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If you\u2019ve been considering building a website, you\u2019ve probably at least thought about using WordPress. It\u2019s a free, open-source content management system (CMS) with a seemingly endless library of templates and plugins that allow you to easily customize your website, even if you\u2019re not a savvy web designer\u2014and it\u2019s responsible for powering millions of websites.<\/p>\n
Today, we\u2019re digging into how to back up WordPress, including what you should be backing up, how you should be backing up<\/a>, and where you should be storing those backups.<\/p>\n WordPress is robust enough that you can scale on the platform. For example, you may build a website in WordPress when you\u2019re just a little startup tech company with the dream of providing the best backup service out there<\/a>, making storage pods<\/a> and open sourcing your code<\/a>, and then keep on using WordPress when you\u2019ve evolved into a publicly-traded company that also offers the leading specialized storage cloud<\/a>. (Yes, we use WordPress for the Backblaze blog<\/a>.)<\/p>\n And, once you\u2019ve gone through the trouble of building a website, all sorts of things can happen\u2014accidental deletions, server errors, cyberattacks<\/a>: the list goes on. No matter the size of your business or blog, you never want to be in the position where you lose data. Backups are an essential safeguard to protect one of your most important tools.<\/p>\n If you decide to build in WordPress, you might get confused by the fact that there are two related websites separated by a measly domain suffix. Once you jump into each website, you\u2019ll even see that WordPress.com was created by a company with the same founder as WordPress.org. So, what gives? Which makes more sense for you to use?<\/p>\n This article<\/a> will take you in-depth about all the differences between the two options, but here\u2019s the short list of the most important info.<\/p>\n Hosting and backups may sound intimidating, but they\u2019re fairly easy to handle once you\u2019ve got them set up\u2014not to mention that many folks prefer not to outsource two things that are so central to website security concerns, continuity (you don\u2019t want someone else to own your domain name!<\/a>), and customer or community data, if you happen to store that. So, for the purposes of this article, when we say \u201cWordPress,\u201d we mean WordPress.org.<\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s dive in to how to back up your site.<\/p>\n There are two main components to your website: the files and the database.<\/p>\n Basically, the database contains your posts and lots of information created on your site, but it doesn\u2019t include all the building blocks that create the look of your site or the backend information of your site. If you use restoring your computer<\/a> as an analogy, your files are your photos, Word docs, etc., and your database includes things like your actual Word program, your login info, and so on.<\/p>\n You definitely want to back up both of these pieces. As is common with open-source communities, WordPress provides great resources in their Help Center<\/a>, and that includes instructions on backing up your WordPress site<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most of the services you use to host your website (like GoDaddy or Bluehost) will back up the entire server (read: both your files and your database), but it takes time to request a copy of your whole site. So, you\u2019ll want to make sure you back up your data as well.<\/p>\n Your hosting service may have programs or services you can use to back up, so make sure you check with them first. You\u2019ll also want to make sure your site is syncing between your server and a second location, like a hard drive (HDD)<\/a> or a network attached storage (NAS) device.<\/p>\n But, since syncing is not the same as back up, you\u2019ll also want to periodically download and save your files. WordPress recommends using FTP Clients<\/a> or UNIX Shell Skills<\/a> to copy these files onto your computer. Unless you\u2019re familiar with command line interface (CLI), you\u2019ll probably find FTP Clients easier to deal with.<\/p>\n The simplest way to backup your database is with phpMyAdmin. Once you find out how to access your site\u2019s phpMyAdmin<\/a>, just follow these steps to back up.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not familiar with SQL tables, select the Quick<\/strong> option. Then, choose SQL<\/strong> from the dropdown menu. (This is the default format used to import and export MySQL databases, and most systems support it.) Then, click Go<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If you want more control over the backup process, click Custom. Then, you\u2019ll want to follow these steps:<\/p>\n With that, the data will be stored on your computer.<\/p>\n Sure is. One of the reasons that people love WordPress so much is that there are a ton of plugins you can choose to handle tasks just like backing up. You can find those plugins in the Plugin Browser on the WordPress Admin screens or through the WordPress Plugin Directory<\/a>.<\/p>\n Often, those plugins also allow you to automate your back ups\u2014which is important when you\u2019re thinking about how often to back up, and creating a redundant backup strategy. Make sure you\u2019re backing up regularly, and you\u2019ll want to do this at a time when there\u2019s minimal activity on your site.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll get into more detail about choosing the correct tool for your site, as well as some plugin recommendations, a little later. But first, let\u2019s talk about backup best practices.