1. Manually backup through phpMyAdmin

1. 1. Login to your phpMyAdmin and select the database where you got WordPress installed.
2. 2. Click the Export button on your top menu.
3. 3. Export “Select All” type should be “SQL”.
4. 4. Hit “Save as file” to save this backup as a file
5. 4. Choose compression type. Zipped or Gzipped. I prefer Gzipped.
6. 5. Hit Go or Export to store the file and save it on your computer.

You’re done!

2. Automatic backup using WordPress plugin

There are several automatic backup plugins available for WordPress. I’ve been trying a few, and are currently using WP-DBManager by Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan.

Another one that works great as well are WP-DB-Backup.

It’s up to you which one you choose, they both supports automatic email to backup files and both works great. The automatic email is a neat feature that lets you schedule your backup to be emailed to you at what time you’d like.

1. 1. Simply choose the one you like, extract and upload the folder to your /plugin/ directory
2. 2. Activate it under the Plugins menu
3. 3. For WP-DBManager, go to “WP-Admin” -> “Database” -> “DB Options” to configure the database options. Enter the email address you like the backup files being sent to and set when you’d like the backups to take place.
4. 4. For WP-DB-Backup, go to “WP-Admin” -> “Backup” to set how you’d like the backup to be delivered.

PS! Sending the backup emails to an email provider that’s not related to your regular host helps you from losing your backup if the host loses everything. Simply apply for a free Gmail account that allows large attachments and free storage up to 7.3 GB and use that one to send your backups to.