Question: How Do I Back Up the Rest of My WordPress Site? (Uploaded Media, Plug-ins, Themes, Style Sheets, etc.)

GEEK LEVEL: MODERATE

Yesterday, I showed you how to set up automatic backups of your WordPress SQL Database. Today we will do part 2 – Backing Up Your WP-Content Folder.

What is the WP-Content folder, you ask?

It’s a folder that gets installed with WordPress. It contains your themes, plug-ins, any media you’ve uploaded to WordPress (such as video, audio, images, etc.), as well as customizations to style sheets, and more. Most of the time you probably don’t give it a second thought, but if you had to reinstall WP, all of this stuff would get overwritten, so it’s a good idea to back it up on a timely basis, and it’s simple enough to do.

Here’s how…

Step 1

You’ll need access to your server’s files somehow: Either FTP or SSH access, or if you’re logging in through cPanel (or whatever your hosting company’s control panel is called), you’ll be able to access this through something with a name like File Manager.

Step 2

Once you’re on your server and you have access to its files, navigate to the folder called “WP-content.”

Step 3

Save this entire folder to your back-up source. (Your back-up source is a fancy way of saying “your hard drive.” Seriously, though, you might saving it somewhere else, right?)

Step 4

Now if you ever need to restore your installation of WP, you’ve got all the content tugged snugly away.

That’s it for backing up the rest of your site. You don’t need to back up WP itself – you can always download the most recent version from wordpress.org.

Need help? Have a plug-in that will do this automatically? Send me a tweet and let me know!