Description: This post was made to help people understand the importance of Website Backups
Oh No
So, recently my website and my computer have not been doing so hot (including me). Not only is my website currently not secure and could get hacked, but my computer is refusing to let me into Google Drive, hence why this first paragraph is called “Oh No.” Luckily I’ve got a few backups to help me while I deal with these issues. So while I’m currently suffering internally (and mentally) right now, let’s talk about why website backups are so important.
What are Website Backups?
These days, getting hacked is pretty bad. If you don’t have protection you could lose all your work, information, or access to your entire device. But there are more things to worry about if you’re managing a website. You could mess up something on a post or page, or the site could glitch out and you lose all your progress. However, backups help this by essentially acting as save points like in a video game. This helps you go back to a specific time before you make a decision. However, you do need to be careful with how you use them since you could accidentally create a situation where you can’t use the backup because it will ruin your website.
How to use these in WordPress
Let me just say before this that you can create these things pretty easily for any website (low-code or high-code) by just saving it to the cloud. However, this doesn’t protect it from hackers and scammers. So just be aware of that. Also, I’m a web developer in training so keep that in mind
For this tutorial will need you to download UpdraftPlus or any other backup plugin.
1. Go to your backup plugin
2. press “Backup Now”
3. If you did those two very simple steps right, you should see a yellow box on your screen
Make sure to check the box that says “Only allow this backup to be deleted manually (i.e. keep it even if retention limits are hit).” This means that only you and anyone else with admin status can use this backup.
4. click backup now and wait
Once you see a green check mark you’re done! make sure to check that it has the correct date and time as to when you created it. If you don’t see either of those things there might have been a problem when creating the website backup. Ensure you don’t leave the page and (if you can) try to restart the steps you took from this site to get there. If that doesn’t work, then try getting help or watching a video, this one may help.
The Flaws with Website Backups
They rely on the server they’re on, so if the server crashes, the backups could crash as well. Another problem that I’ve mentioned in this post is that the backup could be from a time when it had something wrong with it. Meaning that you will have to fix that problem again if you load that backup. Overall, the backup system doesn’t have a lot of flaws. However, the flaws that it does have, are huge.
Conclusion
Okay! I am physically and mentally exhausted right now; you can probably guess that in my writing. So let’s wrap this up. In conclusion, backups are an important part of managing a website. They help you undo mistakes and protect your site against cyberattacks. But if you use them wrongly, they could bite you in the butt. Just make sure to use them correctly and safely. (P.S. this is me right now)
