A better way to backup your blog

Yesterday I showed you how to backup your blog manually.

But that way means that you have to remember to regularly create the backups.  With a plug-in called “WP-DB-Backup” you can automate the process so that you don’t forget!

Here is how to install and configure it:

1. Log into WordPress using an administrator account.

2. Click on “Add New” in the Plugins section on the sidebar.

3. Enter “wp backup” in the search box, and click on “Search Plugins”.

4. The “WP-DB-Backup” plug-in by Austin Matzko should be near the top of the list.

5. Click on “Install Now”.

6. After the plug-in has been installed, activate it, and then click on the new “Backup” option in the “Tools” part of the sidebar.

7. The first section of the backup screen shows the tables that belong to the WordPress core.

8. You might like to save space in the backup by excluding spam comments and the post revisions, ie. older versions of your posts that were created during the editing process.

9. The next section shows the tables that have been added later, eg. by plug-ins.  You should activate the tick boxes and back these up as well.

10. The “Backup Options” section now allows you to create a backup.  Do NOT use the first option and save the file to the server, unless you really have to.  If someone finds that file and downloads it, they have all of your data including the passwords for the WordPress user accounts!

At this stage, the easiest method is to download the file to your computer.  Alternatively, you can have the backup sent to you as an attachment by e-mail.  This is useful if you are not on your usual computer and prefer not to download the file.

But this is still a manual backup.

11. The “Scheduled Backup” is what makes this tool so powerful.  You can select a schedule, eg. “Once Daily”, and activate the plug-in tables.  Then, once each day, you will receive an e-mail with the database backup as an attachment.

This is a very good way to have a backup of your database.  Even if you are not at your computer, perhaps because you are on holiday, then the database will be backed up every day.  If something goes wrong, or the blog gets hacked, then you have a set of backups waiting for you in your e-mail account.

I recommend installing and setting up this plug-in as soon as possible on your blog!  It really can save you a lot of heartache and re-typing of posts.

Tomorrow, I’ll deal with the wp-content directory.