{"id":2636,"date":"2021-03-08T14:40:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T14:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rengga.dev\/blog\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2023-02-28T05:14:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T05:14:27","slug":"how-to-backup-your-wordpress-site-to-google-drive-free-and-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rengga.dev\/blog\/how-to-backup-your-wordpress-site-to-google-drive-free-and-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Backup Your WordPress Site to Google Drive (Free and Easy)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why Backup Your WordPress Site to Google Drive<\/strong>?<\/h4>\n

A\u00a0backup\u00a0is a copy of your website that\u2019s stored separately, and it\u2019s one of the most important ways to keep your site safe. If something goes wrong with your website, then you can restore a backup with just a few clicks to get it working again.<\/p>\n

Even in the worst-case scenario where a hacker breaks into your\u00a0WordPress website\u00a0and deletes your data, you can simply restore a backup and get your site back.<\/p>\n

Many website owners also create a backup before making a big change to their site, such as\u00a0editing their WordPress homepage\u00a0or\u00a0installing a new theme. If the change breaks their website, they can simply restore a working version of their site from a backup.<\/p>\n

By backing up your site to a cloud storage service such as Google Drive, you can restore your site even if your main hosting account got hacked. Also, it won\u2019t take up precious storage space on your\u00a0WordPress hosting\u00a0plan.<\/p>\n

By creating a Google account, you\u2019ll automatically get 15GB of free cloud storage that you can use for backups and file storage. If you need more space, then prices start at $1.99 per month for an additional 100GB.<\/p>\n

How to Backup Your WordPress Site to Google Drive<\/strong><\/h4>\n

WordPress does not come with a built-in backup solution. However, there are several great\u00a0WordPress backup plugins\u00a0that make it easy to backup and restore your site.<\/p>\n

UpdraftPlus\u00a0is the best backup plugin for WordPress. This free plugin lets you create scheduled backups, so you can automatically back up your WordPress site to Google Drive.<\/p>\n

First, you\u2019ll need to install and activate the\u00a0UpdraftPlus<\/a>\u00a0plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on\u00a0how to install a WordPress plugin.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve activated\u00a0UpdraftPlus, you can configure your backup settings and choose Google Drive as a storage destination.<\/p>\n

To do this, head over to\u00a0Settings \u00bb UpdraftPlus Backups<\/strong>\u00a0in your WordPress dashboard. Then, simply click on the \u2018Settings\u2019 tab.<\/p>\n

\"Backup<\/figure>\n

UpdraftPlus makes it easy to save your backups to different online storage services including\u00a0Dropbox, Amazon S3, Microsoft OneDrive, and many others.<\/p>\n

Since you want to backup your WordPress site to Google Drive, go ahead and click on \u2018Google Drive\u2019 in the section titled \u2018Choose your remote storage.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"UpdraftPlus'<\/figure>\n

After choosing Google Drive as your storage location, you\u2019ll need to give UpdraftPlus access to your Google account.<\/p>\n

To get started, click on the \u2018Sign in with Google\u2019 button.<\/p>\n

\"Connecting<\/figure>\n

Now follow the onscreen instructions to give UpdraftPlus access to your Google account.<\/p>\n

After reading the disclaimer, you can click on \u2018Complete setup\u2019 if you\u2019re happy to go ahead and authorize UpdraftPlus access to your Google Drive.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/figure>\n

Once you\u2019ve done that, UpdraftPlus will take you back to its main settings page in the WordPress dashboard.<\/p>\n

How to Create an Automatic WordPress Backup Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n

After choosing Google Drive as your storage location, you\u2019re ready to create an automatic backup schedule.<\/p>\n

Still in the \u2018Settings\u2019 tab, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Save Changes button. UpdraftPlus will now automatically backup your site based on your schedule.<\/p>\n

UpdraftPlus breaks WordPress backups into two parts: files and database.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with files. As part of this backup, UpdraftPlus will create a copy of your site\u2019s code files, plugin and theme files, and images.<\/p>\n

To get started, simply open the \u2018Files backup schedule\u2019 dropdown and choose how frequently UpdraftPlus should backup your WordPress website.<\/p>\n

You can choose from once every month, right through to once every 2 hours.<\/p>\n

