How to Back Up a WordPress Site: Files, Database and What People Forget

Most WordPress sites are backed up in some form. Far fewer could actually be restored from that backup. The gap is usually one of three things: the database was missing, the files and database were taken at different times, or nobody ever checked the archive.

What a WordPress site is made of

A WordPress site lives in two places:

• Files. WordPress itself (wp-admin, wp-includes), your themes and plugins in wp-content, your Media Library in wp-content/uploads, and wp-config.php, which holds the database connection settings.
• The database. Every post, page, comment, setting, user, menu and (on a shop) every order. Usually MySQL or MariaDB.

Neither half works without the other. A database without the uploads folder restores posts with broken images. Files without the database restore an empty WordPress install.

What a full backup should include

Part	Why it matters
Database (all tables)	All content, settings and users
wp-content/uploads	Every image and file in the Media Library
wp-content/plugins and themes	Exact versions and any custom code
wp-config.php	Database settings, keys, table prefix
WordPress core	Lets you restore without a fresh install
Other wp-content folders	Plugin data such as forms, fonts or generated CSS

What to leave out

Some folders make a backup larger without making it more useful:

• Caches (wp-content/cache, litespeed, et-cache). Rebuilt automatically.
• Other backup plugins' archives (updraft, ai1wm-backups and similar). Backing up backups doubles the size every time.
• Temporary update folders (wp-content/upgrade).
• Version-control and build folders such as .git and node_modules.

BackupScope excludes these automatically and shows them in the scan, so you can see what was left out and why.

Take files and database together

If the database is exported at 10:00 and the files are copied at 10:40, a post published in between references an image that is in the files but not in the database, or the other way round. Use one tool that does both in one run.

Check the backup

A ZIP that was cut off halfway can still look like a normal file. Before trusting a backup:

1. Make sure it opens and lists its contents.
2. Make sure the database export is there and not empty.
3. Ideally, have every file in the archive read back and its checksum compared.

BackupScope does the third step automatically: every entry is read back and its CRC-32 checksum checked, and a backup that fails is discarded so your previous good backup stays in place.

Keep a copy somewhere else

A backup on the same server protects you from bad updates and mistakes. It does not protect you from a failed disk, a hosting account problem or a hacked server. Download a copy regularly, or send copies to off-site storage automatically. BackupScope Pro uploads backups to S3-compatible storage such as Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2 or Backblaze B2.

A simple routine that works

• Before every update: a full backup.
• On a schedule: daily for sites that change daily, weekly for sites that do not.
• Keep several: not just the latest. A problem is sometimes noticed days later. See how many backups to keep.
• Test a restore once, on a staging site, so you know the steps before you need them. The Restore Guide walks through it.

Ready to make your first one? The Backup Guide shows each step in BackupScope.