Before we get into the thick of things, we first need to make sure nothing can be lost in the process that can’t be recovered. We are going to put some serious work into your site in the coming weeks and to quote every stereotypical movie gangster – “it would be a shame if something were to happen to it”.
The quickest and easiest way to take a backup is to use a plugin. Below you’ll find links to just a few.
- UpdraftPlus (our personal favourite)
- Duplicator
- WP-DB-Backup (database only)
- BackupBuddy (paid)
- VaultPress (paid)
If you already have your backups sorted then one of the first steps can also be to free up space by deleting older backup files or move the backup location to somewhere outside your own server entirely. We can’t recommend this step highly enough. Make sure you store your backups on separate storage other than you primary hosting account. If something goes wrong at the server end you don’t want to lose your backups as well!!!
Now if all of this freaks you out and you are not sure about which plugin to use, or how to make it work, just give us a call on 07 3325 0505 or drop us an email at support@sbim.com.au and we’ll take care of it for you.
Doing it old school
Now if you really want to do it the old fashioned way and not use a plugin that’s finem just follow the steps below.
So, first fire up your trusty FTP client (FileZilla, Cyberrduck etc), log into your server and copy the entire folder containing your site to your hard drive.
After that, it’s time to download the database. The usual way to do this is phpMyAdmin or some other database management tool.
Log in, click on the name of your database and find the Export button.
Pick Custom, make sure to select all necessary tables as well as the following options:
- Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION
- Add IF NOT EXISTS
- Add AUTO_INCREMENT
- Enclose table and field names with backquotes
Use Gzip compression for a smaller file, and hit Go. You should be prompted with a file download. Save the file and you are done.
Regardless of what method you used, you should now be all good on the backup front.