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re thinking about when and how to back up, you need to consider a few things: what types of files you want to store, where you want to store them, and when you want to back up. We\u2019ve already talked about what you need to back up for your WordPress site, so let\u2019s jump into the other details.<\/p>\n We at Backblaze recommend a 3-2-1 backup strategy, and we\u2019ve talked about the specifics of that strategy for both consumers<\/a> and businesses<\/a>. The basics of the strategy are this: Keep three copies of your data in two separate local destinations with one copy of your data offsite.<\/p>\n So, if you\u2019re backing up your WordPress site, you\u2019d want to have one copy of your files on your computer and the second on a NAS device<\/a> or hard drive (for example). Then, you\u2019d want to keep one copy elsewhere. In the old days, that meant moving LTO tapes<\/a> or servers<\/a> from location to location, but, of course, now we have cloud storage.<\/p>\n So, to answer the question of where you want to store your backups, the answer is: on multiple devices and in multiple locations. Having your off-site backup be in the cloud is valuable for a few reasons. First, there is a minimal chance of losing data due to theft, disaster, or accident. Second, cloud services are flexible, and easy to integrate with your existing tech. You can easily add or remove access to your backup data, and if you\u2019re running a business, most include features for things like access controls.<\/p>\n Now that you have selected a place to store your backup data, let\u2019s talk about when you want to back up and different tools you can use to do so.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re trying to decide which tool to use, you should look at a few things to make sure that the plugin fits your needs and will continue to do so long-term.<\/p>\n So, one of the things that you want to look at is how much customization you can do to your backups. The most important part of this is to make sure that you can schedule your backups. It\u2019s important to set your backup time for periods of low traffic to your site. Otherwise, you run the risk of affecting how the site is working for your users (creating slowdowns), or having incomplete backups (because new information is being added at the same time you\u2019re creating the backups).<\/p>\n To ensure you\u2019re picking a tool that will be with you for the long run, it helps to look at:<\/p>\n While many choices are available, we recommend UpdraftPlus and XCloner for WordPress backups. These plugins have an excellent track record and work well in many environments.<\/p>\n With this plugin, you have several options for where to store your backups, which is always a plus. They have a free version<\/a> as well as several different premium options with different prices<\/a> (depending on if you need to manage more sites, want included cloud storage, etc.). That means you can pilot the tool and then upgrade if you need more capability. The premium version of UpdraftPlus supports scheduled backups, offers encryption for backup, and reporting so you can track each backup.<\/p>\n This WordPress backup plugin lets you schedule backups, apply retention policies, and save storage space by using file compression. The best thing about XCloner? It\u2019s free, and not just bare-bones free: they include many features you\u2019d find in paid backup tools. And, just like UpdraftPlus, you can store your backups to the cloud.<\/p>\n All that\u2019s left, then, is for you to back up your site. Check out the Backblaze blog<\/a> for more useful content on backup\u2014we\u2019ve covered backing up your site, but it\u2019s only one piece of your overall backup strategy. If you\u2019re a home user running your site solo, you may want to start with Backblaze Personal Backup<\/a>. If you\u2019re a business looking for backup, check out Backblaze Business Backup<\/a> and Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage<\/a>. And, as always, feel free to comment below with your thoughts and suggestions about what content you\u2019d like to see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whether you’re blogging about flowers or running a business, WordPress is a powerful tool to build your website. Here’s how to back up your WordPress site. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":108573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[121,434],"tags":[369,469,368],"class_list":["post-77483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backing-up","category-featured-1","tag-cms","tag-consumerbackup","tag-wordpress","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Do You Need to Back Up WordPress?<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s the Diff: WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com<\/h2>\n
WordPress.org<\/h4>\n
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WordPress.com<\/h4>\n
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What to Back Up<\/h2>\n
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How to Back Up Your WordPress Files<\/h3>\n
How to Back Up Your WordPress Database<\/h3>\n
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That Was a Lot. Is There an Easier Way?<\/h2>\n
The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy<\/h2>\n
Choosing the Right WordPress Backup Plugin<\/h2>\n
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No Time to Research? Here Are Some of Our Favorite Plugins<\/h2>\n
UpdraftPlus<\/a><\/h4>\n
XCloner<\/a><\/h4>\n
What\u2019s Next?<\/h2>\n