How to Backup a WordPress Site
Making a backup on your WordPress site may be the smartest decision you can make today.
The reasons for making a backup are sufficient; server crash, file loss, database error, etc.
Trust me, one day you can wake up in the morning, and your website can say, “Can’t connect with your site”. At that time, you will regret not having made a backup.
Some hostings offer their own backups, but others do not. Typically, virtual servers such as DigitalOcean, Vultr, or Cloudways, don’t provide WordPress backup. That’s why you must do it in your own.
But this is not a problem since you can make a backup by following a few simple steps.
Method to perform Backup WordPress
To make a backup, you have many modes. You can choose to manually backup your website, but you should require programming knowledge.
The simplest and most effective way to make a backup is with a plugin.
The best plugin to make a backup is UpdraftPlus.
Why Updraft Plus?
- It’s a free plugin
- It backups your entire site: Database, plugins, themes, uploads, and others.
- Automatic backups: Simply link it to your Google Drive, Dropbox, or another cloud account, and configure the frequency of automatic backup.
- 1-click-restore: If your site goes down, you can install it back and make the backup with one click.
Steps to set up a backup in WordPress
1. Install UpdraftPlus
Go to Plugins -> Add New -> Updraft Plus
Click on install and activate the plugin.
2. Configure the backup frequency
Once you install it, you must configure the frequency with which the automatic backup will be performed.
You can set from every 2 hours until monthly.
I recommend that you configure it on a weekly basis since it is the most convenient option for most cases.
To do this, go to the WordPress panel and go to:
Settings -> UpdraftPlus Backups -> Settings
Here you must configure the schedule for the backup of the files and database. I recommend putting both in weekly.
Also, you must configure the number of backups you wish to retain simultaneously. Here I recommend putting “4” in both.
The retention of 4 backups means that it will delete the backups older than the fourth to keep the new ones. Since you don’t want to have unusable old backups.
3. Choose remote storage
Once you set the frequency, you must select the place where backups will be stored.
The most common options are Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive. UpdraftPlus provides 16 different options to link your account.
Personally, I recommend Google Drive or Dropbox, which are the safest free options.
You simply click on the desired option, you log into your Dropbox or Google Drive account, and then accept it.
4. Include backup files
In the same settings tab in Updraft Plus, the options of the files you want to include appear.
I recommend you leave it as it comes by “default”, which are all files: plugins, themes, uploads, database, and others.
5. Check the installation
Go to the “Backup / Restore” tab and make sure that you have linked to your Dropbox or Google Drive account.
It should look like this:
Ready, you already set up automatic backups weekly. From now on you should not do anything, and you can relax.
How to restore the site with the backup?
So, suppose your site is broken tomorrow, and you can’t access it.
If you didn’t have a backup, you would go mad. But if you have UpdraftPlus installed, you can rest assured that everything will return to normal.
Simply reinstall your website from scratch, install UpdraftPlus, link your Dropbox account and Google Drive, and restore your site.
That easy.
Personal recommendations
So should I backup my site?
Of course!
The only way to ensure 100% the security of your site is with a backup.
Antivirus and anti-spam can help your site not break, but they cannot assure you.
The best way to control your site is through a backup.
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