\"Create<\/figure>\n

When creating a schedule, think about how often you update or add new content to your site. For example, if you publish two blog posts each week, then you may want to backup your\u00a0WordPress blog\u00a0once a week instead of daily.<\/p>\n

If you update your site more frequently, then you\u2019ll need to backup more frequently.<\/p>\n

In particular, if you run an\u00a0online store\u00a0then you\u2019ll typically want to backup your site as often as possible. In this way, you can avoid losing important information such as new orders or a customer\u2019s payment details.<\/p>\n

After choosing a frequency for your backups, you\u2019ll need to choose how many different backups UpdraftPlus should keep. This will help you optimize the storage space you use.<\/p>\n

You can do this by entering that number into the text field next to \u2018\u2026retain this many scheduled backups.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"UpdraftPlus'<\/figure>\n

You can change these settings at any point, so if you\u2019re unsure then you can start by saving a larger number and then reduce it if the backups are using too much space.<\/p>\n

Once UpdraftPlus reaches your set number, the plugin will replace the oldest copy with newer WordPress backups.<\/p>\n

Next, you need to create a backup schedule for your WordPress database in the \u2018Database backup schedule\u2019 section.<\/p>\n

WordPress stores all of its\u00a0posts and pages, comments, links, and website settings in the database, so it\u2019s just as important to create backups of the database regularly as it is the files.<\/p>\n

You can tell UpdraftPlus how frequently it should make backups of your database, and how many of them it should keep by following the same process described above.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/figure>\n

How to Choose What is in UpdraftPlus Backups on Google Drive<\/strong><\/p>\n

By default, UpdraftPlus will include all your\u00a0WordPress plugins, themes, and uploads in your Google Drive backups.<\/p>\n

In the \u2018Settings\u2019 tab, scroll down to the \u2018Include in files backup\u2019 section. Here, you can choose whether to include plugins, themes, or uploads in your backup.<\/p>\n

To create a complete copy of your WordPress website, you\u2019ll want to leave the default 3 checkboxes selected.<\/p>\n

\"Excluding<\/figure>\n

If you don\u2019t need to include plugins, themes, or uploads in your backups, then you can just uncheck the box next to that setting. Doing so can reduce the size of your backups and take up less space on your Google Drive.<\/p>\n

If you leave the \u2018Uploads\u2019 box checked, then you can create some rules about the kind of uploads that UpdraftPlus will exclude from its backups.<\/p>\n

There are already some exclusion rules. For example, the plugin defaults to excluding all files that have the word \u2018backup\u2019 in their file name. To create more rules about the kind of content UpdraftPlus will exclude, simply click on \u2018Add an exclusion rule.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Creating<\/figure>\n

You can then follow the onscreen instructions to create your exclusion rule.<\/p>\n

For example, if you wanted UpdraftPlus to ignore all PDF files, then you would start by clicking on \u2018All files with this extension\u2019 and type \u2018PDF\u2019 in the field that appears.<\/p>\n

\"Adding<\/figure>\n

By default, UpdraftPlus also excludes some files from the wp-content folder.<\/p>\n

You can see all of UpdraftPlus\u2019 default exclusion rules in the \u2018Any other directories found inside wp-content\u2019 section.<\/p>\n

\"Creating<\/figure>\n

Do you need UpdraftPlus to exclude even more content from the wp-content folder? Simply click \u2018Add an exclusion rule\u2019 in this section and repeat the same process described above.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not sure about what to exclude, then we recommend sticking to the default settings. They are a good fit for most websites.<\/p>\n

How to Know if an UpdraftPlus Backup to Google Drive was Successful?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every time UpdraftPlus successfully creates a backup, it can send an email notification to your site\u2019s admin\u00a0email address\u00a0that confirms the backup has been completed. If a backup fails, then you won\u2019t get an email.<\/p>\n

In the \u2018Settings\u2019 tab, scroll to the \u2018Email\u2019 section. You can now enable these notifications by checking the box in this section.<\/p>\n

\"Enabling<\/figure>\n

Now, every time UpdraftPlus creates a backup it will send you an email notification.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve done all that, click on \u2018Save Changes.\u2019 UpdraftPlus will now backup your site to Google Drive automatically.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t get any emails from UpdraftPlus, then it\u2019s a good idea to check that the plugin is successfully creating backups in your Google Drive.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re using the free version of UpdraftPlus, then you should find a new \u2018UpdraftPlus\u2019 folder in your Google account.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n

