About Anders Johansson
Have you ignored setting up backups of your site? Then, you can do that now. Make a plan to keep your WordPress site safe from issues. Avoid faulty updates, hacker attacks, user errors, and crashes. With one of the most reliable WordPress backup plugins, it’s so easy.
In this post, you learn how to backup a WordPress site step by step. Besides, do it with a free plugin. I hope you like and share this article.
How to backup a WordPress site
You can perform manual backups, but using a plugin is faster, easier, and safer.
UpdraftPlus helps you create a backup of your WordPress site. It also restores it with ease. You schedule automated backups only once. After that, Updraftplus will follow your settings and run regular backups. As a result of the time interval you specify.
- Create backups for all your databases, files, plugins, and themes.
- Make backups each 2, 4, 8, 12 hours, weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
- Restoring backups fast in your WordPress admin panel.
- Save your backup in other locations – Amazon, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
Are you keen on learning how to backup a WordPress site? Yet before that, let’s talk about what a backup is. Second, why back up your WordPress site?
Tips
You can follow a good video tutorial at the end of this article: How to Backup Your WordPress Website in 5 Minutes.
Backup means copying and storing computer data and all the files in another location. So you can restore the original data after a data loss incident.
Which data will a complete backup of your WordPress site save? The backup will store all the data on your site – critical files, folders, and databases. It means your content, themes, plugins, images, settings, and other data.
The time to back up a WordPress site depends on the chosen method. Do you run automatic backups with the plugin UpdraftPlus? If so, backing up your WordPress site will be ready in minutes.
Why back up your WordPress site?
By default, the WordPress software does not have an automatic backup feature. Instead, you must run a manual backup for your site with cPanel or an FTP client in your web hosting. Another option is to let a backup plugin do this task for you.
You get a good overview of what content to save when you use a backup plugin. Besides, it is easier to use than the cPanel or FTP client, as they can feel hard to manage for beginners.
WordPress may be vulnerable to issues. Possible risks are bad plugins, hackers, safety lacks, and server crashes. Further, unsafe web hosting issues may occur, and updates can go wrong.
Do you believe creating regular backups of your site is crucial? Yes, it is. Your website holds all posts, comments, and links. If something goes wrong, you may lose all your hard work in a moment. It costs time, money, and reputation.
Other security actions are vital for sure. Yet, creating full backups can give you the best protection. Your site database and all files are safe, and you can restore them fast if the worst happens.
Do you ignore learning how to back up a WordPress site? If so, your site may be a victim of the causes described below. Hence, ensure you read on.
Unsafe web hosts
The security of your site always has to be top-class. Doesn’t your web hosting offer enough safety defense? Things such as firewalls, anti-virus, and malware scan software. Then, you risk losing all your data or getting hacked.
Some cheap web hosts do not offer any security features. That makes your website a suitable target for hacker attacks online.
Pick a web hosting that offers all the security features you need. It will help to keep your data safe on the web servers.
But do you run an online store? Your data is not the only one in danger. It is all the data of your clients as well.
Updates can go wrong
The WordPress core, plugins, and themes need regular updates. Once you run those updates, there is a risk anything goes wrong. The changes may affect your site.
You might lose vital functions, the look of your site can change, or the new update is incompatible. Thus, you ought to run those updates to keep your site safe.
It is best to do the tasks on a staging or test website. Did all run as wished? Great! After that, you send those updates to your live site.
Now, you know the value of how to backup a WordPress site before updating any plugins on your site. How do you keep your site safe from updates that can go wrong? You should create a full backup before running any updates to be safe.
Your site is a target for hackers
Since many people use WordPress, the software is the number one target of hackers and spammers. Today, over 43% of all websites use it.
Servers on the web are in the risk zone for a cybersecurity crime. Why? They store personal or business data. So, keeping your staff and client data secure is vital.
It may seem like your website is safe and not a target for hackers, as it does not hold sensitive data. Yet hacker attacks can take place due to some causes:
- To spread malicious software
- Use your website to attack other sites
- Spamming the web with unsuitable links
- Only for the fun
Hackers need to identify lacks in a system. They can then exploit them to break through safety controls. Do you use a weak password, do not update the plugins often, or have low security on your website? Your site may be in danger.
What is the main benefit of backing up your site often? You can restore it to its complete working state before the attack.
Your server crashes or gets errors
If your entire server crashes, it could be one of the most extensive issues for your business. It may be the effect of unexpected causes like fire, flood, theft, or a vast cyber-attack.
The recovery cost from a total server crash is very high. In that way, you never want to hurt your business. It is a server problem that can cost your business lots of money!
Data losses may occur due to your site crashes or failures at your web server. A backup system like Updraftplus can save all your site data and files.
It is best to store in remote storage locations. These are never affected by any crashes or failures on your web server. Examples of remote storage locations are Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.
Your web host can suffer from server outages
No web host can assure 100% uptime for your site. Have you seen your site go down now and then? This server outage may occur for various causes. There are causes like hackers, hardware errors, traffic overload, and viruses.
