I have been thinking about writing this for several weeks now and finally decided that I would do it.
Do You BackUp Your Blog?
Do you really back up your blog like you should? That is the question that I ask myself all of the time. Many times my answer is “NO“.
I have done a couple of other posts on this topic in the past.
I did Oh My @$#%^&%#, I Just Deleted My Entire Blog!!! when I managed to delete my entire blog with only one click of the mouse. I wanted to cry and was my blog backed up? “NO” I told in this post how to back up a blog in two different ways.
Another post was How To Restore A WordPress Blog From A Backup!. In this post I told how to restore you blog from a backup.
I wrote these post about 6 or 7 months ago and today- Is my blog backed up like it should be? Well, I would have to say “kind of“.
My Latest Scare!
I actually had another scare just before Christmas 2011, probably 4 or 5 weeks ago. I was writing a post in the morning before I went to work. I had to run out the door because I had waited to long to leave and was going to be late. I clicked on “Save Draft” and expected the same thing to happen that always happens and that is Word Press saves my draft and I get returned to the same page I was working on. At that point I would click to close WordPress and run out the door.
Unfortunately, that is not at all what happened. I got taken to a page that said “an error had occurred and I had probably lost everything”. I had to leave so I closed down WordPress and ran out the door with a sick feeling in my stomach.
On the way to work I called my friend Cheryl (If you have read some of my other posts you have heard me mention her before. She is the friend that is extremely techie and I call if I need something hacked or fixed.)
Cheryl is always online so I asked her to look at my blog and tell me my content was all still there. She told me that there was NO CONTENT on my blog at all. I could not beleive it. So the question is: Was my blog backed up like it should of been at that time. ”NO” Guess I am really bad at learning.
Luckily for me Cheryl was able to fix my blog for me. My data base had an error in it which was a 2 second fix (for Cheryl).
It Happens To Other People Also, Not Just Me!
About a week later this same thing happened to two other blogs that I know of. One of them the service provider had to go in and fix. All of these blogs had errors in the data base.
We all had the same hosting service. I do not know if it had anything to do with the service provider or not.
Something Can Happen To Your Blog At Any Time!
What I do know is something can happen at anytime and your blog can be gone with just a click of the mouse. If you do not have your blog backed up then you have no way of saving all of your hard work.
So the question I have for you today:
Is your blog backed up adequately right now as you read this post?
If your answer is “NO” then you need to go and back you blog up as soon as you can.
It is always easier to learn from other peoples mistakes (mine) then to experience it yourself.
Leave me a comment and let me know how you back up your blog or if you do.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Yep, mine is… I’ve been backing it up every Sunday because I only post twice a week and although I probably should back it up after I post I think once a week through my CPanel is sufficient.
Would you agree or not? Doing it every day is very time consuming but I know that could be the day it’s gone right! To me, I’ll always lose some comments should that happen and I would preferably lose just one post then a months worth.
Thanks for this reminder Dee Ann because I have a feeling there are going to be a few visitors who are going to say oops…
Enjoy your day!
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted…Network Marketing Misconception #1
Yes I think that it is fine to do it once a week. You will only lose one week that way. Heck of a lot better than 6 months.
If you are backing up through the cpanel are you backing up both the data bases and the files in file manager? You need to back up both.
I also use a plugin and have a backup sent to my in my email twice a day. This is just as extra safety.
I figures you would have your blog backed up because you are extremely organized.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Just A Bit Of Sunshine
Yes, I’m doing both per the instructions Jeffrey wrote on Barry’s post.
I learned that the plug-in for the back-up doesn’t back up images or your theme so I stopped using that. Who wants to go back and load all their images again? Not me!
Well I do but there was a time I didn’t know either and then with just the plug-in, I wasn’t backing everything us. So that really wouldn’t have done me any good right!
Thanks Dee Ann…
Adrienne recently posted…Network Marketing Misconception #1
Adrienne,
You are doing it right by backing up both the data bases and the files.
The plugin does not back up everything. I guess I am just paranoid about losing everything so I use the plugin as a backup to my backup.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Is Your Blog Backed Up?
Thanks for sharing this. I am definitely motivated to back up my blogs….So, this post did the job. Check out my blog and keep the good content coming.
Thanks,
Angela Giles
Angela Giles recently posted…Do you feel like throwing in the towel?
Angela,
I am glad that my post inspired you to back up your blog.
Losing all of your hard work is not fun.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Is Your Blog Backed Up?
Hi Dee Ann,
What a nightmare!! I bet you were threating about it most of the day. I know I do when something goes belly up and I can’t get to the PC to fix it
Like Adrienne I back mine up manually on a regular basis and have been doing so since Jeffrey Morgan pointed out a possible flaw in the automated plugins.
