I’m a strong believer in backing up websites for 2 simple reasons.
1 – The time and effort spent in building a website has to be backed by something like an insurance. A backup plan should be exactly like an insurance plan, that you have to have to protect any valuable.

2 – No matter how a webhost providers promise to backup your data, there is no assurance that you will get it all back. Remember the terms of service that you have read and signed. You have to understand that in order for webhost providers to bring the prices down, they have to host hundreds if not thousands of sites to make up for the cost.
There is no way that they can provide a backup/restore plan for each site on the serve. Luckily there are simple and free tools that you can use and will help you backup all your sites.

All you need to do is schedule a backup either on a regular basis, or on the basis of updating your website. Assuming you have cPanel, the simplest way to backup your site would be using the cPanel tools.

Follow these steps to start a backup:

1- Click on the backup icon from the cPanel main page.

2- Once in the main backup page, click on link to “Generate/Download a Full Backup”

3- This will bring you to “Full Backup” form.

You will see a list of older backups, if any. Just fill the following: Make sure you choose Backup Destination “Full Backup”,  enter your email for notification confirmation, and click the “Generate Backup” button.

4- After clicking “Generate Backup”, you will see a progress message as the one below. You can exit the page.

5- When the  backup is done, you will receive an email confirmation:

Backups are kept in the home directory to keep it safe from the internet. No one usually has access from the internet to your home directory where the backup files are kept, however make sure you always keep a copy of your backup files on your local laptop or computer using your ftp software of choice.

To delete older backup files:

1- From the main cPanel page, click on the File Manager icon.

2-This will take you to your home directory / (Current Folder). Note: this is not your /www directory where you home site is.

3- Scroll down to see your backup files, click on the desired file to delete, and then go to the top right on the screen to delete the file.

4- Click on the trash container to physically delete you backup file.

Pros:

1- Easy, the steps are easy and quick to perform.

2- A Full Backup includes more then just files, it includes databases, unread emails, and more. This copy of the backup makes it easy to move your site from server to server or webhost to another webhost, if you wish so.

Cons:

1- Manual, we sometimes forget about it.

2- You may need your webhost to restore for you.

I will share other backup options next week. Stay tuned and make sure you backup your sites regularly.

Regards.

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