As a WordPress user, I definitely know the importance of keeping backup copies of my files and database because drives crash, sites get hacked, someone accidentally deletes the wrong directory. Whatever! They all result in the need to restore your site.
Do you want a guarantee that you can recover your site in it’s entirety no matter what happens? Then Backup!
Much is written about ways to strengthen a WordPress blog’s security which falls into the category of prevention. Here’s the problem with prevention, no matter what you do, you still can get hacked. Especially if you are on a shared host. So for a guarantee not to lose you site to an unfortunate incident, think recovery not prevention!
A complete backup of sites files and database = Guaranteed Recovery
There are lots of ways to do it.
- Many hosts provide a backup function within the hosting accounts admin panel.
- You can FTP your files down to your hard drive and use Phpmyadmin to manually backup your database.
- There are Plugins available to automate your backup from WordPress admin
The best choice is to use a plugin that backs up your site and DB to another server. I use a plugin called WP Time Machine and an Amazon Simple Storage account to automate my backups.
There are many plugin choices available and the right one for you is the one that is compatible with your theme, your WordPress Version, your server environment and of course backs up to where you want it to.