My hosting also does an automatic back up of all my sites every 24hrs and I have used them on one occasion, when I had all those headaches last year
It’s always good to have a reminder though Dee Ann, we only need it to go belly up once so everyone should be doing this on a regular basis.
I was creating a video for someone last year which involved a plugin so I deleted the plugin from my site to show how to install it and then couldn’t find the plugin in WordPress
so I had to open a back up and re-install the plugin from there.
Without the back up I’d have been rather jarred off
Your blog is look very clean now Dee Ann, love the new header
Take care, Barry
Barry,
I was really panicking when that happened. I was so glad to hear from Cheryl that she was able to fix the problem for me and my site was back up and functioning.
Backing up is something that we all need to be diligent about and I do not think I am as diligent as I should sometimes.
Glad that you like my theme. I like the header also.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Is Your Blog Backed Up?
I back up my database weekly from my host. I also have a wordpress plugin that will send all my files to dropbox, which is in the cloud. That way I have a copy on my hard drive and online in case something happens.
Susan Silver recently posted…5 Marketing Leaders You Need to Know
Susan,
That is great that you are backing up your database two different ways. I do the same thing. I back it up manually as well as with a plugin.
Do you back up the rest of your blog. You need to go into File manager and backup the files also or you will not have everything if your blog completely crashes.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Just A Bit Of Sunshine
No, the answer is no to that (yeah, I know, stone me for that:)). I really am bad at backing up anything really, my photos taken of my children are only partly backed up for example.
Maybe it is a call sign now to do it! Thanks!
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Emilia,
I am really bad about backing up also as you can tell from my posts. Maybe that is why I write these posts because I do not want others to get caught like I did with out my blog backed up.
It is just something I hate to do but can not afford not to.
Good luck backing up your blog and have a great day.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Goals For 2012
The common thought – “It happens to the others, not to me” – you are so right about that!! And I must admit that even I myself was thinking for while like this. But then I had a car crash and then I realized that I am as vulnerable as the others:(
Anna,
Yes that is what we all think – “It can’t happen to me. It only happens to other people.”
Actually if it can happen to others it can happen to us as well and I proved it when I did not backup my blog like I should.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Goals For 2012
Wow! I couldn’t imagine losing my entire blog with one click! I would be devastated! You are right about it being easier to learn from other people’s mistakes.
Fortunately, I’ve just learned how to back up my blog…about a month ago. I really had never though of it before because I wasn’t using wordpress and I think my website was being backed up as it went (maybe not, I didn’t really think about it).
Anywase, now I backup my blog at least once a week; although, it should probably be done more than that.
Kari,
It is easier to learn from others mistakes, I tend to do it the hard way and have to learn from my own.
I am glad that you now have your blog backed up.
It was a devastating feeling when I deleted my whole blog.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Oh My @$#%^&%#, I Just Deleted My Entire Blog!!!
Hi Dee,
I have had a couple of occasions where I have been thankful I had a backup available. Fortunately, both times I was able to solve the problem, but having that extra insurance takes some of the stress away when things go wrong.
I do a back up every week, too, and my host backs up as well, so I suppose it is like wearing belts and braces.
Barry
Barry,
I am glad that you have had a backup when you needed one. I did not even think about my hosting company having a backup when I deleted my blog.
Might of made it easier to recreated it if I had thought of that.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Just A Bit Of Sunshine
Hi Dee, I have also accidentally deleted my blog for two days now. Out of my dispensation I Google things and hoping to find the answer. And after a long two days Finally I found your blog and the answer. After posting this post I will visit your older post about How To Restore A WordPress Blog From A Backup. Thanks for this podt. Big help to me.
Kim
I am sorry to hear about your blog. I hope you were able to get it back up and running.
Glad that you found my site and found it useful.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Goals For 2012
Hi Dee Ann,
I do not know anything about manually backing up my blog. I thought the weekly database backup email that I receive from Wordpress was sufficient. Apparently not! I will refer to your prior posts for guidance. Thanks for the heads up.
Jamella,
The backup you receive from your plugin only backs up the databases. You also need to backup the rest of the files that make up your blog.
It is wise to also manually back up your databases as sometimes the plugins fail.
If you have any questions just let me know.
Hope this helps.
Have a good week.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Just A Bit Of Sunshine
Wow! Good thing you have Cheryl to help you out. I’ve never really had a problem with my blog, except one time — I updated a plugin and it was gone, so I contacted HostGator and they fixed it for me
Needless to say, I haven’t used that plugin since.
I do have a daily backup the runs automatically – never had to use it, but would hope it would do the job if I did.
Glad you got everything figured out and hope you don’t have this problem again!
Linda
Linda,
I am thankful for Cheryl. It is convenient knowing someone who knows how to do those type of things.
I also have a backup plugin that sends me a backup everyday. I figure that I want multiple backups.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dee Ann
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