*”Always Have a Backup Plan” -Mila Kunu*s
The Day I lost it all
I will never forget when I plugged up my external hard drive and heard what I now know is called the screech of death. I took a short break from blogging, but I knew my host kept backups. They only keep them for two months is the catch! No problem. I’ll grab my backup from my external drive. Nah, Sis. That would be too easy! So, you guessed it. I heard that sound and right before my eyes, my external drive died and took every business document, picture taken (including ugly ones), and important document I owned. My blog was GONE in the blink of an eye; all of my posts, drafts, bomb ass Pinterest thumbnails, comments, you name it. *queues beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes song* I don’t want you to experience this, so I’m sharing 5 ways to backup your WordPress blog.
What is a Backup? Why Do I Need it?
A backup is a copy of the data and files that are stored in an archive to use in the event that something happens to the originals. So, in this case, a backup is basically a copy of all of everything that composites your blog. Long story short, its a copy and not the original. It is also impotatnt to note that backups should be done on a regular basis whether it be daily, weekly, quarterly and so forth.
*There are several reasons as to why it would be essential to backup your wordpress blog. *
- Plug-In glitches and Incompatibilities
- Software Updates
- Server/Host Issues
- Theme Issues and Updates
- Initial Backup Failures (My issue *eyeroll*)
- Malware and Security Breaches
- New and/or Inexperienced Users Messing with Codes
…This list could really go on for a while, but I shall spare you the details. I think you get the drift at this point. Anything can go wrong and its just important to have that extra security and level of comfort knowing if something happens to your live site, you have a copies elsewhere you can pull out of you bag of tricks. Its very similar to the stash of snacks moms hide in special places so they’ll have something to enjoy after dishing everything else out to the kiddos aka crumb snatchers.
Sorry guys, I’m a mom so this is the first analogy that came to mind and I think it fits perfectly. LOL. You can also relate this to a spouse or significant other, a roommate, or a sibling; anyone who is begging for you food, clothes or something else. You always have something stored away, right? Well think of backing up your wordpress blog the same as you do with stashing away goodies.
How to Backup Your WordPress Blog
Now that I’ve shared my horror story and other reasons why backups are NECESSARY, let me go on to share 5 easy ways to backup your wordpress blog (or anyblog) should the event come up that you need them in the future. WordPress is on of the top platforms for blogging. By “top” I mean it is the most popular, but I do not mean it’s the best. Different platforms work for different people so be sure to read up on which one will have the features fit for your needs. With Wordpress, there is a .com and a .org (self hosted) platform. Learn the difference for both options here.
WordPress.com Backup
1. Log into WordPress.com
2. Click “My Blogs” and click “Dashboard” under the name of the blog you want to back up.
3. Look on the left sidebar, you’ll see “Tools.” Hover over it and a drop down appears. Click “Export.”
4. On the page that loads, click “Export.” And there you have it!
WordPress.org Backup (self-hosted blog)
When you’re using wordpress.org, this means you are using a third-party host. If you attempt to export your blog in the same manner as a wordpress.com blog, you will only be able to save your posts and comments. In order to acess the all of files you’ll need to properly backup your wordpress blog, you will follow the steps below:
From the Host Site
- Log into your host and go to the database where you can locate the Control Panel (cPanel).
- Go to the “Backups Points,” “Backup Wizard,” or whatever name your host uses for where it keeps your backups
- From there, you can either do load a full or partial backup and save it as a ZIP file to wherever you desire. As you can see, my host preforms daily backups around 9-10am.
Using phpMyAdmin
- Log into your host and click on the phpMyAdmin link
- Click on Database and choose the one that contains your blog files
- If you want to save everything, use the click all option OR go through manually and select which files you want to save
- Then go to the Export tab and select your export method and format options
Using a Plug-In to Backup Your WordPress Blog
