Backup and restore using BackWPup plugin

The job I hate most of all is adding all the SEO tags to a post or page after it’s published.

The job I hate second most of all is… backing up.
Backing up the database and backing up site files.

I know it’s got to be done, you know it’s got to be done, WordPress warn you it’s got to be done, but it’s still a chore.

Fortunately I’ve just found the perfect solution…

It’s a free plugin called BackWPup, it backs up your database, it backs up site files and you can use it to restore your site.

Backup your site the easy way with BackWPup plugin

You download and activate the BackWPup plugin just like any other WordPress plugin.
Then you create a new job, configure the settings and finally you create a backup to make sure that the plugin is working.

To walk you through the full proces take a look at this great video by Bill Zimmerman of Internet Marketing Wizard.
Watch the video, read the bullet points beneath the video and then setup BackWPup on your own site.

If you get stuck, come back and take another look at the video or just leave the video on pause in a separate tab and keep taking a peep.

 
That’s a great walkthrough from Bill and these are the main points he covers for setting up BackWPup and creating your first backup:

1. Install and activate – from your WordPress dashboard install the BackWPup plugin and activate it.
2. Create a new JOB – create a new job and give it a meaningful name e.g. full backup, database backup, something that will make sense in twelve months time.
3. Configure the job settings – you can leave most of the defaults, but you have to define WHERE you want your backup to be saved and you need to enable SCHEDULING if you want it to backup on a regular basis.

    
   By default the backup gives you a database and site files backup but you can change that to just a database or just a site files backup.

4. Run the job and create a backup – go to the JOB options and RUN the job you have created.
   This ensures that you have a backup and that you have configured the job correctly.
5. Check the location of the backup – check that the backup is in the location you specified and that the file size looks about right.

And just in case… this is how you restore using BackWPup

You could live to be old and grey and never have to make use of your backups, but just in case, this is how to restore your site.

Once again Bill Zimmerman has provided us with a fabulous video, which walks you through the restore process.
I’ve added bullet points beneath the video.

Another great video and just to remind you, these are the main points of restoring your site:

1. Install WordPress – install WordPress on the domain you want to restore.
2. Install BackWPup – from your WordPress dashboard install the BackWPup plugin.
3. Put the backup zip file on your desktop – copy the backup file (zip file) from its location to your desktop.
4. Put the backup zip file into your public_html folder – copy the backup zip file from your desktop to the public_html folder of your domain – the folder where your site files are stored. Do this using your FTP client.
5. Put your database SQL file into your public_html folder – locate the database file (SQL file) in the zipped backup file on your desktop. Extract this SQL file from your zipped backup file and put it on your desktop, then copy that file to your PUBLIC_HTML folder using your FTP client.
6. Check that BackWPup has found your database file – in your dashboard, go to your BackWPup plugin and select TOOLS. It should show your file saved like this:

    
   “SQL File to restore: /home/awesome/public_html/awesome_wrdp1.sql”
   (In this case ‘awesome‘ refers to my domain. Yours will say something different)

7. Restore your database – click RESTORE and your database will be restored and you will be given a warning telling you to “delete the SQL file from the PUBLIC_HTML folder” – go ahead and delete it.
8. Restore your site files – go to your cPanel, go to File Manager, and go to your PUBLIC_HTML folder. Find your zipped backup file, select it then click on EXTRACT and your site files will be extracted and they will automatically overwrite the existing files.
9. Delete your backup zip file – and the final thing, delete your backup zip file from the PUBLIC_HTML folder.

How do you backup your site… let us have your thoughts

That’s the BackWPup plugin, but what are you using?

Do you backup manually, are you using a plugin or do you rely on your host backing up for you?
If you use a plugin is it a free or a premium plugin?

We’d love to have your thoughts on anything and everything backup related in the comments below.

 
Credits:
My thanks and gratitude to the following:
Bill Zimmerman for producing two great videos and allowing me to use them in this post.
Carrie Dils for giving me her thoughts on the BackWPup plugin and sharing a great tip.