Simply open this folder to see whether it contains any WordPress backups.<\/p>\n

In the following image, you can see an example of how a few backups may look in your Google Drive account.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n

If UpdraftPlus is creating its backups successfully, but you\u2019re not receiving the email notifications, then there is most likely a problem with how your emails are configured on your WordPress site.<\/p>\n

You can see our guide on\u00a0how to fix WordPress not sending emails\u00a0to ensure they are sent correctly.<\/p>\n

How to Backup Your WordPress Site to Google Drive<\/strong>\u00a0Manually<\/h4>\n

Automated backups are a great way to protect your site. However, even after creating an automatic schedule you may sometimes still need to create a manual backup.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good idea to create a manual backup before making any big changes, such as updating your version of WordPress. You might also create a manual backup after publishing lots of new content.<\/p>\n

To create a backup your WordPress site on Google Drive manually, go to\u00a0Settings \u00bb UpdraftPlus Backups<\/strong>. You can then simply click on the \u2018Backup\/Restore\u2019 tab.<\/p>\n

\"Backup<\/figure>\n

To go ahead and create a manual backup now, you just need to click on the \u2018Backup Now\u2019 button. UpdraftPlus will show some basic settings that you can use to configure the manual Google Drive backup.<\/p>\n

As with an automated backup, UpdraftPlus defaults to backing up all of your files and the WordPress database. It will also use the same remote storage location that you use for your automated backups. For us, this is Google Drive.<\/p>\n

The default settings should be good enough for most websites, so when you\u2019re ready click on the \u2018Backup Now\u2019 button.<\/p>\n

\"Creating<\/figure>\n

Restoring Your WordPress Backup with UpdraftPlus<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Creating backups with UpdraftPlus is easy, but the really useful part is the ability to restore them from Google Drive with the same ease.<\/p>\n

If your WordPress site was hacked or you just want to start fresh, then the first step is deleting everything and\u00a0installing WordPress\u00a0again.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve done that, you will need to install and activate the UpdraftPlus\u00a0<\/a>plugin again on your new WordPress website. If you need help, then please see our guide on\u00a0how to install a WordPress plugin.<\/p>\n

Upon activation, head over to\u00a0Settings \u00bb UpdraftPlus Backups<\/strong>\u00a0page and click on the \u2018Settings\u2019 tab.<\/p>\n

In the \u2018Choose your remote storage\u2019 section, click on Google Drive.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n

You can now follow the onscreen instructions to give UpdraftPlus access to the Google account where you saved all of your website\u2019s backups in Drive.<\/p>\n

After connecting UpdraftPlus to your Google account, click on the \u2018Backup\/Restore\u2019 tab.<\/p>\n

UpdraftPlus will now scan your Google Drive and list all the backups that it discovers. Once complete, you can simply find the backup that you want to restore and click on \u2018Restore.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Restoring<\/figure>\n

After that, choose the components that you want to restore. If you are restoring to a fresh WordPress installation, checking all the boxes is probably the best idea.<\/p>\n

After choosing your components, go ahead and click on the \u2018Next\u2019 button.<\/p>\n

\"Restoring<\/figure>\n

UpdraftPlus will now get all the files that it needs to restore the WordPress backup from your Google Drive.<\/p>\n

Once it\u2019s successfully imported all the files it needs, you just need to click the \u2018Restore\u2019 button. UpdraftPlus will now restore your backup from Google Drive.<\/p>\n

\"Restoring<\/figure>\n

This may take a few minutes depending on the size of your backup, and the speed of your Internet connection.<\/p>\n

Once it\u2019s finished, you\u2019ll see a \u2018Restore Successful\u2019 message at the end of an Activity log. At this point, you can click the \u2018Return to UpdraftPlus configuration\u2019 button to return to the settings and finish things up.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n

That\u2019s it! You\u2019ve now successfully restored your WordPress website from Google Drive.<\/p>\n

We hope this article helped you learn how to backup your WordPress site to Google Drive. You can also go through our\u00a0ultimate WordPress security guide\u00a0and the\u00a0most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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