How to Back Up Your Website
There are millions of website owners that don’t back up their website. But it’s not because they don’t want the safety and reassurance that backing up a website brings. It’s because they simply don’t know how to do it. When it comes to backing up your website, there are five different ways to do it.
Manually
The first way to back up a website is by manually backing it up. This is the least technical way to do it, but it’s also the way that’s going to cost the website owner the most amount of time. It can be done by installing Filezilla and then use that software program to connect to your account. From there a number of options will pop up to download your files. You’ll be able to choose whether to download all your files, or just the ones you want.
When using the manual method to back up a website, it’s important to remember to do it often. This can be done by setting diary entries to make sure the task doesn’t slip your mind. And while backing up all the posts and pages that might be on the site, there’s more to it than that. It’s also important to remember to back up all the databases, keep a logical folder structure with the date as the directory name, and to back up to multiple hard drive locations. This will ensure the files will never be lost.
cPanel backups
Using cPanel to back up a website is also easy. You really just need to log in and press the ‘Backup’ button. Select ‘Generate/Download a Full Backup’ and then choose ‘Home Directory’. From there all you have to do is select ‘Backup Destination’ and enter your email. Then click ‘Generate Backup’ and you will get the email when your backup is ready.
When you get that email, you need to download the backup and store it onto your computer. Even though this is a simply straightforward way of backing up, it’s still important to remember to do it regularly and keep the backup files in a safe place. This should not be on your web host’s server, even if you have a file there. After all, if your backups are stored there and the server goes down, those files will do you no good.
Backing up to a cloud
Backing up to a cloud service is one of the easiest, and most secure, ways to back up your website. A cloud can expand as much as you need it to when files are continuously being added, and it’s fully redundant. There are also many different platforms and software programs such as Dropbox and Amazon S3 that can make the process even easier. While Amazon S3 is intended to be used for backup solutions and Dropbox is not, getting creative with backup solutions can often be one of the easiest ways to do it.
Rsync backup
Rsync isn’t a cloud-based backup service in itself, but it can be used to back up to a cloud server. And while it might not be the easiest to use, it’s considered one of the best in the business for a reason. Rsync will only transfer files and portions of files that have changed, which is a great time-saver. But you will still have to back up your database, and you will have to do it on a Linux server.
Automated backup solutions
Using an automated backup solution means hiring a third party to do it automatically for you. There are many services available out there that will help you do this, and your web host might be one of them. But, even if your web host does offer backup services, it’s best to also have someone else do it as well. Remember, the more copies you have of your website saved somewhere, the better off your website will be, especially if a mistake happens that destroys it.
Backing up a website is important. But the reason most website owners don’t do it isn’t because they don’t understand the importance of it; it’s simply because they don’t know how to do it. These five options offer a range of ways to do it, varying from easy to difficult and affordable to quite expensive. All website owners have to do is choose the one that’s right for them, and then start backing their website up as soon as possible.
Manually
The first way to back up a website is by manually backing it up. This is the least technical way to do it, but it’s also the way that’s going to cost the website owner the most amount of time. It can be done by installing Filezilla and then use that software program to connect to your account. From there a number of options will pop up to download your files. You’ll be able to choose whether to download all your files, or just the ones you want.
When using the manual method to back up a website, it’s important to remember to do it often. This can be done by setting diary entries to make sure the task doesn’t slip your mind. And while backing up all the posts and pages that might be on the site, there’s more to it than that. It’s also important to remember to back up all the databases, keep a logical folder structure with the date as the directory name, and to back up to multiple hard drive locations. This will ensure the files will never be lost.
cPanel backups
Using cPanel to back up a website is also easy. You really just need to log in and press the ‘Backup’ button. Select ‘Generate/Download a Full Backup’ and then choose ‘Home Directory’. From there all you have to do is select ‘Backup Destination’ and enter your email. Then click ‘Generate Backup’ and you will get the email when your backup is ready.
When you get that email, you need to download the backup and store it onto your computer. Even though this is a simply straightforward way of backing up, it’s still important to remember to do it regularly and keep the backup files in a safe place. This should not be on your web host’s server, even if you have a file there. After all, if your backups are stored there and the server goes down, those files will do you no good.
Backing up to a cloud
Backing up to a cloud service is one of the easiest, and most secure, ways to back up your website. A cloud can expand as much as you need it to when files are continuously being added, and it’s fully redundant. There are also many different platforms and software programs such as Dropbox and Amazon S3 that can make the process even easier. While Amazon S3 is intended to be used for backup solutions and Dropbox is not, getting creative with backup solutions can often be one of the easiest ways to do it.
Rsync backup
Rsync isn’t a cloud-based backup service in itself, but it can be used to back up to a cloud server. And while it might not be the easiest to use, it’s considered one of the best in the business for a reason. Rsync will only transfer files and portions of files that have changed, which is a great time-saver. But you will still have to back up your database, and you will have to do it on a Linux server.
Automated backup solutions
Using an automated backup solution means hiring a third party to do it automatically for you. There are many services available out there that will help you do this, and your web host might be one of them. But, even if your web host does offer backup services, it’s best to also have someone else do it as well. Remember, the more copies you have of your website saved somewhere, the better off your website will be, especially if a mistake happens that destroys it.
Backing up a website is important. But the reason most website owners don’t do it isn’t because they don’t understand the importance of it; it’s simply because they don’t know how to do it. These five options offer a range of ways to do it, varying from easy to difficult and affordable to quite expensive. All website owners have to do is choose the one that’s right for them, and then start backing their website up as soon as possible.