Always Backup Your Files and Database!
Tags: Site Update
I just want to do a recap of what happened about a week ago. I had been sharing a dedicated machine with my partner for a few months, until one Friday morning, the site just never came up. I had assumed it had something to do with exceeding bandwidth and running out of memory, little did I know, the entire machine had crapped out and had wiped everything out. Now I don’t want to go over details of how it happened since I still don’t have a clear answer to that, but I would just like to remind everyone to BACKUP all your files and your database.
This blog was luckily backed up once a week with this awesome plugin, but unfortunately DesignBombs.com was not. I had to enter all its entries from the ground up. If this site went down completely without a backup I really don’t know if I would have had the patience to write all of my tutorial all over again. Please let my mistake and foolishness be a lesson to anyone out there that is not in a routine backing up!
WordPress Backup Plugins
If you don’t have a backup system yet, I highly suggest you set something up. If you are on WordPress like me, here are two that people are highly recommending.
Where am I hosted Now?
I asked a couple people I really trust with large communities, and they had pointed me to a couple good hosting companies to look into. I decided to run with Media Temple, and am now on their Dedicated-Virtual setup.
Other recent articles related to backing up
- Belts and Suspenders: Backing Up Your Data
- 8 Useful WordPress SQL Hacks
- Ultimate Round-Up For Version Control with Subversion
- 10 Ways to Automatically & Manually Backup MySQL Database
- WordPress Backups Explained
Related Posts
Author Bio
My name is Soh Tanaka and I am a Los Angeles based designer/front-end developer specializing in CSS driven web design with an emphasis on usability and search engine optimization. I also run a CSS Gallery which is updated daily with the best CSS websites from around the world. Come check it out!
You can learn more about me or 
Follow me on twitter for more updates and resources!
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+ Add Comment16 Peeps Have Spoken Their Minds...
Ouch. I’ve been lucky and never had that stuff happen but I also back up all of my DB’s and files weekly just in case. Then I backup everything in my machine with a combination of Mozy.com (archival) and dropbox (current clients).
Anyone else reading this. Learn you lesson now not when it happens to you.
I subscribe to your RSS feed and it would be great if you would post the entire blog post and not just part of it.
nice article thx
i use Wp-Db-Backup.
;)
According to you “jc” today I wrote something very useful:
Q: If you offered an RSS feed, I could read your stuff without visiting your
site.
A: If you stored your groceries on the sidewalk, we could eat your food without
sitting across the table from you.
;-)
I am on (MT) too. I’ve setup 2 cron script to backup all the databases daily and all the domain monthly. i think it is a best-practise not to have to do it manually, but simple set it and forget it. Thanks to mediatemple scripting!!!
I know this feeling well, I lost everything last month … luckily the site was due a major spring clean and no one ever looks at it anyway, lol :-)
Glad to see that everything is back Soh.
No matter how many millions of times somebody blogs about “backing up your database,” it is still good advice.
For the record, I agree with jc about full feeds. It is much easier to stay current with content (especially via mobile device) when reading from feeds.
…if I would have had the patience…
Love the blog, though.
haha thanks for the catch!! :-p
@js, Although I still want people to come visit and join the discussions, I’ll def take that into consideration~ Thanks
Hi – I enjoy your blog posts and am excited to see that you’re a MT client. I was thinking of switching over from HostGator soon – but would like a few more reviews…
Mind posting about the service there, or exchanging a few e-mails?
Thanks.
Truer words were never said. My laptop has gone through 3, yes 3, hard drives in as many years so I feel your pain. I finally went to using Carbonite online/offsite backup and I can recover anywhere – for $55/year it is worth the time alone. Still use an external drive as well just in case the inet connection should blow too. Redundancy is key.
Oh, recently found out that the hard drives weren’t actually toast as I and the shop thought – laptop has a USB port issue that pops up about once a year. Lesson: never throw your hard drive away even if you think it’s history – all 3 of mine were actually recovered :)
Wow thanks for reminding.Back up is important too!
Backup, Backup, Backup. The software that you use is not so important than the data or resource you’ve collected. Your creations, your projects. So be it wordpress or others, keep this in mind. Always Backup.
yeah backup is very important…. thank’s..
Good point, as i know of some who don’t think it’s necessairy to back-up on WP…that’ll teach ‘em :-)
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