WordPress Backup Plugin BackWPup Review

There’s a huge range of backup plugins for WordPress to choose from these days, so which one should you run with?

It really depends on exactly what you need to do.

In this review, we’ll take a look at the BackWpup plugin and i’ll also give you my recommendations on which backup plugin best fits your individual needs at the end of this post.

If you DON’T create backup and store it away from your web server, you risk losing everything like these 4,800 websites lost with NO chance of recovery.

Once you’ve installed and activated the BackUPwp plugin, navigate to the Add New link and configure your settings

Database Backup Jobs

Under database jobs, select the database tables you wish to backup

Decrease Size of Database Backup

If you want to reduce the size of your database, you can deselect the tables you don’t use any more. These may be for plugins which you no longer use.

Under Job Type, you can also select the Optimize Database Tables checkbox which will further reduce the size of your database backup

Another option is to select the ‘Use Short INSERTS’ which will also reduce the size of your database.

You should only need to reduce your database size if its a large site otherwise these options aren’t needed

Here you can also select to backup your database and /or files. Click Save Changes and move to the next section.

File Backup Settings

Here you can choose to backup all files or select any files you want to exclude.

You can also choose to exclude/include other file folders from another location on the same path.

Automatic WordPress Backups

Next step is to activate scheduling.

You can schedule in backups for:

Hourly
Daily
Weekly
Monthly

Even if you schedule in automatic backups, you can still navigate to the ‘Jobs” and run your backup now at any time

Backup File Type

Here you can choose from 4 files types for your backup

The zip archive is the default file type however you may choose to use .tar or another file type

Choose Backup Storage Location

Here you can choose from a large range of locations to send your backup to

Backup locations are:

Backup to Folder
Backup to E-Mail
Backup to FTP Server
Backup to Dropbox
Backup to SugarSync
Backup to Amazon S3
Backup to Google storage
Backup to Microsoft Azure
Backup to Rackspace Cloud

Database Restore Tool

Under the ‘Tools’ section you can copy your database to your sites root directory and upload and restore it if needed.

Manage Backups

Navigate to the Backups page where you’ll find a list of all your backups

Here you can

Download your backup to your local computer
View the size of your backup
Change the location of where you want to store your backup
Delete unneeded backup files

Backup Jobs

In the ‘Jobs’ page, you can view the new jobs you have added for backups.

Under the name of the backup, you’ll find 5 options which may come in handy.

They are:

Edit
Copy
Export
Delete
Run Now

If you Add a New job and want to create the backup now, simply navigate to this page and click the Run Now button. The ‘Run Now’ button is not displayed when you are adding a new backup job.

You can also download your backup from the ‘Jobs’ page.

Backup Working

In this page, you’ll find a screenshot looking like this

You’ll see the 2 bars below the backup code running which give you an indication of the progress of you backup

Backup Settings

The ‘Settings’ page displays several optional settings which i didn’t use and you shouldn’t need to change any of these settings

Restoration

BackWPup also includes a restoration script which you upload to the root directory of your site which is like the importbuddy.php script used with BackupBuddy.

Works great with backupBuddy but never got to test it with BackWPup as the plugin failed to create a full backup.

Positives & Negatives

PRO’S

The BackpWPup plugin for WordPress offers a large range of external storage options which is convenient.
Option of creating full backup or choosing from file or database backup
Extensive options for including/excluding file folders for backup
Includes a restoration script

CON’S

I successfully created 2 backups when i excluded my sub domains and large sub directories but it failed every time i tried for a full backup of all files in my public_html directory
Couldn’t try the restoration without a backup

Conclusion

This backup plugin didn’t work so i couldn’t create a full backup and download it or send it offsite.

Backup Recommendations

Here’s my WordPress backup recommendations for different needs and situations.

Full backup of files & databases

Backupwordpress plugin – Free
BackupBuddy Plugin – Premium
cPanel Home Directory File Backup & Database backup

Full backup sending to offsite storage

BackupBuddy Plugin – Premium

Full backup migration to new server, domain & host

BackupBuddy Plugin – Premium

Automatic File or Database Backup

BackupBuddy Plugin – Premium
Backupwordpress plugin – Free

Manual Backup Files

FTP
cPanel (Compress files)

Automatic Database Backup

Manually Backup Database

What do you think is the best all round backup solution for WordPress?