Backing up your WordPress Blog site files is actually quite easy. You just need the right software, a little bit of info from your host about your server to configure it, and a little bit of a strategy on how to back up the right files and where/how to store them on your computer. This is something you should do regularly, and you’ll probably have to because it’s considered a good idea to back up your files whenever you attempt to update to the current version of the WordPress platform you have installed. That’s something you should do as soon as each new WordPress update becomes available to make sure your blog is secure, loading quickly, and delivering the best user experience possible.
I’ve broken down the process of backing up your WordPress blog files into 4 easy steps:
Step 1. FTP Software :
For Mac users, I suggest using either Fetch, which is free to try for 15 days and then $29, or using my personal favorite, Transmit, both of which are available at CNET’s Downloads.net. Transmit is a great FTP client that has a lot of features that make your life easy, such as Sync, which keeps all your files updated. Transmit is also free to try and is $34 to buy.
However, before you purchase it, you should really go visit Panic, the company that makes Transmit, and see if you might be better off choosing Coda, which is a full-featured IDE (Integrated Development Environment). It not only has all the features of Transmit built right in, but it also makes editing HTML, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, and a dozen other languages that you might need to customize your blog. Even if you’re a beginner, it’s worth the investment because eventually, you WILL end up having to edit some code somewhere at some point, and it’s only $75 which makes it a better choice given that it includes all the features of Transmit, CNET’s Editor’s most highly rated FTP software for Mac, but also all the other tools that you will need as you get a little deeper into blogging, including Document, a full featured editor with code hints and coloring customized for over a dozen programming and scripting languages, Book a complete collection of reference material for each one of the languages it handles and room for more, Terminal which allows you to log directly into the server via the command line, and it’s own MySQL database visualizer and editor.
Step 2. Configure Your FTP Client:
Next, you’ll need to create a new profile for your blog in your FTP client and populate it with the information specific to your blog’s host server. This will vary from host to host, but the necessary information usually includes the “Server,” which is just the FTP account attached to your domain. For example, it might be ftp.yourdomain.com, and this may have been created automatically when you installed WordPress if you used Fantastico. It will also include the username and password for that FTP account (usually the same as your main login for the host unless you’ve specified otherwise. Lastly, you’ll need to enter the path leading from the root directory of your server to the directory your blog’s files are in. Depending on the host and how you’ve chosen to set it up, this might be something like /www/yourdomain.com/ or just simply “/” which indicates the root directory of your server. The default Step 3. Prepare Your Computer:
Start by creating a folder on your computer that you would like to keep the backup copies of your WordPress files in. Put it somewhere that you will be sure to remember, and name it something that will be helpful should you ever need to perform a search to find it one day after disaster strikes. For example, Blog Files Backups would be good. Then create another folder inside that one named the same thing, but append the date in 6-digit form to the end. For example, BlogFilesBackup011513. This will help you distinguish it from other backups as time goes on. Make a new dated folder for each backup you make, and if you make more than one backup in a day, consider appending sequential numbers to the Folder name preceded by an underscore. For example, BlogFilesBackup011513_2 or you could use the time, as in BlogFilesBackup011513_423pm.
Step 3. Transfer Files From The Server To Your Computer:
Each FTP client works a little differently, but in Transmit, for example, you would start by navigating to the dated local folder on your computer that you just created in Step 3 above, which appears inside the box on the left side of the window. Typically, most FTP programs show local files on the left and server files on the right, but this isn’t always the case, so check first.
Next, connect to your server by using the menu or by hitting the button you see in place of the files inside the box on the right side of the window. After connecting and loading for a few seconds, your site’s files should appear on the right side. Make sure that the path is correct and that you aren’t downloading everything on the server (unless you want to) as this could include things like your entire email Inbox and Sent Files, as well as other things you may not want to upload during an attempt to restore your blog after a problem. That’s because doing so could end up wiping out all the emails you’ve received between that moment and your last backup. So, be careful to make sure that only the files that are part of your site and the WordPress files and folders within it are showing. If they aren’t, you can go adjust the path in the settings of your FTP client profile or just navigate to the right folder as you would navigate through folders on your own computer.
