Why backup?
1) hosting companies disappear
2) servers crash
3) code gets corrupted
Ok, so I convinced you. Now if you’re like most people, you’ve got 2 tasks ahead:
To backup your database, use the WP-Database-Backup plugin. Before I discovered this simple backup plugin, I manually backed up my clients’ databases for them before I upgraded their version of WordPress. Those of you who have used MySql to backup can imagine how grateful I was to discover a plugin that would do this automatically. With WP-database-backup, you can schedule an automatic backup with email delivery to yourself or your WordPress manager.
To backup your wp-content folder, use an ftp program like fetch or use your web hosting control panel’s file manager. Once you’ve copied the wp-content folder to your computer or hard drive, burn your database and your wp-content folder onto a CD-R or DVD disk for storage (remember – hard drives can fail). Then sleep well at night – you’ve backed yourself up!