Backup and recovery: the guide every business owner should read

The question nobody wants to answer

When was the last backup of your website? Where is it stored? Have you ever tested restoring it? If you don't have a clear answer to all three questions, you have a real risk.

Why sites fail

The causes are more varied than you'd think:

• ·Failed updates: an incompatible plugin can leave the site blank

• ·Hacks: malicious files that corrupt the installation

• ·Human error: accidentally deleting content or a database

• ·Hardware failures: rare in quality hosting, but they happen

• ·Malware: that alters files without you noticing for days

The 3-2-1 rule

The backup strategy most recommended by experts:

• ·3 copies of the data

• ·2 on different media (server + external drive or cloud)

• ·1 off-site (cloud backup)

What a complete backup should include

A website backup has two parts that must be backed up together: 1. The files: HTML, images, plugins, themes, configurations 2. The database: all content, users, dynamic settings If you only back up one part, the restore won't work.

How often to back up

• ·Static or low-activity sites: weekly

• ·Sites with frequent content updates: daily

• ·Online stores or sites with transactions: hourly or in real time

Test your backup

An untested backup is just a hope. Every 3 months, restore a copy in a test environment and verify everything works correctly.

Recommended tools

For WordPress: UpdraftPlus (free, allows automatic backup to Google Drive or Dropbox). For any platform: professional hosting plans include automatic backup. Verify it's active and the retention period is sufficient. --- Daily automatic backup is included in our hosting plans. See plans.