When we work online, problem comes without knocking our door. Being a blogger from last 4 years, I know importance of taking timely backup of our blog. WordPress is a software which runs on a Web hosting, and there are many possible issues which can come with your blog, any time.
- Your hosting company might shut down.
- Your hosting company suspect your WordPress blog for high memory usage.
- A hacker hacks your blog.
- You accidentally delete or corrupt your WordPress database
- If someone injects malicious code into your themes (it happens with free themes mostly)
- If you lost complete data of your site etc.
I know, what I’m talking might sound like a hypothetical situation for you, but in reality it happens to many people. The only thing which you can do to ensure your peace of mind is: Take timely backup of your WordPress blog.
Which WordPress folders you need to backup?
I know, you have heard ample amount of time about taking timely backup of your blog, and must have been bombarded with multiple options for backing up. My advice: Pick any backup system, until unless it’s not a part of main hosting. Try to keep a remote backup, and different from your hosting account.
For a WordPress blog, here are two things which you need to take timely backup of:
- WordPress database
- Wp-content folder
With your wp-content, and database file, you can restore you blog on any hosting. Additionally, you can also keep a backup of your .htaccess and Robots.txt file.
3 Ways to take complete WordPress blog backup:
I have tried many methods, and these days I’m using ManageWP to manage my multiple WordPress blogs, and to take WordPress backup. They offer many options to take backup (Dropbox, Amazon cloud). Here are few other options apart from ManageWP. Most of the following methods are FREE, you can also use premium tools like VaultPress to store and create automatic backups of your sites.
1. Using plugins to back up your WordPress blogs
WordPress has a wide range of plugins in its directory, the following are the best back up plugins you can use to back up your WP sites.
WP DB Backup:
One of the best WP plugins to take regular backups of your WP databases without having any hassle. This plugin allows you to easily backup your database tables on your WP sites. Download the plugin here. Here is a quick video, to understand how to use Wp-db backup plugin:
BackWPup:
This is a must have plugin to back up your WP sites, this plugin is an all-rounder when it comes to back up your blogs.
This plugin can backup
- Databases
- WP XML export
- It will optimize the databases (you can also repair DB’s)
- File backups
- You can store the back up files to folder, ftp server, Google storage, Drop box etc
- You can save the backup by email
WP backup to dropbox:
![\"WordPress-dropbox-backup\"](\"http://www.jayakumars.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/WordPress-dropbox-backup.png\")
If you are lazy to regular backup your WP sites, this plugin is for you! This plugin will help you to automatically create backup files of your sites and send it to your dropbox account. You need to have an account in dropbox to use this plugin. Install the plugin, choose your date and time to take automatic backup of your site, sit back and relax! It will send the backup files to your dropbox account on selected days.
2. Bakup your WordPress sites using hosting provider
Note: I recommend HostGator service for any blogger who wants to buy a premium hosting service, here I’ll show how to back up your whole blog using HostGator CPanel.
Login to your hosting service provider
Click on Backups >> Click Generate full backup >> Select Home directory >> Enter your email to receive the notification after backup >> Click Generate backup >> You can download the full backup file via cpanel/FTP
Note that, You may only create cPanel backups of 4 GB or less. If your backup is larger than 4GB, you must contact Host Gator support for help to bypass the limit. The duration of backup depends on the size of your blog.
3. Using VaultPress
VautlPress is an premium tool to back up your WP sites, believe me, this is one of the best investments you can make on your blogs. You won’t regret after purchasing this plugin. It is a subscription-based protection, security and backup service for WordPress blogs.
Features of VaultPress are:
- You can back up your content in real time (it means whenever you get a new blog comment, publish a post or update a page on your blogs, VaultPress will automatically backup those files!)
- Security scans will be performed daily (if VaultPress finds any security threats, it will notify you automatically)
- Restoring the backup files is as easy as 1, 2, 3 (you can restore the backup files via FTP, SFTP or SSH)
You can get all the above features using VaultPress, and there are 3 pricing factors to get VaultPress on your blogs.
- $15/month (basic)
- $40/month (premium) and
- $350/month (enterprise)
Download VaultPress here or see the prices of VaultPress
Of all the above options, most reliable is VaultPress, but it’s not free. Taking complete WordPress backup on your dropbox account is also a good idea. You can use any of the above mentioned method, as long as you are taking backup of database, and wp-content folder. Do let me know, which method you are using to take your WordPress blog backup?
Reposted from wpfreesetup.com blog