It’s the 13th again and that means it’s time to backup your blog. But this time around, lets take it one step further and backup all the files also.

Recently I came across a blog that was not accessible. Getting a copy of the database files was one thing, but there were other files to consider. Things like custom pages, templates, plugins and the Wordpress files in general.

Usually I’d skip these as getting the Wordpress install is as easy as going to the Wordpress site and any plugins can be re-downloaded. However, getting the right version of everything is the trick. I’ve run across a few plugins that work better at version 1.7 than they do at 1.8 for example. I know that plugin versions can also modify how they tie into the database in different versions. If you just assume that you can re-download the files elsewhere, you may run into more issues than you bargained for.

Plus there are files you edited. Most people modify their template files while others can go a bit further and modify feeds to insert Yahoo ads or make other slight modifications that effect more than the template files. If you do either of these, backing up the files is very important.

There is a lot of discussion about a few bigger named bloggers getting hacked recently. The good thing to come out if this is that it’s bringing backups into the spotlight.

Back on October 13th I declared Blog Backup Day and I’m working on spreading the word. If your posts are backed up, it’ll be a lot easier to recover from such an attack. I’ve even outlined some techniques to backing up your blog. Including the extremely easy way to backup a Wordpress blog which seems to be the platform under attack.

Wordpress does acknowledge the security issue and has *hopefully* fixed the security bug in the latest releases . All users should upgrade as soon as they can!

I feel bad for the sites that got hacked as I know that they don’t deserve it. But lets all take this as a warning that we are not immune and that blogs, and all digital information, needs to be backed up regularly.

I’m off to backup my posts and upgrade my Wordpress install. How about you?

Today is the unofficial Blog Backup Day.  It happens every month on the 13th.

Being only the second one, we are still working on getting the word out.  If you wanna help spread the news, feel free to use our graphic.

So how do I backup a blog?

I’m declaring the 13th of each month as the unofficial blog backup day. Meaning that you should login to your blog software and download a backup of all posts. Also, if you have access to the template files, back those up too.

Avoiding issues are much easier than trying to fix them once they happen. I’ve never seen a blog just delete itself, but I have heard of people’s hosting accounts suddenly having a hardware failure and are non-recoverable. If you don’t have a backup of your files, who does?

Yes, a good host will make backups, but that’s placing your trust fully in a third party. What if their backups are in the same office as your website and they have a fire? All is lost. If you do have a good host, then a secondary set of backups never hurt and you’ll have them at your fingertips at all times.

Ok, so this is a perfect gloom post for Friday the 13th, but you must realize that technology isn’t perfect. Your blog could go down and if you have no backup, then you’ll have to start from zero. All your hard work down the drain.

How do you backup a blog?

For Wordpress blogs, use the the WordPress Database Backup plugin. This plugin is included with all installs of Wordpress starting with version 2 I believe. Once enabled, you just go tot he backups section of the manage screen, make a few selections and it’ll backup your blog posts to your desktop or email. I wouldn’t suggest backing up to the server as that won’t do you any good if your web server goes down.

For Wordpress.com blogs, click on Manage and then Export.

With TypePad just got to the Import/Export area on the Manage tab of your admin area. Here you’ll be able to export all posts to your desktop. [backup support page]

Movable Type users can login to their admin area and click on Import/Export and then select Export.

Blogger doesn’t allow an export of all your posts like other services. However, you can edit your template with a bit of custom code to output all posts on one page, then save that page and revert back to your old template. Not the best solution but it should work. [Blogger How-To Page]