by Most website owners think their hosting provider saves everything. But often that does not happen. Hosting safety is a shared responsibility. Any little mistake e.g. installing a wrong plugin or removing any file by mistake can completely damage your website. Hackers’ attacks or server crashes are also a big risk.
In such conditions if you have a fresh backup, you can easily restore your website with some clicks. So keeping a personal backup is most important for website owners. If you have no backup of your website, you will have to rebuild everything, which takes a huge amount of time and money.
Data backup is not a difficult task, if you follow the right technique you can easily do this process from your end without any technical knowledge.
Ways of backups: How can I do it?
There are two main types of backups you can take:
Manual backup: In this method, you manually download all the files using FTP (such as FileZilla) and the database using phpMyAdmin and save them to your computer. This method is somewhat technical and there is a risk of forgetting.
Automatic backup – It is the easier and more reliable way. You can use plugins for WordPress, or set a schedule backup by going to your hosting’s cPanel. You should schedule automatic backups to be taken daily or weekly.
If you want the best security, then you should store this data on cloud storage such as Google Drive or Amazon S3 instead of your hosting server. This is called an offsite backup, which is considered highly secure..
Easy plan for starting
- Take your first backup immediately: Firstly login to your web hosting account, and search the Backup option in cPanel. You can easily download your full backup from there.
- Make an automatic schedule – Once you know how to take backup then set the automatic schedule. Taking daily backups is the best approach.
- Keep backup in a secured place – Do not just save your backup data on your personal computer or external drive, but you should upload that also on cloud storage crucially.
- Test for restoring – Sometimes check if your backup is working perfectly or not. Test it by restoring the backup to a test/staging website. It is the real preparation of website disaster recovery.
Best practice: Making a fail-safe backup strategy
Following a simple starter plan is good, but for true peace of mind, you should aim for a professional-grade strategy. The gold standard in the industry is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule. It’s simple to remember but incredibly effective:
1. Keep at least 3 total copies of your data. This includes your live website plus at least two separate backups.
2. Store these copies on 2 different types of storage media. For example, one copy could be on your hosting server and another on a completely different platform like Google Drive, Dropbox, or an external hard drive. This protects you from a single point of failure.
3. Keep 1 copy offsite. As mentioned earlier, this is non-negotiable. An offsite backup, away from your primary hosting server, is your ultimate safeguard against large-scale disasters like a data centre fire or a ransomware attack.
Additionally, always verify that your backups contain everything. your WordPress files (wp-content, themes, plugins), your database (which holds all your content and settings), and your configuration files (like wp-config.php). A backup is only good if it can be restored completely.
Finally, don’t just set it and forget it. Periodically (say, every 3-6 months), perform a full mock recovery drill. Create a temporary test site and actually restore your website from your backup files. This is the only way to be 100% confident that your safety net will hold when you really need it.
Don’t ignore this backup because it can give you great peace of mind in future, it can give you great peace of mind and help maintain your users’ trust.
Read also –
- 5 Critical Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Server in 2026!
- What Is Bandwidth? Meaning, Importance, Types, and How It Affects Website Performance!
- What Is a Domain? Meaning, Importance, Types, and How It Works!
- What Is Hosting? A Complete Beginner’s Guide!
- Why Customer Support Is the Backbone of Reliable Web Hosting!
Conclusion
So, what is a website backup? Asking this question is the first step towards securing your online presence. It is not an extra feature, but it is the foundation of a website’s data protection, which can always help in any data loss incidents.
You can ensure strong hosting safety by making a backup strategy. This will give you solid peace of mind and you will be able to work on your website without any hassle. So take the first step of getting your backup.
Sources–
https://www.networksolutions.com/blog/how-to-backup-a-website/
https://docs.cpanel.net/cpanel/files/backup-for-cpanel/
https://www.veeam.com/blog/321-backup-rule.html
