Backup is creating a backup copy of a site and putting it in a safe storage to avoid possible trouble. A mandatory operation for all owners of online resources. Perhaps for students who own sites their friends occasionally visit, the loss of information in case of problems with the resource is not so critical, but for serious organizations that make a lot of money on their sites, the lack of a backup site in a critical situation can lead to tragedy and result in serious losses.
Creating backups is an extremely varied process. But it does not do without problems – none of the known methods guarantees one hundred percent data safety. The method that can be classified as one of the most reliable is copying your data manually, using at least several different media. But this method will not suit everyone. The fact is that this process will take so much time and effort that it will become too costly and impractical to monitor the regular copying of information.
It is for this reason that the vast majority of sites are copied thanks to pre-prepared solutions – such services provide hosts, modules and plugins, including services that specialize in backing up information.
What’s the reason backups by hosting options are not particularly effective?
Most hosting companies perform a backup of sites as one of the options. In this case, each organization has its own, individual characteristics. As a rule, the user is offered to automatically create a backup of the site. Of course this method is easier than copying in manual mode, but here it is not without nuances:
- Often the process of creating a copy is equipped with an uncomfortable interface, to get the hang of it is not too easy and to study it will have to spend some time.
- Although the process of backing up will occur automatically, but the resumption of the site may delay, because the recovery is usually necessary to deal personally with the client, and in some cases – to request a backup through the support hosting.
- Often – backing up the site is carried out in periods of once a week. In the case where the site is undergoing frequent changes, then the time interval is not enough, and if you want to create a backup more often have to spend extra money.
- Copies are stored only for a short time, and then deleted. If, for example, the site was infected with viruses, and you learned about it only a month later, it will be impossible to make a rollback to the “before” version.
- As a rule, all the servers of hosting companies are located in one data center. Therefore, in case of force majeure, both your site and its backups will be lost. Software failures are also not uncommon.
- Your site may be deleted at the same time as the backups, if you do not replenish the balance in time. It can happen to anyone.
- Placing a site on hosting, you give it into someone else’s hands. Not to please something hoster, you run the risk of losing your site.
- The hoster himself may not please anyone. It is relevant in the current socio-political situation. If the company will be interested in the intelligence services, it may lose their servers, and you – the site.
Entirely trusting the hosting company to create backups, you run the risk of ending up with nothing. In any case, the risks should be diversified, so you should take care of a backup.
Backups with plugins – a reliable safety net?
For those who host a site using popular CMS (WordPress, Joomla, etc.) backup option comes to mind instantly – installing a special plugin/module. Many of them synchronize with the cloud and automatically (with the set settings) send files there on a regular basis.
However, this seemingly convenient solution has a number of drawbacks:
- Even seemingly reliable plugins with high ratings and millions of downloads can contain bugs that can disrupt the site or lead to a hack. The tempting promise of restoring a web resource from a one-click backup can turn into a “white screen of death”.
- Often you have to contend with limits and hosting settings that do not allow you to make full use of the capabilities of plugins. In order to find the best solution, you will have to spend a lot of time and effort.
- As a rule, free plugin options can not provide a truly reliable backup, and the premium subscription will cost a serious amount of money.
To summarize, the process of backing up is not an easy process and certainly not unambiguous, but strictly mandatory as a security measure.