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What does a backup need to do?

A backup is a copy of your website that lets you restore an earlier state. Whether it helps in an emergency comes down to four ques­tions.

  • Usable backupsHow to recognize a usable backup
  • More than the hostWhy your host's backup alone is not enough
  • RestoringHow a restore works, step by step
Wed, Mar 12oldest snapshot
Mon, May 12a month ago
Thu, Jun 5a week ago
Wed, Jun 11yesterday
Thu, Jun 12, auto­maticfour snapshots
Copy of your-website.com
Thu, Jun 12, before update confirmed
Each snapshot holds files and database from the same moment.

What sets a backup apart from a copy

A WordPress website consists of two parts. If one of them is missing, it cannot be restored.

Files
Design, plugins, images
Database
Texts, pages, users, orders
Complete copy
Both parts from the same moment

The copy only becomes a backup once it meets four condi­tions:

  1. 1Stored away from the host
  2. 2Made regularly and completely
  3. 3Kept long enough
  4. 4Can be restored

Full backup and incremental backup

How often a site can be backed up depends on how much work each backup puts on the server.

Full backup high load

Copies the entire website on every run.

  • Server noticeably slower mean­while
  • Usually only once a day, at night
If damage occurs, everything since last night is missing.
Incremental backup low load

Complete once, then only what has changed.

  • Visitors notice nothing of the run
  • Several times a day, up to hourly
If damage occurs, at most the last few hours are missing.

unchanged, not copied again

What goes wrong in practice

Most hosts back up their servers. As the only backup, that is not enough: copy and original depend on the same provider.

your-website.com
This site can't be reached
Server migration at the host

Outage after a server migration. Restored from our own backup, because the host's backup was hit by the same process.

your-website.com
Who’s who

We’re here for you, person­ally.

Characters broken
Database move without a charset check

Every special character in every text broken. Eight hours of repair, only possible with the backup from before the move.

Backup run rejected
  • Backup started
  • Security plugin blocks it
  • Run confir­ma­tionmissing
  • Update on hold
Security plugin blocks the backup

The backup was silently rejected. It only came to light because the update waited for its confir­ma­tion.

A backup only counts once it is confirmed and stored else­where.

Cases from our work, treated confi­den­tially.

How a restore works

A restore overwrites the live website with an older state. The example: after a gallery plugin update, the images are missing.

your-website.com/gallery
After the update images missing
  1. 1Choose a point
  2. 2Restore
  3. 3Check pages
  4. 4Clear cache
your-website.com/gallery
State before the update restored
Files and data­base together Changes made after this state are lost Cause then traced on staging

How and when we back up your website

The four questions from the top of this page, answered for our main­te­nance. The answers apply to every plan.

Where is the copy?
In four places
Three independent systems and a local backup server, outside your hosting
What does it contain?
Files and data­base
Every six hours up to real time, plus before every update
How long is it kept?
3 months
Also for errors that only show up weeks later
Can it be restored?
Yes, included
After a hack or a defect, or an earlier state on request
Updates only after a confirmed backup With your hosting, in five places Backups are deleted when the contract ends
Backups and recovery in detail

Ready for dependable care?

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