When I teach WordPress or any other online platform, I frequently focus on the importance of creating backups as often as you update content. It’s also important to test your backups. If your website crashes or is hacked, a backup only helps if it can be successfully restored.
There are times when a backup file is corrupted making it impossible to restore. Running through a backup and restore process allows you to test that it’s working.
How to Test Your Backup
In this post, I’m using UpdraftPlus for my backup and restore solution. This plugin can be found in the WordPress repository or on their website. They have a free version that provides a good solution for most businesses, and premium extensions for more advanced requirements. For more information on UpdraftPlus and how to use it to backup your website see my 7 Ways to Make WordPress More Secure. Item Number 1 teaches you how to configure backups.
- The first step in testing your backup is to run a backup.
- Once the backup is complete, create and a page or post. Name it anything you want.
- Publish the post.
- Go to the Page or Post listing depending on which you created and check that it exists.
- Now it’s time to restore the database. From the Dashboard, select Settings, UpdraftPlus.
- Select the Restore button.
- Select the checkbox for database.
- Click the Restore button, and wait until the restoration is complete.
- Once you receive confirmation that the restoration was successful, return to the post or page listing and check to make sure that what you created is no longer there. If so, the previous database successfully restored.
Test your backup and restore process frequently to insure that your site data is safe in case of emergency. And of course, it’s recommended that backups be stored offsite – not on the server where the website is hosted.
