Website backups are a vital part of maintaining your own website. Lose your data, and it’s not always so easy to retrieve it again. Many hosts do keep backups, on your server, as well as elsewhere, but not all do, and it’s best to have your own copy, just in case something goes terribly wrong.
There are a number of free backup plugins that are pretty good, but I have recently been implementing a new premium plugin called Backup Buddy.
Most free plugins will back up only your database, leaving you to do the rest (export your data via ‘Tools -> Export’, download all your files via FTP). Backup Buddy does it all: backups up your database, a copy of all your files, and all your website copy.
And, in addition to having a copy stored on your website server, you can choose to have a copy emailed to you (size-dependent), or sent automatically to an online storage facility, such as DropBox (free for up to 2GB). You can perform backups whenever you like, and also schedule regular backups to make sure you always have a copy to fall back on.
What’s more – should anything go wrong with your server, you can restore your entire setup in one go.
This plugin comes highly recommended and should, I believe, be considered a vital component to any WordPress website.
If you would like to find out more, please visit the Backup Buddy website, or contact me for specific information regarding implementation on your own website.