Give me the low-down on site back-ups? (wordpress)

Ronnie55

Ronnie55

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Mar 12, 2013
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I publish my sites with wordpress. I've never had to restore from a backup but I want to make sure I'm prepared in case I get hacked, etc.

I noticed under "tools" in wordpress there's an "export" option in which it claims you can download all content, which will contain:

"all of your posts, pages, comments, custom fields, terms, navigation menus and custom post"

This is downloaded as an html file. Is this useful at all if I need to restore my site?



Also, I installed a plugin called: BackUpWordPress

It backs up my website and stores it on their servers. It gives me a zip file to download, usually between 25-50 mb

Are these two precautions enough to protect me and give me the backups I'll need if I get hacked? What would you guys advise? I'm not a pro. My website don't make me hundreds of dollars per day. But I'd still like an effective plan for if something goes wrong, as my sites do earn me money, and I do care about them.
 


Well, best case scenario your hosting has a backup script, but it's most likely disabled.

You should have weekly and monthly backups, if not daily. I have my sites being backed up every 2-3 days or so, and have weekly annd monthly archives. It's pretty simple to setup if you have a VPS or dedicated in WHM (cpanel) - scheduled backup. You may not have that, if you are on a shared hosting solution. Call up your hosting company and see what options you have. The way you are doing it works, but it's quite the best scenario as have a REAL full backup. BackupsWordpress is fine, but a real backup should not be a plugin, and should be separate from the CMS. Just my rule of thumb and my 2 cents.​
 
Only use the export option in the WP dashboard if you don't have media in the media library. It won't export those into your xml file...from my experience learning the hard way.


And on that note...anyone know how to back up just the content and media library? I want to do a fresh install and just import the content. I tried to back up my posts using the export option and then reuploading the images via ftp. However, even though the images are on the server, they won't be in the media library. I tried using a plugin to import the pics into the media library but I still had to go through each post and reinsert each image. Any help is appreciated.

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treezie said:
However, even though the images are on the server, they won't be in the media library. I tried using a plugin to import the pics into the media library but I still had to go through each post and reinsert each image. Any help is appreciated.2
Click to expand...
What plugin do you use? I use Add From Server for this. Works like a charm.

Now, my problem with this is that when I create new sites, it still doesnt produce thumbnails - on most themes, it really depends on a fucking theme - so I need to apply then another plugin. But when you transfer a site to a new host - thumbnails info is already in database, so I saw no problem here.
 
Most web hosting packages, even shared comes with cPanel which in 95% have Softaculous. Use to backup.

There are a number of paid plugins and solutions to backup, don't use them. Simply because when WP changes, you will have to keep updating them...etc.

There are 2 main things you need to backup one way or another:
- Files and folders under you domain dir
- The database

The schedule of backup depends on how many times you update your content. If your sites are set and forget, just backup whenever you update you WP version or make theme/plugin/content changes.

Keep at least 3-5 previous backups. Shouldn't be over 10mb for many installs. That way, if you realise someone embedded some viagra links that you didn't know about until 2 months later, you have a good backup to go to.

Good luck!
 
seohug said:
There are a number of paid plugins and solutions to backup, don't use them. Simply because when WP changes, you will have to keep updating them...etc.
Click to expand...


Although I agree with what else you said (and good idea using Softaculous for backup) I don't get this comment.

I keep three types of backups.

1) Server based. My managed account uses R1 which has proven reliable. My VPS backup, files + mysql dump.
2) Backupbuddy. So much utility and backups to S3.
3) A database plugin that emails me the database weekly.
 
If you use cpanel, a desktop software called BackupSmart will backup your entire site and db to a pc.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. I do have cpanel. I'll call my host this weekend, find out what my options are, and check out some of the specific types of software that were mentioned above. I appreciate the help, everyone.
 
Yeah I've used that plugin but I ran into the same problem with featured images. I don't need to transfer hosts I just need to do a fresh install cuz it looks like all my Fantastico Wordpress installations have compatiability issues with my theme.

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