WordPress 3.0: Backup Before You Upgrade

backupbuddy sidebaradIn a previous post, I recommended you don’t upgrade to WordPress 3.0 due to the bugs that are bound to be included. I always wait until the next release after a major release i.e. 3.1.

However, I know many of you will be tempted to upgrade and that’s fine but if you do decide to, make sure you backup your complete blog including themes, plugins, settings, widgets, comments AND SQL databases…the entire package!

Don’t just rely on the database backup. As it says, it only backups your database files and not the theme, plugins etc.

If WordPress 3.0 doesn’t work with you your theme or certain plugins, just having the database backup may not be good enough to get to back to where you were before you upgraded.

But backing up everything on your blog is not just about upgrades. I’ve had many blogging friends who have been hacked recently and it can takes days to get back to where you were before the ‘hacking’.

So what do I do for backups?

Because I got a bit paranoid about being hacked, I firstly completed a number of changes to my blog. Check out my blog post: Improve the security of your blog

Secondly, I researched for the best and simplest way to backup my complete blog and I found this plugin: BackupBuddy

The plugin performs fast, reliable backups.

Here are the primary features and benefits of BackupBuddy

Backup your entire WordPress install – including the themes, plugins, settings, widgets, comments AND SQL databases…the entire package!

Restore your WordPress site fast — the restore function is a simple restoration process where you upload a script and your backup files and it restores WordPress, your themes, widgets, plugins, and everything else.

Backup Scheduling – You can do daily, weekly, bi-monthly, monthly backups … and includes email and FTP options to another server

I use the plugin to backup my blog on a daily basis and I FTP the files to a different server that my blog site is on.

I also use it on my maintenance client’s sites as well. As I have the BackupBuddy developer’s license, it enables me to use the plugin on as many sites as I want.

Migrate a WordPress site to another domain or server easily – If you build custom WordPress sites for clients this plugin is for you! This is a great feature for WordPress developers who build a custom site for a client on a temporary domain (like a sandbox or playground site) then want to reinstall the ENTIRE site with widgets and all on a live client domain.

Here are a couple of videos highlighting the ease and functions of BackupBuddy

BackupBuddy Tour

How to Backup WP Easily

How do you backup everything? Please share your views in the comments below.

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28 Responses to WordPress 3.0: Backup Before You Upgrade
  1. I’m thinking that I will be waiting to upgrade to WordPress 3.0 for a little bit was well. I have also heard that it is not running good with the Thesis theme, which I use on my sites, so I think I will just play it safe for now and wait until Thesis officially releases a fix and WordPress 3.1 comes out. Thanks for the info on Backup Buddy, as I am going to check it out now.
    .-= Tiffany @ Online Passive Income´s last blog ..A Summer of Focus – I Will Make My Passive Income Goals! =-.

  2. I usually replicate my blog site locally to see if the upgrade process will work. It can be quite a pain to do this but it’s best than doing it directly on the live site. Backup is important too as something could still go wrong even if I’ve tested it locally. So far the upgrade I did locally was quite a success.

  3. Andrew, I just checked out BackUpBuddy. It looks like a one-stop great way to make sure my blogs are backed up so I don’t have to worry about it.

    Is that correct? Once I set it, I can just let it keep doing its thing?

    I have several blogs, so I’d likely get the developer option.
    .-= John Soares´s last blog ..E-Mail Marketing With Lists — Survey Results =-.

  4. I’ve been bitten by bad backups a few times… Make sure you do a restore every now and then to test your system. Don’t wait until your blog crashes to find out your restore doesn’t work.

    Believe me, it sucks

  5. Josiah from Free iPad

    I wouldn’t recommend upgrading quite yet either. Give some time for your favorite plugins to catch up then go for it. BackupBuddy seems like it would give you some peace of mind when upgrading :)
    .-= Josiah@Free iPad´s last blog ..Reader for iPad: The Best RSS App? =-.

  6. Jonathan Beebe

    Thanks for the awesome resource, I’ll definitely have to direct some of my subscribers here if they need help backing up their blog.

    I upgraded to WP 3.0 when it came out and everything went smoothly, thankfully. I was a little nervous, but I DID back everything up first just in case.

    I think WordPress should have a ‘backup everything’ option in the admin because I think most people don’t understand that a lot of backup plugins only backup the database, not your files, images, etc.

    Thanks again for sharing this post. I’m a new subscriber to your blog so you should see me around more often!
    .-= Jonathan Beebe´s last blog ..Make Money Online in 5 Easy Steps =-.

  7. Colleen from Kennewick Real Estate

    I told myself I wasn’t going to upgrade until 3.1 or 3.01 but I succumbed to the “Upgrade Now” link. Oh well, I guess I’m one of those who are charting the course of the next WP version, eh. I will tell ya that I always do an export of everything before doing anything. So, the worst thing that can happen is re-installing WordPress from scratch and importing our stuff (hopefully).
    .-= Colleen@Kennewick Real Estate´s last blog ..17th Annual Cool Desert Nights =-.

  8. JR

    Interesting, I have been using WP Backup, but I had to restore a site the other day and it did not restore any of my widgets, I will check out BakcupBuddy, thanks!
    .-= JR ´s last blog ..Google Mayday Update, Caffeine and Tanked SERP Ranks =-.

  9. Dennis Edell from Direct Sales Marketing

    Very much appreciated buddy, thanks1 I’m thinkin’ with my blog network coming out, I may indeed need something like this, just to be safe.

    Now, you’re having everything automatically FTP’d to another server. Does it have to remain online, or can it be directly downloaded to a folder or external drive somewhere?
    .-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Sub Categories and Drop Down Menus – What’s the Deal? =-.

  10. Hey Andrew,

    Thanks for the review. You should be getting an affiliate commission from it. ;)

    I just picked up the 10 domain software and may upgrade to developer later.

    I appreciate the review and opinions.

    Brandon
    .-= TheInfoPreneur´s last blog ..A Million Dollar Business – What does it look Like? =-.

  11. Thanks for sharing this post, it is very important to backup your blog before any upgrade, you may not know what will happen.

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