How to Backup your WordPress Database
The easy and secure way, using phpMyAdmin. Backup of your database should be done regularly, especially before installing a Plugin or Upgrading WordPress. Then, when and if trouble arises, you have an entire copy of your data including users, pages, posts, comments, plugin variables, settings, etc. The only things not backed up are your files on server, photos, modified files, and the like – see below about FTP backup.
Required for phpMyAdmin Backup of WordPress database
- Hosting Control Panel access, like cPanel or Plesk, including username and password – obtained from hosting admin.
Is FTP backup of files also necessary?
How important are your files? If its a chance that your site files can be destroyed – through hosting failure, WordPress upgrade, or act of God – then it is wise to do an FTP backup of all files on the hosting server, as well as Database Backup to enable complete replication of entire website.
Replicate WordPress site
Once all your server files are backed up – downloaded by FTP to your hard drive – its as easy as transferring them back onto a server by FTP.
Then upload – Restore – your WordPress Database Backup using phpMyAdmin. WordPress Database Backup and Restore, can be initiated from phpMyAdmin in your site’s Control Panel – details below.
Using phpMyAdmin to Backup WordPress Database
- Go Login to your Control Panel
- Scroll menus for a reference to Databases – Click on phpMyAdmin link there
- phpMyAdmin homepage – Top left corner shows Database names, WordPress Database ends in “_wrdp1″ or similar. Click on the name of the database you would like to backup, see picture below
- The next screen appears, showing your database with tables revealed.
- Click Export on the top menus.
- All tables should be selected for Export by default, if not, select them all.
- On the same page, Scroll down
- Tick [] Save as file, Select .”zipped“
- Click [Go] button to download your Database in Zip file – Save to your desktop
All done!
The downloaded Zip file, bearing the name of the database .zip, should be kept safe, as this file will be needed, in order to:
Restore WordPress Database
Additional information:
WordPress Backups – WordPress Codex
Backing Up Your Database – WordPress Codex
Is There method to full backup for free hosting?
firstly,
what technologies are available to you?
database access?
ftp access?
are you free to install wordpress plugins of choice?
if no easy access for the above, you could ‘spider’ the site and get a html copy of your pages, then use that with an import plugin on another install.