pretty much a one click deal!
Yikes. Good advice. I will get a plug in to back up asap! Thanks!
PragmaticMom recently posted..Friday Find: Pedometer to Teach Kids Math and Fitness