Backing up your blog is extremely important and should be done regularly. As the owner of a self-hosted WordPress blog, you are responsible for your own data. If there is a catastrophic failure in your server, or you make a serious mistake, you could lose everything if you don’t keep regular backups. Thankfully, backing up a blog is not very hard, it just takes a few minutes of simple work.
WordPress blogs consist of two parts: files and a database. Both must be backed up to have a complete backup from which to restore if something goes wrong.
To learn about restoring a database backup, see here.
Video Overview of Backing Up Site:
Text Instructions for Backing Up Site:
Step 1a: Make a copy of your blog files:
Use an FTP program to navigate to your blog’s installation folder. If your blog is something like “www.mywebsite.com/blog” then that would be a folder called “blog”. If your blog is your whole website, like “www.myphotoblog.com” then your installation folder would be your web root folder, usually called “public_html”, “httpdocs”, or “www”. Look inside possible folders for a group of files, many of which begin with “wp-“. If you can, do a search.
Once you’ve navigated to your blog’s installation folder, download just the “wp-content” folder to your computer. (All of the other files/folders can be ignored.) This will take a long time, maybe an hour or more, so get this started and then go get a cup of coffee from Starbucks or do something else :)
Step 1b: Install Database Backup Plugin
After you’ve got your blog files downloaded, the next step is to backup your blog’s database. The easiest way to get a backup of your database is to use a plugin called “WordPress Database Backup“.
To install the “WP-DB-Backup” by Austin Matzko plugin to backup up your database, follow these simple steps:
Install from the Add Plugins area
First, go to “Plugins > Add New” in the left sidebar of your main WordPress admin area. Then, in the search bar, type in “WP-DB-Backup” and press return to search. (if you do not see the plugin by Austin Matzko, follow the steps below)
The correct plugin should be right at the top – make sure it is created by Austin Matzko and click the install now button.
NOTE: If your screen tells you that it is already installed, be sure that the plugin is activated in your “Plugins > Installed Plugins” screen in WordPress.
Confirm the plugin installation when you see a popup, and after installation is complete click the Activate Plugin link.
Once the plugin is active, you’ll need to configure the plugin, so click on “Tools > Backup” in WordPress.
There you will find options to create immediate or automated backups. We suggest enabling a Scheduled Backup so that you receive regular emails with your database zip file backup attached for safe keeping.
If you’re trying to follow these directions and it’s not working — maybe it can’t download the zip, or is asking for your host, username, and password — then you can always install it manually. Just download the plugin from the author’s website and then click on the button below for instructions on how to manually install the plugin instead.
Step 1c: Backup your Database
Now that you’ve got the database backup plugin installed and activated, to make a backup, go to “Tools” => “Backup” in your WordPress admin area.
and click to exclude spam comments and post revisions (this keeps your backup file size down)
Then, a little further down, choose “download to my computer” and then click “backup now!”.
You will be prompted to download a file with a funny name. Download it and put it in a safe place, hopefully you aren’t going to need it. :) This is your actual backup file. If the backup is complete and you’ve downloaded this file to your computer, then your database is backed up.
To set up an automated, regular, scheduled backup of your blog’s database, just go to the plugin’s admin page (“Tools” => “Backup”) and enter your Email address and pick a scheduling interval.
Backing up your blog is extremely important and should be done regularly. As the owner of a self-hosted WordPress blog, you are responsible for your own data. If there is a catastrophic failure in your server, or you make a serious mistake, you could lose everything if you don’t keep regular backups. Thankfully, backing up a blog is not very hard, it just takes a few minutes of simple work.
WordPress blogs consist of two parts: files and a database. BOTH must be backed up and saved to have a complete backup from which to restore if something goes wrong.
To learn about restoring a database backup, see here.
Video Overview of Backing Up Site:
Text Instructions for Backing Up Site:
Step 1a: Make a copy of your blog files:
Use an FTP program to navigate to your blog’s installation folder. If your blog is something like “www.mywebsite.com/blog” then that would be a folder called “blog”. If your blog is your whole website, like “www.myphotoblog.com” then your installation folder would be your web root folder, usually called “public_html”, “httpdocs”, or “www”. Look inside possible folders for a group of files, many of which begin with “wp-“. If you can, do a search.
Once you’ve navigated to your blog’s installation folder, download just the “wp-content” folder to your computer. (All of the other files/folders can be ignored.) This will take a long time, maybe an hour or more, so get this started and then go get a cup of coffee from Starbucks or do something else :)
Step 1b: Install Database Backup Plugin
After you’ve got your blog files downloaded, the next step is to backup your blog’s database. The easiest way to get a backup of your database is to use a plugin called “WP Database Backup”.
