Are you backing up your blog and other social sites? Here's how...

Please scroll to end of the post for updated information about backing up your content.

How would you feel and what would you do if you lost all your blog posts? Of if all the content you posted on Facebook disappeared because your account was hacked?

I know this seems obvious, but I frequently encounter people who are not backing up their content and databases on a regular basis.

First, make sure you're computer files are being backed up regularly. When I switched to Carbonite Online Backup a couple of years ago, I stopped thinking about it. Backup of my computer files is ongoing, whenever a new file is saved to my hard drive. For 60 bucks a year, it's worth it for peace of mind alone.

Next, back up any databases you maintain. I use KickStartCart for my list management and ecommerce system. I have a reminder on my calendar to back up my product and client database on the last day of every month. Maybe I should do it weekly. It's a simple spreadsheet export. I also export my sales reports at the end of every month.

Back up your blog posts at least once a month. Here's info about backing up TypePad. There are plug-ins for Wordpress that automatically run backups. I'm using Wordpress Database Backup for sites I have built on Wordpress.

Backup Facebook. For $2.99 you can get a license for SocialSafe and backup  your Facebook Profile. Note: you can't back up your Fan page, but that's in development. This is software you download to your computer and the backups reside on your hard drive. You must run this manually.

Backup your online accounts: Gmail, Google docs, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Basecamp, Twitter, etc. I use Backupify (you can get one year free right now). You'd probably be surprised at how much of your data lives in "the cloud." What happens if it disappears? Automatically, every week, my online data is backed up and files are placed in an archive. I get an email when the backup has been done.

The backup for twitter is an awesome pdf document of all your tweets, DMs, favorites, etc. for a week.

So...when is the last time you backed up your valuable content? Is there a service or tool you would add to this list?

UPDATE (October 2010): Here's an article on FastCompany.com with more tips for backing up your social sites.

UPDATE (April 2011): here's a site that has great info about backing up your data as well as links to data backup comparisons.

UPDATE (June 2011)  Click here to download a comparison chart of online backup and storage sites.

UPDATE: (August 2011) Click here for complete how to for backing up all your Google accounts.

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Comments

[MaAnna Stephenson]

The rule of thumb in the tech world is that if you don't have it in three places, you don't have it. I'm amazed at how few folks ever backup any of their data. I've used external hard drives and CDs for years but the hard drives fail every couple of years and they are expensive.

I'll be switching to an online service next year, like Carbonite. That way my data will be on the servers, my PC and on outside source, none of which are in the same physical location. That adds an extra layer of safety.

Thanks for your constant reminders to backup and links to good services for it. They are very helpful.

[Fiona Stolze]

This is a great post. Thanks for this info. I'll definitely look into it.

Fiona

[Laurenamcmullen]

Good advice about the backups. I used to use Carbonite but was dissapointed when I had a hard drive crash and found that my outlook files could not be restored. Something to do with where they are stored in my operating system. It was a huge mess because I kept a lot of docs in those saved outlook files.
I switched to gmail and now do my own backup to an exterior hard drive weekly

[External Hard Drives]

One of the things you should know before heading into purchasing an external hard drive is the amount of space that you need. Once you know how much storage space you need, you can understand exactly what size portable hard drive will fill your needs. Portable drives come in all sizes, meaning you can find one with not only the storage you want but also the actual size dimensions you want. If you do not know this information, you could be paying a lot more for your drive than you actually need for your back up storage tasks.

[Denise Wakeman]

I'm now using Mail Store Home to back up my Gmail account so I don't lose any important email. There is a freeware version here:
http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx

[Diana Simon]

Hi Denise, thank you for this post. It's very timely as I am looking to backup my WordPress blog. I have just read about a blogger losing their data and that would really give me a heart attack!

[jane]

Great guide! i was backing my blog directly into an external hard drive but this strategy seems more safe. i'll make sure to try it!

[Lisa Kanarek]

Denise-

No one wants to think about losing data or blog posts, but unfortunately glitches happen. Thanks for sharing a great list of resources. I'm going to start using a few of them.

[Denise Wakeman]

Here's another article I recently found on Problogger.net about how to protect your blog:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/05/26/protecting-your-blog

[Regina Smola]

Hi Denise,

Thanks for the great info on the importance of making backups, tips and Online Backup & Storage Comparison Chart.

I use Carbonite & Backupify myself. For WordPress sites, depending on my client's level of expertise, I recommend Backup Buddy, WP-DBManager, and VaultPress, to name a few.