Backup
Backing up properly doesn't 100% remove all issue, just 99.999% removes it (that is why we keep MULTIPLE backups, 3 or 5 at a minimum.
Web Backup
When you want to do a backup from your web site, you have two options :\
- a synchronisation
- a simple copy of your file
I begun with the second option but now I moved to the second one for this efficiency.
Create Synchs With Your Site
Programs which allow you to synch with your website to keep a mirror copy of the content on your server and hard drive updated. It saves time and makes sure you have the latest files in both places.
Below i a list of software that permit a synchronisation.
- rsync
I use personally FileManager - WinScp :
Copy Your Files to Your Desktop
Using FTP Clients or UNIX Shell Skills you can copy the files to a folder on your computer. Once there, you can zip or compress them into a zip file to save space, allowing you to keep several versions.
Remember, keep at least three backups on file, just in case one is corrupted or lost, and store them in different places and on different mediums, like CD, DVD, different hard drives, etc.
Backup rules
Bad:
- They're not taking backups at all
- They're backing up over existing backups and writing corrupted files over good ones
- They're not backing up frequently enough (it must be fully automated)
- They're only backing up to connected devices accessible by malicious software
Strategy
Ideally, you want a 3-2-1 backup strategy which means at least 3 total copies of your data, 2 of which are local but on different mediums (such as external storage devices) and 1 which is offsite. There are professional cloud backup services available which will keep versioned copies of all your things and allow you to rollback to any point in time.