You can not check your web hosting company’s server. Yet, you can shield your website if an accident appears. Many times, once server outages occur, your web hosting can help restore the lost files.
But sometimes, they need to restore your site to an earlier version. That copy can be a week old. It means you can lose critical changes to your site, like new user sign-ups and sales reports. The only method to restore those files may be by restoring your backup from UpdraftPlus.
OK, are you ready to see how to backup a WordPress site with UpdraftPlus?
How to backup a WordPress site with UpdraftPlus
What is the fastest plan on how to backup a WordPress site? To do that, use a backup plugin.
UpdraftPlus is one of the most popular and reliable plugins. This plugin manages backups and restores your site. It is also easy to install and set up.
Installing UpdraftPlus is a quick process. So, it is not more work than adding other plugins. You only follow these steps to begin:
- 1. Log into your WordPress admin panel. You go to Plugins » Add New.
- 2. In the search bar, you enter updraftplus.
- 3. The search shows the results. Locate the UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin. Next, you press the button Install Now. Finally, hit on Activate.
Have you finished installing UpdraftPlus? Awesome! The plugin makes it super easy to set up your initial WordPress backup.
- 1. Choose Settings » UpdraftPlus Backups in the menu to the left. It takes you to the settings page for UpdraftPlus.
- 2. Click on the Settings tab placed at the top.
- Here, you set up how often UpdraftPlus makes a backup of your site. Select what schedule suits your site best. For instance, you create new posts and pages often on your site. If so, you need to run more frequent backups.
- Also, you can configure how many backups to keep. All new backups then replace the older copies.
- 3. Pick the place where you want to save your backups. Scroll down on the page and decide where to store your database and files. UpdraftPlus integrates with many remote storage places. Thus, select an option that works best for your site.
- 4. Once chosen, every storage location has its instructions. You follow those and hit the blue button Save Changes at the page bottom.
Would you like to store backups in more locations or adapt them further? You can always upgrade to UpdraftPlus Premium.
It is also possible to buy the add-on Multiple Storage Destinations.
Great work! You finished setting up your storage location and how often you want to back up your site. Now, UpdraftPlus will run your first automated website backup. And there is nothing else you need to do.
How to restore your site with UpdraftPlus
From now on, your site will become backed up. If something goes wrong, you can restore it to its original state.
So, how do you restore your site with UpdraftPlus once an accident occurs?
- 1. You head to Settings » UpdraftPlus Backups in the left menu. It opens your plugin tab named Backup/Restore.
- 2. Scroll down on the page until you get to Existing Backups.
- 3. Find the backup you wish to restore, and push the button Restore.
- 4. Now, you see a popup window that asks which parts of your site you intend to restore. Pick the objects you wish, and then hit the button Next.
- Updraftplus retrieves and prepares the backup files.
- 4. You could exclude some of your database tables if you like. Push the Restore button, and Updraftplus starts the Restore process.
- When your restore has finished, you will see this message:
How to backup a WordPress site manually
Some plugins can help you automate the entire backup process. Yet, it is also good to know how to back up your site manually.
To fully back up your WordPress site, you need all the WordPress files and the database.
You have more control when you back up your site manually. Plugins can automate the process, but sometimes they won’t work as you want. They also may miss some crucial parts.
Manual backups ensure that you copy all the data needed. On the other hand, you need to know what data is most vital to download. If you forget to run manual backups often, you can lose user sign-ups, etc.
How to backup a WordPress site: Summary
Imagine building a house, and then, one day, a big storm comes and knocks it down. That can happen to your website if you don’t have a backup.
Do you wish to keep your site safe from hackers, updates that can go wrong, server crashes, and outages? If so, you should use a WordPress backup plugin.
UpdraftPlus is a free plugin. It simplifies how to backup a WordPress site and restores your site.
I’m sure you want to forget and run manual backups. Thus, make sure to automate the entire process. You set up automated backups only one time. After that, UpdraftPlus will adapt to your settings and run regular backups. Amazing, right?
Create a safe area to keep your backup copies. You can use a cloud storage service like Google Drive, Dropbox, or an external hard drive. Lock your safe spot, and only you should have the key.
Do you consider buying the UpdraftPlus Backup Premium version? Thus, you get some extra valuable functions:
- Incremental backups (only backups of the changed files get saved).
- Duplication or migration of sites with the Migrator feature.
- Many storage locations for better security.
- Encryption of your database.
- Compatible with multisite/multi-network.
- Option to save non-WP files and databases to lots of remote storage places.
- Clone your website, and you could run updates in a test environment.
- Backups certain times of day to profit from once your site has fewer visitors.
- Automatic backup before you update WordPress core, plugins, and themes.
- Password protection of your UpdraftPlus backups to deny other admins access.
- Advanced reports about your backups.
- Free devoted support from experts.
You can also read our article: Backup WordPress Site: 8 Alarming Excuses.
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