Do You Have BackUp Religion?
- Image by Martin Whitmore via Flickr
If not… you better get it.
If you stopped by earlier you may have noticed the site was down. There’s nothing to get the blood flowing at 6 am better than a site that’s down and a help desk that doesn’t open until 9am.
Those three hours leave plenty of time for your mind to go crazy and your entire business model to flash before your eyes and leave you wondering “what the hell are you thinking?”.
While I was trying not to panic over the site being down my mind was playing some crazy tricks on me. You know that fantastic “what if…” game! Do you know it?
What if…
the site is really gone. poof.
and from there a million other panic inducing scenarios play out. However, the one thing I knew in the back of my mind was this.
At least the entire site is BACKED UP.
If worse comes to worst and the site has vaporized into the ethers I have a copy of the site as recent as last Wednesday that I can put back together.
How?
Hell if I know, but I’m sure I could find someone that does.
I do know, I have a back up zip file that gets sent to me every Wednesday. It comes to my gmail address where it gets filed away just in case.
How did I get that backup zip file?
Super simple. A neat little plugin does it all for me. 
Wordpress Database Backup ~ that’s what it’s called.
It installs just like any other plugin. You go in and tell it what and how often you want it to back up and how you would like that backup sent to you and then it’s done.
I personally have it go to a gmail account (because of the file size that gets sent and everything is archived in gmail I can always find it later).
I have mine set to a weekly update. Every Wednesday I get a zip file of my site sent to me.
So if you’re seeing this post now ~ I obviously didn’t have to find someone to figure out what to do with my backup zip file ~ but I did have the peace of mind knowing I had it.
I suggest ~ you add that plugin to all of your sites ~ just in case.
You might open a gmail account JUST for those updates to go to ~ then you’ll know exactly where they all are if/when God Forbid you ever need them.
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Jackie
I know exactly what you went through. Two weeks ago I was working on my site, uploading a few new themes to try out and the next moment all I could see of my site was this blank page!!!
I had to wait the whole weekend for the woman hosting my site, to look to her e-mails.
Luckily I also have the Wordpress Database Plugin installed and she could get my site back up again minus the photos and images, but at least 8 months of posts were still there.
If I am not mistaken, I think I installed the plugin after I read your post “Configuring your Wordpress plugins.”
Elsie
Follow me @themekid on Twitter!
This reminds me of the time when it happened to PotPieGirl. I guess it really does happen to everyone! I have backed up my blog a couple of times but it was too time consuming.
I just downloaded the plugin you mentioned and WOW! Simple! I like simple. Thanks for the recommendation Jackie!
-Todd
Follow me @acnefreelife on Twitter!
Jackie, each week when you receive the new backup file in your email do you then delete the old one?
Debbie
Follow me @thatfigureswf on Twitter!
Hey Jackie!
Thanks for this post because I’m sure I will need it! If anything “bad” is going to happen, it usually happens to me! LOL So, I will make sure I add that plug-in to my sites.
Thanks!
Cindy
Follow me @casurette on Twitter!
Jackie,
I just opened my e-mail from the plugin site. I downloaded the file and I am unable to open it. It is a .sql.gz file? What is this?
Any suggestions? Thanks!
-Todd
Follow me @acnefreelife on Twitter!
from the backup plugin? You don’t need to open that. Just save it in case of an emergency.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
But it seems as if nothing is really there. So, you just save the latest e-mail and that’s it? How do you know that it works for sure? I just don’t want to take a chance. I have backed up my blog twice before and I know that it worked. But, it took some time so this plugin is nice. I just want to know for certain it works. Can you say that it does for certain? Even thought I am unable to open what I downloaded from my e-mail?
It seems like there should be files in there…
Thanks Jackie,
Todd
Follow me @acnefreelife on Twitter!
Is there a size next to your download? When I look at mine for another site that just came through it says 183K ~ (it’s a small site). They are .sql because they are the sql databases that are used in wordpress to create your database. So they aren’t going open ~ when you need them I believe you just upload it to the database.
Like I said I have no idea how to do that ~ I’d find someone who does, but I trust that they are creating a copy of what I asked for.
I just looked at the last backup for this site and it is 1874K so I trust that what I need is in there.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Mine is 368K. But, I just started my blog in December. I have about 40 posts and not much else on the site. So, you think I am ok? And, do you have any idea what the chances are of my blog just going boom? Lol.
Thanks so much Jackie!
-Todd
Follow me @acnefreelife on Twitter!
I think it sounds like your backup is fine.
Wish I could tell you if your site’s gonna boom or not ~ but that depends on YOU!!
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Thanks Jackie. But, what do you mean it depends on me? If my site were to crash… would it be because of something I did? Hackers can get in there too! Maybe I am missing your joke or something, lol.
Follow me @acnefreelife on Twitter!
I thought you meant “boom” as in grow really big.
That depends on you. Now I realize you meant something else ~ can’t tell you that either. lol.
It probably won’t be because of something you did if your site crashes. The only two big issues I’ve had have been at the server level ~ and I fixed it with my hosting company and never needed my backup.
One of the smaller problems to worry about ~ especially if you’re making backups of your site regularly.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Haha… well my blog should go boom as in visitors flocking to my site from all over, fairly soon… I am just about to begin making videos! Youtube marketing is HUUUGE!
Thanks again Jackie!
Follow me @acnefreelife on Twitter!
Wordpress Database Backup is a great solution for any Wordpress site, but especially if you aren’t a gearhead.
I personally have it go to a gmail account (because of the file size that gets sent and everything is archived in gmail I can always find it later).
There’s an email-based backup service designed for precisely this type of scenario.
http://fwdvault.com
You don’t have to go looking for messages with attachments, you can search the files directly.
huh that’s interesting I’ll take a look. I just search for “site database backup” and it pops right up.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!