WordPress Backup Manually

WordPress backups are incredibly important for a website owner nowadays. If your site hack, server crash, software error or any other unfortunate event, to prevent from this you should always need a recent backup of your website.

There are several plugins that work for website backup. But they have some limitations. If your site is a big website then it may not work properly. Also some hosting provider offer premium backup services. But this will cost you money. For the most convenient and secure option to keep a backup of your website manually via Cpanel or FTP and restore it on your computer or google drive or Dropbox.

WordPress backups are incredibly important for several reasons:

1. Disaster Recovery: In the event of a website hack, server crash, software error, or any other unforeseen event, having a recent backup allows you to restore your site to a working state. Without a backup, you might lose all your website data, including content, media files, themes, plugins, and configurations.
2. Protection Against Data Loss: Accidental deletion of files or database corruption can occur while managing your website. Regular backups provide a safety net, allowing you to recover lost or deleted data easily.
3. WordPress Updates and Plugin Conflicts: WordPress regularly releases updates for its core software, themes, and plugins. Sometimes these updates can cause compatibility issues or conflicts that break your site. Having a backup allows you to roll back to a previous working version of your site until the issues are resolved.
4. Content and Site Changes: If you frequently update your website’s content, having a backup ensures that you can revert to a previous version if you’re not satisfied with the changes. It gives you the flexibility to experiment and make changes without the fear of permanently altering or losing valuable content.
5. Site Migration and Cloning: Backups are invaluable when you need to move your website to a new hosting provider or set up a staging environment for testing purposes. With a backup, you can replicate your site’s exact state on a different server or hosting environment without starting from scratch.
6. Time and Cost Savings: Without a backup, restoring a hacked or broken website can be a time-consuming and expensive process. Backups streamline the recovery process, saving you the hassle of rebuilding your site from scratch or paying hefty fees to web professionals for data recovery.

Given the critical role backups play in safeguarding your WordPress site, it’s essential to establish a regular backup routine and ensure that your backup files are securely stored in separate locations from your live site.

Steps for Manual Backup

1. Backup the WordPress Files:

• Connect to your website’s server using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) credentials. You can use an FTP client like FileZilla or use the file manager provided by your hosting provider.
• Navigate to the root directory of your WordPress installation, which is typically named “public_html” or “www”.
• Select all the files and folders in the root directory, zip all WordPress Folder including wp-admin, wp-content and others, and download them to your local computer. This step ensures that you have a copy of your WordPress core files, themes, plugins, and uploads.

Make sure your hosting have much spaces during the zip process.

1. Backup WordPress Database:

First check your database name on wp-config file where the WordPress installed. then follow the below steps-

• Access your website’s hosting control panel (e.g., cPanel, Plesk) provided by your hosting provider.
• Look for the “phpMyAdmin” or “Database” and match the database name and open it.
• Select the database associated with your WordPress site from the list on the left side.
• Click on the “Export” tab at the top.
• Choose the “Quick” or “Custom” export method (Custom allows you to choose specific tables if needed).
• Select the SQL format and click the “Go” or “Export” button to download the database export file (.sql) to your computer.

Restore Backup

• Create a separate folder on your computer and give it a descriptive name (e.g., “WordPress Backup [Date]”).
• Move the downloaded WordPress files and the exported database file to this folder.
• Consider encrypting the backup folder or storing it on an external storage device or cloud storage service for added security.

Remember, manual backups require regular attention and should be performed consistently. It’s advisable to automate the backup process using plugins or hosting provider services to ensure regular and reliable backups of your WordPress site.