Noa Website backup is a task that shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s extremely important and saves lots of time and effort, especially since today there are plugins that do the job well. Simple and very useful – you can be prepared for any frustrating situation. In this post you will learn how to do so using the free UpdraftPlus plugin.
Have you ever been in the middle of building a site or managing a completed one, when all of a sudden some data was permanently lost due to an upgrade / installation / etc? While all hackers are attempting to get access your site and cause irreparable damage to it, the backup is more important than ever. It can happen suddenly, and after all the hard work you’ve done, it’s not pleasant.
It is better to be prepared for such a scenario with an organized backup.
Not too long ago, in order to backup your site you would have to manually export the database and files via FTP, or through Cpanel / Direct Admin. Yet today with the use of a plugin you can easily schedule backups.
So how do you backup your site?
There are various backup plugins that are great to use, however UpdraftPlus is a highly recommended plugin. With nearly half a million installations, more than 2 million downloads and a score of 4.8, it seems to be doing the job well. With this great plugin you can easily backup and restore your whole site. You could choose whether to do it manually or by a repeated schedule. With this plugin you can backup your site to many softwares such as: Dropbox, S3, Google Drive, Rackspace and more. Allows quick restoration for both files and database backups.
You have the option of selecting the exact files you would like to backup, as well as choosing the backup components to restore. You can also set the files and database backup to seperate schedules.
UpdraftPlus has additional features, including site duplicating for the advanced Premium version.
So let’s get started:
Installation:
The installation process is very simple:
- Go to Plugins in your Dashboard
- Search “UpdraftPlus” (or UpdraftPlus Backup and Restoration) and then click Install Now
- Click on Activate Plugin
- Go to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backup
Once the plugin is installed, go to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backup, here you’ll find the plugin’s main page where you could choose the settings according to your needs.
Current Status:
In this page is an organized list in which you’ll find all the plugin’s settings you’ve chosen for your site.
Actions:You can select the action you would like to be done with your site. Backup Now, Clone / Migrate or Restore. A click on either one of them will open a window with the actions options, such as choosing exactly what to backup or restore.
Next Scheduled Backups: After you schedule a timed backup of your site, the schedules will be listed here.
Last Backup Job Run: Shows the latest backup that has been done in the site.
Last Log Message: Shows the latest log message you received.
Existing Backups
In this page you can find all the site’s backups that currently exist. Every backup lists its backup data from the site. For every backup, you can choose whether to restore, delete or view its log.
Settings
Here are all the backup settings, as well as the database options and reporting emails.
Configure Backup Contents and Schedule
File / Database Backup Intervals: You can choose whether to backup the site’s files / database manually or by schedule (Every 4 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, Daily, Weekly, Fortnightly or Monthly) and how many backups this schedule will retain.
*Note that if the two schedules are the same, then the two backups will take place together.
Include in Files Backup: You can choose what files to include and exclude in the backup.
Database Options
Database Encryption Phrase: With the Premium version you can encrypt your database backup, as well as backup external databases.
Reporting
Email: By checking the box you can receive emails with basic reports of your backups. The email address is according to your site’s admin address.
Copying Your Backup to Remote Storage
Choose Your Remote Storage: Select the remote storage in which you’d like to store your backup (Dropbox, Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud Files, Google Drive, etc).
Advanced / Debugging Settings
Expert Settings: By clicking you will receive less important options regarding the backup.
Debugging / Expert Tools
In this page are listed all the plugin details. Unless there’s a problem, there’s no need in going over them.
Add-ons:
Here you can view the advantages of the UpdraftPlus Premium version, and purchase it.
With the premium version you can enjoy a fairly long list of advantages and if you are looking for an advanced solution, it’s maybe worth you buying it.
Now that you’ve installed the plugin and have a backup plan you don’t have to worry about losing data from your site, and save a lot of time and effort. This plugin will do all the work.
There are several more plugins used for backup and restoration however this plugin is most recommended with its simple and organized fashion.
So how do you back up your WordPress site? Write about it in the comments below.
Good Luck!