[Plugin: WordPress Backup to Dropbox] Nothing seems to happen when backing up

I might be experiencing the same problem.

I installed the plugin (version 0.9.4) and successfully linked the Dropbox account.
When I click the Start Backup button under Backup Now I get the following message:

Your backup has been scheduled and is waiting for WordPress to start it. This could take a few minutes, so now is a good time to go and grab a cup of coffee.

However nothing seems to happen, even after an hour no files are visible in Dropbox.

The plugin What’s in Cron tells me this:

Apr 11, 2012 @ 9:11 (1334135482)      One-off event   execute_instant_drobox_backup
Apr 13, 2012 @ 2:00 (1334282400)      Once Daily      execute_periodic_drobox_backup

I started a manual backup (using Backup Now) yesterday at 9:11 UTC, which is visible in the Cron list, but it didn’t result in any backuping being done. The nightly/daily backup at 2:00 also didn’t run.
A new Cron for tonight (it is currently Apr 12, 2012) is planned, but a new manual backup I started about 30 minutes ago is not visible.

Can you please verify that your cron system is working by creating a scheduled post.

Seems it doesn’t, thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
I have another site running on the same server where the problem doesn’t occur, the backup runs just fine there.

So it must be someting with the WordPress Cron system on the ‘trouble giving’ site.

Thanks for your response, if you have any more pointers where to look I will truly appreciate it.

Please check you do not have DISABLE_WP_CRON set to true in your wp-config.php

Failing that, I am not sure a some blogs have issues with WordPress’ in built cron system and I dont know why.

Checked wp-config.php but it didn’t have DISABLE_WP_CRON set to true.

The problem seemed to be that the site runs behind .htaccess, therefor wp-cron.php is unreachable for WordPress and thus Cron jobs aren’t executed.

I solved this by adding the following acception to my .htaccess file:

<Files "wp-cron.php">
Allow from All
Satisfy Any
</Files>

For future reference and other users having similar issues I posted this, so their debugging might go faster.

This is a fantastic find and will probably solve wp-cron issues for many people.

Thanks for taking the time to get to the bottom it! I will be linking this tread to the plugin read me.

Hi im using dropbox plugin for backups, i love the idea, and it makes more sense than backup on your own server for many reasons we all know.

Anyways i have setup with all the instructions you advised as well as attended to all the hints in this forum. however i cannot get the backup initiated. here is my error:

Backup error on 2012-05-08 at 08:47:45: Exception – Error creating sql dump file. (ERROR_2)
Backup warning on 2012-05-08 at 08:47:44: This php installation is running in safe mode so the time limit cannot be set. Click here for more information.
Backup started on 2012-05-08 at 08:47:40
Backup error on 2012-05-08 at 08:30:27: Exception – Error creating sql dump file. (ERROR_2)
Backup warning on 2012-05-08 at 08:30:27: This php installation is running in safe mode so the time limit cannot be set. Click here for more information.
Backup started on 2012-05-08 at 08:30:22
Backup error on 2012-05-08 at 08:22:52: Exception – Error creating sql dump file. (ERROR_2)
Backup warning on 2012-05-08 at 08:22:51: This php installation is running in safe mode so the time limit cannot be set. Click here for more information.
Backup started on 2012-05-08 at 08:22:47

Thats after trying 3 times.
please could somebody help me fix this?

To author of this plugin i highly advise you add a donation section to the plugin so we can help you achieve goals in this great developemnt, im sure we all would like to help you out as the plugin is perfect:)

It looks like the plugin is having issues writing to the ‘backups’ directory. Please insure it has write permissions.

Regarding donations, Id prefer that you donated your money to a worthy cause like https://mycharitywater.org/ that I plan to change all my donation links to as soon as I can track them.

Hey Michael,

Even though in Back up Settings > History, it says the backup is complete there’s no WordPressBackup folder created in Dropbox (and no backup file) and I didn’t see a backup in the “Temporarily store your database backup in this folder” wp-content/backups folder.

Checked wp-config.php but it didn’t have DISABLE_WP_CRON so not set to true. I also added the exception to the .htaccess file but still not working:

<Files “wp-cron.php”>
Allow from All
Satisfy Any
</Files>

Thanks in advance!

Hey mate,

Are scheduled posts working?

Hi Micheal, is that question for me?

I just set it up a couple of hours ago and used “Backup Now”.

@wsnkm That was a question for you. The plugin uses WordPress’ cron system. A good way to test its working is to make sure scheduled posts are working.

If they do not work the problem is with your WordPress setup, if they do then the issue lies in the plugin.

Oh….I don’t have any scheduled posts. New site. Should I set one up or is there another way to test it?

Hey Micheal, I tested the post scheduler and it’s working.