Blog Backup Strategy

For those who host their own blog on their own server, or through a hosting company, how many of you actually have a backup strategy? Although simple, I thought I’d write what I do to ensure a safe and quick recovery.

First, I’ll write about the files themself. I keep all my local files on a USB thumb drive. I do this so I can work on my site on multiple computers. Once a month I make a backup of these files into a folder called Ashbaughonline-Local. Then at the same time, I use a program called WS_FTP to copy all the live files off my host into a folder called Ashbaughonline-Live. Both of these folders are then stored into a folder named by the month, in this case Febrary. I copy all the live stuff because sometimes you upload photos, and make other live modifications that aren’t done locally. Note, I keep these folders on a separate system from my USB thumb drive.

Next is your database. Since I use WordPress, it has a built in plugin that will allow you to export your database to an .sql file. I have this send me my database backups to my gmail account. On occassion I will also download them to my monthly folder backup. I don’t do my database backup daily, but I do it 3 or 4 times a week. Previously I would use phpmyadmin to go in and export my databases manually. Regardless of what type of database you use, there is a way to back it up.

This backup strategy has helped me more than once. I’ve seen people lose years worth of data because their database gets corrupt. Imagine years worth of blogging, and it’s all gone with no backup. That would be a tough reality, so don’t let it happen to your site.

Cheers.