3 Ways to Backup Your WordPress Blog
It matters before you need it!
[This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog series.]
A few people have asked me how I go about backing up my WordPress blogs and that question is an easy one to answer!
There are three ways that I highly recommend checking out, especially if you care about the longevity of your WordPress blog, the content you’re creating, and the online equity that you’re developing that may lead to some significant payoffs down the road.
I’d imagine that most of you just said “Yes!” to all of those things, right?
But here’s the one thing that I want you to remember: You must backup your content!
I’m don’t really care about how you do it as much as I care that you do it! Your content is worth it, trust me.
So, without further ado, here are the three ways in which I’ve backed up my WordPress blogs historically as well as the one that I use today:
1. Using Two WordPress Plugins
One way that I’ve backed up my blogs historically is a combination of two WordPress Plugins: DBC Backup and Automatic WordPress Backup. The first backs up your ever-important mySQL database while the second grabs your content (media, files, etc).
Look a bit tricky? Not to worry! I wrote a how-to and walkthrough that you can read right here. I’d highly recommend checking this post out and getting started on it today!
I used this system of backing up for nearly 2 solid years and so I can vouch for their effectiveness and use. Go for it!
2. Using VaultPress
I now use a system called VaultPress which I believe to be the best backup solution for a WordPress blog ever. There’s really nothing else that comes close!
Essentially it’s by the makers of WordPress and is the same system that servers nearly 14 million WordPress.com blogs out there. It’s an “enterprise grade” as you can get!
As you can see, I’m completely sold out on their service, using them for 9 blogs (and counting):
It’s not free though as I’m currently paying $15 per month for each site! Do the quick math and that’s $135.00 per month! For most people this will be a bit out of reach but if you’re serious about doing this “blog” thing long-term you should keep this in your back pocket.
Please note that the $15 per month is an introductory price and offer so if you’re on the fence you might want to grab it today.
Check it out here at VaultPress.com.
3. Do It Yourself
Of course, there is a 3rd option that a few of you will choose and that is doing it manually (or automatically via server-side scripting).
I’ve done this before and it works just as well. The danger, of course, is if you do something wrong you’re going to pay for it, dearly perhaps. If you’re not comfortable with this method then I’d just back away slowly…
Finally, if you want any more info on backing up your WordPress blog you can, of course, check WordPress’ official page on it here.
So, how do you backup your WordPress blog? How about the content?
[This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog series.]
I have always done option 3 via an email system I have setup via a plugin. It emails me the database files daily.
With S3 hosting all of my files now I don’t need to worry about that either.
great write up brother!!
s3 hosting! whoot!
Thanks for the info, John!
There’s nothing glamorous or cool about adding a regular backup to your blog or website, but there’s nothing worse than loosing or ruining everything you’ve worked on. When I think about the hours I’ve put in … YIKES!!!
My first backups kicked-in TODAY!!! (and will be EVERYDAY from now on!)
Had I know how easy it was to do … even for FREE!?!
Thanks, again!
dude. i know. it’s not sexy…… … well, vaultpress is…!
Appreciate the recommendation. Will probably use the cheap solution for starters and upgrade to ValutPress once my blog becomes self-sustaining.
sweet! go for it.
Ryan uses VaultPress over at WPCandy and I love it. I’m really considering it for jdbentley.com. Right now I’m just relying on my web host’s backups if anything goes wrong. Not smart, I know.
eh. it’s a start i suppose……!
I host my blog on an OpenVZ container and I do Daily, weekly, monthly snapshots of it which is totally awesome. For other blogs I have used option #1 and has worked quite well.
Great tips, it’s extremely important to backup YO STUFF!
cheers
sure thing joshua! snapshots… fancy word.
Why use DBC Backup in conjunction with Automatic WordPress Backup? AWB provides database backup as well. Is there something DBC Backup does that AWB doesn’t? Thanks.
because awb isn’t free.
Ummm…I’ve never seen where AWB had a cost associated with it. Even so, I’m still unclear as to why the need for both DBC Backup and AWB together. AWB backs up the database. Why use DBC Backup with AWB already backing up the database? Am I misunderstanding you?
amazon s3……?
Ahh. You’re referring to the costs of Amazon S3, not the cost of AWB, which is free. So, cost aside, what does DBC backup do that AWB doesn’t, though? Thanks for the great info and the dialog.
yes. that’s what i meant.
Vaultpress looks sooo sweet. I would love to sign up for something like that so I don’t have to worry about anything. I wish it was a little cheaper, though. Wish they would charge by size of the blog or something. Maybe one day….I’m gonna keep trying, though, to see if I can make solution #1 work for now.
BTW, I thought I read back in the day a post you wrote about backing up to Amazon S3, but noticed you didn’t include it in the list here. You no longer recommend/trust that system?
Automatic WordPress Backup will allow backup to S3.
see, you know! s3 isn’t free.
awpb is that plugin.
Excellent. $15 does seem a little steep for Vaultpress but time is money so for me, I think I may go with them across several clients just to make things easier. I heard they are going to launch a quick restore function too at some point (or maybe they already have enabled that, not sure).
i have a number of clients on it.
Setting up DBC Backup and Automatic WordPress Backup tomorrow!
sweet!
