Your WordPress database contains every post, every comment and every link you have on your blog. If your database gets erased or corrupted, you stand to lose everything you have written. There are many reasons why this could happen and not all are things you can control. But what you can do is back up your data. After all, it is important. Right?
Making backups is essential because problems inevitably occur and you need to be in a position to take action when disaster strikes. Spending a few minutes to make an easy, convenient backup of your database will allow you to spend even more time being creative and productive with your website.
How often should you back up?
That depends on how often you blog, how often you want to do this, and how you would feel if your database were lost along with a few posts. It is your decision.
Can you use this method to back up other data?
Yes. And you should. Backups are good.
How many backups should I keep?
Excellent question. Most people make a backup and then just replace it every time. It saves space and is less to worry about. But what if that backup file is corrupted or lost? Then what? The general rule of thumb is to keep at least three backups and keep them in three different places or forms, like CD/DVDs, different hard drives, a thumbdrive, web disk, your e-mail account, etc.
My database backups are huge! Can I do anything about that?
Possibly. Typically, anti-spam and statistics plugins can add large amounts of data and because they are constantly gathering information, the database can swell significantly. When backing up the database, such information is probably not important to keep. Do not mark those tables for backup when selecting them during the backup process.
Can backups be automated?
Yes. There are several methods of automating the backup process available, but back up those auto backups with a manual backup every once in a while to guarantee that the process is working. See Backup Resources for more information.
