Website backups: what, when and how

Why you need backups

A backup is a copy of your site stored somewhere else, ready to be restored if something goes wrong. And plenty can go wrong with a website: an update that breaks the design, a faulty plugin, a file deleted by mistake, a stolen password or an attack that changes your pages.

Without a backup, any of those problems can mean rebuilding the site from scratch. With a recent backup, you fix it by restoring an earlier version. It is one of the simplest and most important ways to protect your online presence.

What to back up

A complete backup is more than “the website”. It has three parts:

• Files. The site's code, theme, plugins and, above all, the images and documents you have uploaded. In WordPress, the content folder is the one that changes most over time.
• Database. This is where your text, posts, users, orders and settings live. A file backup without the database won't bring back a dynamic site.
• Email. If your business email is on the same hosting, the mailboxes are part of your data too. Invoices, quotes and customer conversations can be as valuable as the site itself.

Don't forget access and configuration details: keep a safe note of where your domain is registered and what your DNS records are, so you can rebuild everything if needed.

There are two ways to get backups: automatic ones, which the server or a plugin creates on a schedule, and manual ones, which you create at a specific moment. Ideally you combine both: automatic backups cover you day to day, and manual ones give you a safe point before any change.

How often to back up

The key question is: how much work could you afford to lose? If you back up once a week and something breaks on Saturday, you could lose everything that changed since the previous Sunday. The right frequency depends on how much your site changes:

Also decide how long you keep each copy. Having several backups from different dates lets you go back to an earlier point if you discover a problem days after it happened.

The 3-2-1 rule

This is a classic guideline so you never depend on a single copy. It means having:

1. 3 copies of your data: the original and two backups.
2. 2 different types of storage, for example the server and a cloud storage service.
3. 1 copy off-site, away from the main location, so a server problem doesn't affect all your backups at once.

Your hosting provider's backups are a great foundation, but it is worth downloading your own copy from time to time. In cPanel you can generate and download a backup of your files and databases from the backup section.

Be careful about where you keep those copies, too. A backup holds all your data, including database passwords and customer details. Don't leave it in a public folder on your site, protect the storage account with a strong password and delete old copies you no longer need.

Test your restores

A backup that has never been restored is an untested promise. It might be incomplete, corrupted or missing the database, and you will find out exactly when you need it most.

Every so often, run a test:

• Check that the backup includes files and database and that it opens.
• Restore it to a test subdomain or a separate environment, not over the live site.
• Make sure pages, images and forms work in the restored copy.
• Write down the steps so anyone on your team can repeat them.

Back up before updating

The moment you most need a backup is right before a major change: updating WordPress, switching themes, installing a new plugin, changing the PHP version or editing code. If something fails, you go back to the previous state instead of fighting the error.

It is also a good idea to back up before changing plans or servers. If you are considering that step, read shared hosting or VPS to understand what changes with each option.

If you don't know for sure where your backups are today, start there: check what your plan includes, download a full copy and store it off the server. It takes a few minutes and can save you days of work.