Making a WordPress backup is easy with a free WordPress plugin called UpdraftPlus. This plugin allows you to make a copy of your WordPress website, save it on external or local storage, and recover it when needed.
In this article, you will learn how to install the WordPress backup plugin and how to make a backup of the WordPress website and restore it when needed. Also, there are 3 important tips in the end that you need to read. Keep reading!
UpdraftPlus backup program installation
1. Navigate to the plugins page:
2. Click on “Add New”:
3. Search for “UpdraftPlus” in the Plugin Repository:
4. Install UpdraftPlus:
5. Activate the Plugin:
In case you have not started developing your site, we have another article that teaches how to make WordPress website yourself. Even if you have a site or are a seasonal developer, there are still great tips and tricks to consider. Check it out.
Making a WordPress backup with the UpdraftPlus plugin
1. Go to UpdraftPlus Settings:
In the WordPress dashboard, find the “UpdraftPlus” plugin and click on “Settings”.
2. Configure Backup Settings:
From there, you can see various settings that you should configure:
- Set your desired backup frequency: 10 recommended
- Set time: during the night/very early in the morning.
- Choose files and database: choose all
- Configure anything else you may need
3. Choose Google Drive as the Storage Destination
- Select “Google Drive” from the list (taken you have the account, if not, do it now).
- Click on the “Save Changes” button.
- After saving, a “Authenticate with Google” button will appear, click on it. Sign in to your Google account and grant permission for UpdraftPlus to access Google Drive
4. Verify & Save Changes:
Verify that Google Drive is selected as the remote storage.
Make sure to click “Save Changes” button to apply your configurations.
After you are done, it is good practice to run one manual backup. Then, check Google Drive for the specified UpdraftPlus folder with all 5 or 6 backup files you chose.
NB! You can also choose a backup location like Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive or any other external storage available in the plugin.
There is also a second plugin called All In One WP Migration, but we have never tried it. Some hosting providers may also provide server-based backup and restoration function, but this can clog up your server storage.
Backup restoring
Backup restoring is as easy and taking a backup.
1. Navigate to the Existing Backups:
It is a section where you can see a list of backups you already have.
2. Select the Backup to Restore:
From the backups page, you can now choose a backup you want to restore. Click the “restore” button and follow the next step.
3. Configure Restore Options:
Select whether you want to restore the theme, plugin database, uploads, and others – we recommend you to restore all to ensure all works flawlessly.
4. Initiate the Restore Process:
Click the “Restore” button to initiate the restore process.
Wait until the process has been completed and move to the next step.
4. Check and Update Permalinks:
It is good practice to check and update permalinks again after restoring as sometimes permalinks can change, or perhaps you made changes during the last backup. Go to “Settings” – > “Permalinks” check everything is as it should and click save changes to update your site’s permalinks.
5. Test website functionalities:
Test all pages, posts, and functionalities of your site to make sure everything is restored correctly without errors occurring.
If errors occur, you can always go back to your website’s original state before restoring. If there are no errors, you can delete that, as the plugin will ask you to do so.
Website transfer to new domain
Website transfer has the same logic as restoring your old backups. With the new website, install the UpdraftPlus, choose to restore from Google Drive where the original site backup is created, and follow the steps set up in the restore section.
Note: with the free version of the plugin, you can only recover your site to the same URL. For example, WordPress backup and recovery on the same domain works. But, if you want to transfer a site from one domain to another, you need a paid version.
TIP #1: Create backup during the night
Good practice is also to make a backup during the night when there is no traffic because the backup process consumes server resources.
Especially when you have a large site as you do not want to make your site slow during the hours when your visitors are most likely to buy from you.
TIP #2: Use staging site to test backup restoration
It is good practice to test restoring your site on the staging site to ensure it works as it should.
If you have some problem with your themes or plugin interfering with restoring backup, it is best to find it out now. So, you contact the plugin developer to get it fixed.
Because if something happens with your site in the future when you try to restore it and it is not working, it is too late to fix it.
Here’s how you can create a staging backup of your site on WordPress using Softaculous.
TIP #3: backup with 10 days or more intervals
At our agency, we use Google Drive as external storage to back up our site daily at 10-day intervals. Now, whenever something happens, we can recover our site for up to 10 days.
You can also choose every second day for 20 days, which works out similarly, having 10 backups.
Tip: We created a separate Gmail account for our business to get 10GB of free storage.