To install the “WP-DB-Backup” by Austin Matzko plugin to backup up your database, follow these simple steps:
Install from the Add Plugins area
First, go to “Plugins > Add New” in the left sidebar of your main WordPress admin area. Then, in the search bar, type in “WP-DB-Backup” and press return to search. (if you do not see the plugin by Austin Matzko, follow the steps below)
The correct plugin should be right at the top – make sure it is created by Austin Matzko and click the install now button.
NOTE: If your screen tells you that it is already installed, be sure that the plugin is activated in your “Plugins > Installed Plugins” screen in WordPress.
Confirm the plugin installation when you see a popup, and after installation is complete click the Activate Plugin link.
Once the plugin is active, you’ll need to configure the plugin, so click on “Tools > Backup” in WordPress.
There you will find options to create immediate or automated backups. We suggest enabling a Scheduled Backup so that you receive regular emails with your database zip file backup attached for safe keeping.
If you’re trying to follow these directions and it’s not working — maybe it can’t download the zip, or is asking for your host, username, and password — then you can always install it manually. Just download the plugin from the author’s website and then click on the button below for instructions on how to manually install the plugin instead.
Step 1c: Backup your Database
Now that you’ve got the database backup plugin installed and activated, to make a backup, go to “Tools” => “Backup” in your WordPress admin area.
and click to exclude spam comments and post revisions (this keeps your backup file size down)
Then, a little further down, choose “download to my computer” and then click “backup now!”.
You will be prompted to download a file with a funny name. Download it and put it in a safe place, hopefully you aren’t going to need it. :) This is your actual backup file. If the backup is complete and you’ve downloaded this file to your computer, then your database is backed up.
To set up an automated, regular, scheduled backup of your blog’s database, just go to the plugin’s admin page (“Tools” => “Backup”) and enter your Email address and pick a scheduling interval.
Backing up your blog is extremely important and should be done regularly. As the owner of a self-hosted WordPress blog, you are responsible for your own data. If there is a catastrophic failure in your server, or you make a serious mistake, you could lose everything if you don’t keep regular backups. Thankfully, backing up a blog is not very hard, it just takes a few minutes of simple work. Here’s what to do:
WordPress blogs consist of two parts: files and a database. BOTH must be backed up and saved to have a complete backup from which to restore if something goes wrong.
To learn about restoring a database backup, see here.
Step 1a: Make a copy of your blog files:
Use an FTP program to navigate to your blog’s installation folder. If your blog is something like “www.mywebsite.com/blog” then that would be a folder called “blog”. If your blog is your whole website, like “www.myphotoblog.com” then your installation folder would be your web root folder, usually called “public_html”, “httpdocs”, or “www”. Look inside possible folders for a group of files, many of which begin with “wp-“. If you can, do a search.
Once you’ve navigated to your blog’s installation folder, download just the “wp-content” folder to your computer. (All of the other files/folders can be ignored.) This will take a long time, maybe an hour or more, so get this started and then go get a cup of coffee from Starbucks or do something else :)
Step 1b: Install Database Backup Plugin
After you’ve got your blog files downloaded, the next step is to backup your blog’s database. The easiest way to get a backup of your database is to use a plugin called “WP Database Backup”.
To install the “WP-DB-Backup” by Austin Matzko plugin to backup up your database, follow these simple steps:
Install from the Add Plugins area
First, go to “Plugins > Add New” in the left sidebar of your main WordPress admin area. Then, in the search bar, type in “WP-DB-Backup” and press return to search. (if you do not see the plugin by Austin Matzko, follow the steps below)
The correct plugin should be right at the top – make sure it is created by Austin Matzko and click the install now button.
NOTE: If your screen tells you that it is already installed, be sure that the plugin is activated in your “Plugins > Installed Plugins” screen in WordPress.
Confirm the plugin installation when you see a popup, and after installation is complete click the Activate Plugin link.
Once the plugin is active, you’ll need to configure the plugin, so click on “Tools > Backup” in WordPress.
There you will find options to create immediate or automated backups. We suggest enabling a Scheduled Backup so that you receive regular emails with your database zip file backup attached for safe keeping.
If you’re trying to follow these directions and it’s not working — maybe it can’t download the zip, or is asking for your host, username, and password — then you can always install it manually. Just download the plugin from the author’s website and then click on the button below for instructions on how to manually install the plugin instead.
Step 1c: Backup your Database
Now that you’ve got the database backup plugin installed and activated, to make a backup, go to “Tools” => “Backup” in your WordPress admin area.
and click to exclude spam comments and post revisions (this keeps your backup file size down)
Then, a little further down, choose “download to my computer” and then click “backup now!”.
You will be prompted to download a file with a funny name. Download it and put it in a safe place, hopefully you aren’t going to need it. :) This is your actual backup file. If the backup is complete and you’ve downloaded this file to your computer, then your database is backed up.
To set up an automated, regular, scheduled backup of your blog’s database, just go to the plugin’s admin page (“Tools” => “Backup”) and enter your Email address and pick a scheduling interval.
