Website backups are a way to insure that your website data is intact at all times. Learning how to take your own backups and taking backups on a regular basis will help prevent any data loss from failed servers or your own mistakes. In later articles I will go more into detail on how to take backups with popular hosting control panels and scripts. For now lets discuss why you should be taking your own backups.

Do not trust your hosting companies backups

I have talked in great length in the past that if you don’t trust your hosting company you should probably find a new host. There is a big exception here with your websites data and backups. There is only one person you can blame when your websites data goes missing and that will be yourself. If your host loses your data, what is the most that will happen to them? They may loose you and the other customers on that server, but their data is still intact and virtually no harm is done to them. Certainly you can put up reviews of their terrible service, however that will not make up for the loss of your websites data. If you want to make sure your backups are intact, do them yourself.

Read your hosting companies Terms of Service

Most hosting companies do not guarantee their backups. Read your hosting companies Terms of Service (TOS) very carefully. There most likely is a clause that states they are not responsible for any lost data and that they provide customary backups only They probably do not guarantee them to be available or up to date. If you ever do need backups from possibly messing up your account on your own you should defiantly find out if they have any fees to restore their backups.

When to backup and how often

What you should be backing up at least monthly is your entire website data, MySql databases, and any essential data for your website. A lot of hosting companies will have a control panel you can login to and will have a backup section for you where you can download your websites data in zip or tar format. Also any scripts you have installed may also have backup modules installed for you to easily backup your database. If you run a forum or a blog, you may need to do backups daily or at the very least weekly backups to insure that all of your visitors and your updates are saved regularly. You should also consider doing backups before any major updates to your website, such as script upgrades, new script installations, and even if you are just doing a major design change.

Using offsite backups for extra security

There are a lot of new services that are offering offsite backups which can be a great way to insure that your backups are intact. This is basically another server (preferably not with your current hosting company) where you will store your website backups and usually can be done automatically on a timed schedule. If your website updates frequently, this may be a great option for you so that you don’t have to remember to do the backups yourself. If you run a popular website making you a decent amount of money, you should strongly consider using this extra option to backup your websites data. Make sure when checking out any backup hosting service to still do your research on customer service and server reliability.

Computers still crash and data can be lost at anytime and causing problems on our own website is something all webmasters do at one time or another. Having backups of your website will insure that you can get your website back online quickly and with all of your current data intact.

If you liked this post, subscribe to my full RSS feed. Learn more about rss feeds with my quick guide. You can subscribe through e-mail too.