I am using WP-DBManger with WP Time Machine (Backups the entire blog in to my Dropox…)
that’s kinda cool…….!
I have been using WP-DBManager and I like it. Just set up WP Time Machine. Thanks for the tip. Love it!
that works too!
Thanks for the suggestions, John. I have to let my golden ticket expire, because it’s not in my budget =/
not yet anyways, right?
That’s exactly right = )
I’m pretty much done with mint and google.
and so what next?
Whoops, wrong post, but church analytics is next. = )
When I setup a WordPress site the very 1st thing I do is back it up! That way I can fixed what I messed up!
happens all the time….!
Vaultpress has received my golden ticket request, now I am waiting for my magic link.
rocking!
John have you heard anything about Backup Buddy? They claim they’re the real deal and it’s $45 per year. Not bad right? I think maybe they’re like Vault Press? I don’t know…thoughts?
http://pluginbuddy.com/purchase/backupbuddy/
chris,
definitely aware of this service but wouldn’t touch it with a stick in comparison with vaultpress and their offering. I mean, vaultpress backs up on the fly whereas that plugin has a timer associated with it… and who better to engineer a backup solution than wordpress themselves?
Oh I didn’t know that..thanks for pointing that out:). I was looking for something on the cheap so I suppose I will go with DBC and Automatic WP Backup at your recommendation. Thanks John!!
the free options are great too!
John, thanks for the heads up on VaultPress. I finally received my “Golden Ticket”. It is too easy to set up, and I now have a realiable backup. Thanks!
awesome! i love it!
Where does DBC put its backups?
I can’t find it. I typed in a /mywebsite/ folder, but kept getting told to “check permissions”, which I have no idea how to do.
So I took out the /, and just typed in a path on my hard drive, hoping it would just back them up on my computer (and then I would move it to an external drive that would be unplugged and kept safe). I did that, but the folder didn’t show up when I typed in something like C:/thisfolder.
I’m so lost right now.
they save it to your server, so you can access it via ftp.
i use these tools to check:
http://tentblogger.com/code-ftp/
But it won’t ALLOW me to do it via FTP.
I’ve been following your Ultimate Guide, so I’ve been doin all the stuff all the way through (while figuring other things out myself). But it whines to me about permissions whenever I try to create the folder to store the backups.
I dunno what to do D:
how did you install it to begin with?
hey john! I finally got a “successful” backup, but when I look on my server, i don’t see the files… that’s not good right?
… hmmm. yes. which one were you using?
Thanks for responding John. I’m using DBC Backup.
you should see it via FTP and in the logs.
no?
i can’t see anything via http://FTP... so frustrated with the whole backup thing that i wanna CRY… out, i mean CRY-OUT… i’m not a sissy.
hmm. give me keys to your admin. let me see.
how should i do that?
Hey John, can’t figure out what’s wrong. Followed your tutorial and signed up for Amzon S3.
Using Automatic WordPress Backup with Amazon S3. Hosted on Dreamhost.
I think the plug-in is “talking” to S3 because when I create a bucket from WP it shows up on my Amazon console.
When it says “manual backup completed” the bucket stays empty and there is no backup listed, however it says “Plugin Requirements”.
Here’s the status:
Server OS : Linux
PHP Ver; 5.2.15
Uploads Folder: Exists and writeable
curl: installed
shell_exec: Enabled
zip: Installed
What to do?
try again? sometimes it takes a second to show up.
OK, thanks, I’ve tried again but get the same result as above.
Would it have anything to do with being on WP 3.1.1 ?
It warns you to backup before upgrading to 3.1.2, the plugin version is 2.0.3
hmm. i haven’t tested it on the new 3.1.2… hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Well I am not on 3.1.2, I’m on 3.1.1 but the plugin is 2.0.3
That’s a lot of numbers ….
bleh. i’ll have to look at this sometime in the future… that stinks… you’ve set it up correctly?
Well, entered the Amazon codes in the plugin.
I think the plug-in is “talking” to S3 because when I create a bucket from my WP it shows up on my Amazon console.
What else is there to check for set-up?
Thanks so much for answering.
want to give me some access to see?
sent an e-mail, let me know what you need. Thanks!
I have installed the DBC Backup and keep on getting permissions errors at saving even though I created the directory using CODA FTP client. Any thoughts or ideas?
fernando,
did you set the permissions right?
John – I did not see any note on your tutorial regarding setting up permissions. Wonder if I missed that form your tutorial. What permissions do I need to setup can I do it using coda?
oh, permissions on the folders to access them. 777 chmod the right ones and that should do the trick.
Vaultpress isn’t compatible with WP Multisite (nor is BackupBuddy).
DBC Backup requires use of “a tool like phpMyAdmin to import the SQL file into your database” for restoring (not sure about Multisite support but I doubt it).
I use Automatic WordPress Backup extensively and it works great.
thanks for this clarification!
Hi John,
I was just wondering if you’ve heard anything about BackWPup? I have done a little reading and to me it appears like it might be a good free option.
Any opinions?
ps…Chrome wouldn’t allow me to to click into the name or email fields of this reply form. I could click into the URL and tab back up.
hmm. not heard of that one…!