Website Backups: The 3-2-1 Rule So You Never Lose Everything

An update that breaks the site, a hack, a human error, a host outage: it's not a question of if, but when. On that day, the only thing that matters is having a recent, complete backup you can restore. Here's how to be sure.

What to back up

• Files: theme, plugins, uploaded images and documents, configuration.
• Database: pages, posts, orders, customers, settings.
• Access and configuration: DNS, accounts, environment variables, documented separately.

The 3-2-1 rule

• 3 copies of your data (the original plus two backups).
• 2 different storage types (for example the server and cloud storage).
• 1 off-site copy, with a different provider than your host.

Why off-site? Because if your hosting account is hacked, suspended or hit by a major outage, backups stored in the same place go down with it.

How often?

It depends on how fast your site changes. A rarely edited business site can be backed up daily or weekly; a store taking orders around the clock needs more frequent database backups. Keep several versions over time too: an infection can go unnoticed for days.

The test nobody runs: restoring

A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a guarantee. Corrupt files, incomplete databases, backups too large to import: these problems always surface at the worst moment. Test restores regularly on a staging environment.

Common mistakes

• Relying only on the host's backups without knowing how to restore them.
• Backing up files but forgetting the database (or the reverse).
• Keeping a single version, overwritten every night.
• Never checking that backups still run.

Backups handled for you

Our managed services include automatic off-site backups, multiple versions and restore tests. See also our website maintenance checklist.