Backup Your WordPress Database and Files or Risk Dire Consequences

Did you know over 25 million people use WordPress to power their website? I use it and recommend it to many of my clients.

WordPress is a content management system.

This means instead of creating individual pages, or html files, you are creating an online mySQL database. All your pages and posts are stored in a table online.

If you do not backup your database and content folders, which consists of all your photos, pdf files etc., you could lose everything, should your host server crash.

Chances are your host server will have a backup. I know GoDaddy does. Buy why take chances. Also if you mess up your site or someone hacks into it, it would be great if you could restore your entire site to it’s pristine beauty.

Many Free Backup Solutions for WordPress

If you or your website designer have used WordPress to power your website, there’s good news. You can find a large assortment of WordPress backup solutions. Many are free.

Unfortunately they don’t all work. There seems to be issues with almost all of them. It may depend on the size of the site or else there may be conflicting plugins. There may be a time-out issue with the host/server.

This has been a frustrating, time consuming task. But I am on a quest to find the perfect backup solution for all my websites.

Here are some of the free options to choose from.

Some back up the database only. Others backup all your files, including themes, plugins and contents (photos, pdfs etc.). Some don’t back up anything because of an issue with your site.

These are the ones I’ve tried with an explanation of my results.

Automatic WordPress Backup: (Volcanic). Saved to Amazon S3. First you must sign up with Amazon Web Services. Automatic WordPress Backup creates a folder called “awb”. This plugin backups and restores your database and all files. It works on some of my sites but not all.

Updraft: Backup/Restore: ”Uploads, themes, plugins, and even your DB can be backed up to Rackspace Cloud Files, Amazon S3, sent to an FTP server, or even emailed to you on a scheduled basis.” Also works on some of my sites but not all.

iDrive “Secure, Fast and Simple” I have not had much luck with this one as yet. I’ve tried it on three sites. One was partially backed up and the other two, nothing. Tech support is working on it, saying it may be an issue with the server.

backupwordpress: Appears to backup all files, including content files and folders. Backup appears on the same server as the original, though. Made in the UK.

backwpup: Backs up database only and doesn’t have an easy restore button.

WP S3 Backups: Backs up everything and gives the ability to download the backup. No easy way to restore, though. And it has not worked on the sites I’ve tried it on.

Xcloner: Backs up everything and has a restore button too. It appears complicated and I have not had a chance to try it out yet.

EZPZ: Supposed to back up everything and is very easy. Unfortunately it seems to fail with my files.

online backup for wordpress: Times out. Only 100MB offline limit.

MyEASY backup: So easy it crashed my system. It could have been a coincidence but I’m not willing to take a chance on this one again.

WP-DB Manager: Backs up database only on the same server as your site. But it does have a restore feature.

There are also many “premium” backup and restore plugins for WordPress. They all come with a fee.

Check out this list of WordPress backup plugins from WordPress.org

Also “The 3 Best Backup Solutions For a WordPress Blog”.

Let me know if you’ve had any success with a WordPress Backup Solution.

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