WordPress Backups
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Note: Want to skip the hard stuff? Skip to Automated Solutions such as plugins.
Your WordPress database contains every post, every comment and every link you have on your blog. If your database gets erased or corrupted, you stand to lose everything you have written. There are many reasons why this could happen and not all are things you can control. But what you can do is back up your data. After all, it is important. Right?
Below are instructions to back up your WordPress Site and your WordPress Database as well as resources for automatic WordPress backup. In addition, support is provided online at the WordPress Support Forum to help you through the process.
Making backups is essential because problems inevitably occur and you need to be in a position to take action when disaster strikes. Spending a few minutes to make an easy, convenient backup of your database will allow you to spend even more time being creative and productive with your website.
Answering Backup Questions
Back up your database regularly, and always before an upgrade.
- How often should you back up?
That depends on how often you blog, how often you want to do this, and how you would feel if your database were lost along with a few posts. It is your decision.
- Can you use this method to back up other data?
Yes. And you should. Backups are good.
- How many backups should I keep?
Excellent question. Most people make a backup and then just replace it every time. It saves space and is less to worry about. But what if that backup file is corrupted or lost? Then what? The general rule of thumb is to keep at least three backups and keep them in three different places or forms, like CD/DVDs, different hard drives, a thumbdrive, web disk, your e-mail account, etc.
- My database backups are huge! Can I do anything about that?
Possibly. Typically, anti-spam and statistics plugins can add large amounts of data and because they are constantly gathering information, the database can swell significantly. When backing up the database, such information is probably not important to keep. Do not mark those tables for backup when selecting them during the backup process.
- Can backups be automated?
Yes. There are several methods of automating the backup process available, but back up those auto backups with a manual backup every once in a while to guarantee that the process is working. See Backup Resources for more information.
Backup Documentation
The following are general documents for helping you to back up and restore your WordPress data.
- Backing Up Your Database
- Restoring Your Database From Backup
- Backing Up Your WordPress Site
- WordPress Database Backup Instructions
Backing Up Your WordPress Site
There are two parts to backing up your WordPress site: Database and Files. You need to back up the entire site, and you need to back up your WordPress database. Below are instructions for backing up your WordPress database for various server programs. We will start with backing up the rest of your WordPress Site.
Your WordPress site consists of the following:
- WordPress Core Installation
- WordPress Plugins
- WordPress Themes
- Images and Files
- Javascript scripts, PHP scripts, and other code files
- Additional Files and Static Web Pages
All of these are used in various combinations to generate your website. The database contains your posts and a lot of data generated on your site, but it does not include the above elements that all come together to create the look and information on your site. These need to be saved.
Most hosts back up the entire server, including your site, but it takes time to request a copy of your site from their backups, and a speedy recovery is critical. You need to learn how to back up your own site files and restore them. Here are some methods.
- Website Host Provided Backup Software
Most website hosts provide software to back up your site. Check with your host to find out what services and programs they provide.
- Create Sync With Your Site
WinSCP and other programs allow you to sync with your website to keep a mirror copy of the content on your server and hard drive updated. It saves time and makes sure you have the latest files in both places.
- Copy Your Files to Your Desktop
Using FTP Clients or UNIX Shell Skills you can copy the files to a folder on your computer. Once there, you can zip or compress them into a zip file to save space, allowing you to keep several versions.
Remember, keep at least three backups on file, just in case one is corrupted or lost, and store them in different places and on different mediums, like CD, DVD, different hard drives, etc.
Database Backup Instructions
Back up your WordPress database regularly, and always before an upgrade or move to a new location. The following information will help you back up your WordPress database using various popular server software packages. For detailed information, contact your website host for more information on the program, control panel, and resources they provide.
Accessing phpMyAdmin
See PHPMyAdmin for more information on PHPMyAdmin.
While familiarity with phpMyAdmin is not necessary to back up your WordPress database, these instructions should take you step-by-step through the process of finding phpMyAdmin on your server and then you can follow the instructions below as a simple and easy backup or for more detailed instructions see Backing Up Your Database.
cPanel
On your main control panel for cPanel, look for the MySQL logo and click the link to MySQL Databases. On the next page, look for phpMyAdmin link and click it to access your phpMyAdmin.
Direct Admin
From Your Account page, look for MySQL Management and click it to access phpMyAdmin.
Ensim
Look for the MySQL Admin logo and click the link. Under Configuration choose MySQL Administration Tool.
Plesk
Click the button for Databases. Then choose the link to the WordPress database you setup during the WordPress installation. Then click on the button for phpMyAdmin.
vDeck
From the main control panel, click Host Manager, then click Databases. In the next window, click Admin. Another window will popup taking you to the phpMyAdmin login screen.
Ferozo
Login to your Ferozo Control Panel by using your credentials. Once inside, go to the “Base de Datos” (“Data Base”) menu and then click on “Acceso phpMyAdmin” (“Access phpMyAdmin”). A new window will open displaying the phpMyAdmin login screen.
Simple Backup
The following is a very simple version of how to use phpMyAdmin to back up your WordPress database. For more detailed information see WordPress Backups and Backing Up Your Database. Once you have discovered how to access your site's phpMyAdmin, follow these simple instructions.
Begin by clicking database in your phpMyAdmin panel. (It may not be necessary to do this, depending on your version of PHPMyAdmin)
You may have several databases. Click the one that holds your WordPress data, the database you created when you installed WordPress. (In older versions this may be done through a pull-down menu.)
This next picture shows the default tables in the Structure view tab. You may have more tables -- this would happen if you have any statistics plugins or anti-spam plugins.
Click "Export". (The next picture shows the Export tab view.)
- Select All the tables, and check the SQL radio button.
- Check the "Add DROP TABLE" box. (This can be useful for over-writing an existing database.)
- Check the "Add IF NOT EXISTS" check box. (This prevents errors during restores if the tables are already there.) You can optionally check the "Complete inserts" box. (Though it won't matter too much if you don't.) You can optionally check the Extended Inserts if you wish. (This gives a smaller, but less readable, output file.)
- Check the "Save as File" box
- Check the "None" for compression. If your database is very large use a compression method.
- Click Go. The data will now be saved into your computer.
Keep these files safe !
Automatic Backups
Various plugins exist to take automatic scheduled backups of your WordPress database. This helps to manage your backup collection easily. You can find automatic backup plugins in the Plugin Browser.
Manual Backup Resources
- FTP Backups - How to automate backing up to a FTP server
- Cron Job Backups - How to schedule nightly SQL backups which can be emailed
- Backing Up Your Database
- Backing Up Your WordPress Files
- Restoring Your Database From Backup
- Using phpMyAdmin with WordPress
- A Shell Script for a Complete WordPress Backup
Backup Tools
Information on Backup Week
For more information on the WordPress Backup Week or to volunteer, see: WordPress Backup Week.
