How to fully Backup my site

See: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/WordPress_Backups

I may add one additional piece of advice, if you’re a lazy person like me. I like a whole lot the wp-dbmanager plugin, because it creates a backup of the database inside a local folder within the wp-content directory.

So when I need a complete backup made, within my blog I ask wp-dbmanager to backup the database, and then I simply have to FTP-download my site to my hard disk. It will also include a copy of the database.
And if I ever have to reinstall everything, I reupload the files, I can use a brand new blank database to install the blog on it, I reactivate the wp-dbmanager plugin, and then BAM-MAGIC I reload the last backup of the database with the wp-dbmanager plugin, and everything’s back to how it was before ??

You may want to look into Backup Buddy by iThemes: https://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/

Okay so i checked all of the links you guys have sent me. i dont really need it to be automated, and also do not want to be paying for a service that i can do myself. And i have red the codex article, however it just talks about backing up the database. I want to back up the databases along with the whole wordpress theme and everything within woocommerce including orders etc etc.

Sabinou, how would i do this? Would this back up all of my customer orders as well as the theme settings etc? Would i just download everything in my public_html folder? and also back up the databases through cpanel? Would that give me a complete backup?

Araah, I think you’re swimming in the middle of confusion. Let’s throw you a wordpress buoy ??

Your blog is composed of two things

– the actual files.

They’re the pieces making the blog engine work, the php and system files (in the root folder and in the /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ directories). The plugins (in /wp-content/plugins/). The themes (in /wp-content/themes/).
They’re also the files you added yourself, like when you want to add an image to a blog post and upload it throught he Library (in /wp-content/uploads).

– the database

The database does not store files, it stores information.
That’s the configuration of the blog, the options you chose (or the default options) for the themes and plugins.
The content you typed into the posts.
The orders passed by the customers and every info they left.

– You don’t access to the files and the database in the same manner.
. The files are present within your hosting space, and you can download them to your disk with an FTP client, that will copy the files to your hard disk.
. The database is not physically present inside your hosting. Your web host stores it elsewhere, and grants your site permission to read and write it. So, when you back it up, you can either use a feature of the blog to browse and copy the database (like with the wp-dbmanager wordpress plugin I always recommend), or you can use the tools provided by your web host. Your web host may have chosen a hosting panel allowing easy backups, like Cpanel, or maybe they’ll offer you a PhpMyAdmin access to your database, it’s a web program that allows to create and download a copy of your database, among other things.

So you must
– download the files by FTP, with an FTP client and the FTP credentials provided by your web host. Go to the folder containing the wp-admin, wp-includes, wp-content folders, and download the files inside this and all the subfolders, to some directory on your hard disk.
– use a tool to make a copy of your database (the wordpress plugin, cpanel’s database management, phpmyadmin’s Export and tick Sql and Zip) and download it to your hard disk.

In your situation, I still recommend to install the wp-dbmanager plugin (here : https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/wp-dbmanager/ ), and use it to do weekly backups that will be emailed to you, plus an additional backup of the database just before you initiate by FTP a download of your blog’s files. That way, the FTP download will also include a fresh copy of the database. Nothing will be missing.

Sabinou,
That is the best way to explain how the backup works! Thank you so much for the simplicity . It’s great!

Thank you !

Sabinou,

I agree with Prolet. For the FIRST TIME, I actually understand what I need to do before I update WordPess.

Thank You!

s.bleiler

Sabinou, it’s people like you, who take the time and patience to explain things to us newbies, that make this whole wordpress thing so beautiful. I now understand 100% what to do in order to backup my site (and everything assosciated with it).

Thank you.

Hi,

Great advice sabinou. I have downloaded the plugin you mentioned but I am getting this error report.

“Your backup folder is NOT writable
To correct this issue, make the folder /home/essen403/public_html/wp-content/backup-db writable.
Your backup folder MIGHT be visible to the public
To correct this issue, move the file from /home/essen403/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-dbmanager/htaccess.txt to /home/essen403/public_html/wp-content/backup-db/.htaccess”

Could you help set up the plugin from here. I don’t understand the other forums that suggest alternatives. Thanks

To set your folder to writable, you have to connect to your FTP and find the folder indicated by the plugin, then set the writing permissions to 0755. How you do that depends on the FTP client you are using, but you can usually right click the folder and somewhere you should have “write permissions” or something of the sort…