What to backup before updating plugins

  • Resolved Shawn33

    (@shawn33)


    13 years ago

    Hi everyone,

    I have heard that we need to do backups everytime we make a change like updating plugins or theme files. I always just do a database backup.

    Is this enough? I am unfamiliar with where everything lives in WordPress and so I am unclear on what needs to be preserved in case a change screws things up.

    My thinking is that I could do an ftp backup of the files for the plugin in question and then if something gets messed up after updating I could just swap out the old files to fix it.

    Would that be the best thing to do or would a database backup and restore be the first go-to measure?

    And would there be any reason to do a full home directory backup?

    As you can see this issue has me confused and it has always made me a bit uneasy that I don’t know the answer to these questions whenever I do any kind of updates. I just sort of close my eyes and hope for the best ??

    Any help would be much appreciated.

    Thanks!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • esmi

    (@esmi)

    Is this enough?

    For most of the time, yes but you might also want to occasionally backup your wp-content folder by simply downloading a copy to your computer. Whether you really need to backup your plugins & themes depends upon:

    a) if you ever hack/customise any of them
    and
    b) where you downloaded them from.

    Older versions of themes & plugins downloaded from www.remarpro.com can always be obtained from the SVN of the relevant theme/plugin.

    Would that be the best thing to do or would a database backup and restore be the first go-to measure?

    Depends upon what the issue is. Many problems can be resolved without resorting to a backup restore.

    And would there be any reason to do a full home directory backup?

    No. You can always obtain a copy of WordPress core – including older versions if you really need them.

    Thread Starter Shawn33

    (@shawn33)

    Thanks so much for the response, I really appreciate it!

    Depends upon what the issue is. Many problems can be resolved without resorting to a backup restore.

    If something were to happen after an update that could not be fixed by simply deactivating a plugin or any options that someone without coding experience could execute, would I need to restore the database, the old plugin version, or the wp-content files, and in what order, to get things back up and running quickly?

    Hope that made sense…

    I’ve never had an issue like that but I’ve heard of updates crashing sites. Not sure if that is even something that happens very often realistically though.

    Thanks again

    esmi

    (@esmi)

    Generally speaking, you need to carry put a restore if your db gets trashed by a bad plugin/theme; during a core upgrade or by a mysql server collapse. If you have a db backup, you can get a site back up & running to the point it was at before the problem pretty quickly.

    Without a db backup, you’re pretty much toast.

    Thread Starter Shawn33

    (@shawn33)

    Thanks for the advice esmi, you’ve been a big help!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • The topic ‘What to backup before updating plugins’ is closed to new replies.