BlogOnCloud9

How can you best minimize your feeling of pure panic if your blog goes down? The simplest thing to keep your sanity is perform regular backups of your WordPress install, content files, and database tables. Here are a few methods that BlogOnCloud9 recommends to keep your site backed up and ready for restore:

WP-DB-Backup

Backs up: WordPress database locally or via email

An oldie but a goody, this plugin just plain works. Austin Matzo does a nice job keeping this plugin updated and working with any WordPress version. From the admin panel, you can choose to backup your core WordPress tables and optionally any tables created by your plugins. Bonus tip: create a gmail account and send all your backup files to it nightly.

For more information and to download it, click here.

WordPress Backup

Backs up: WordPress user files (uploads, themes, and plugins) locally or via email

This plugin from Blog Traffic Exchange is very easy to use and is a nice addition to most WordPress blogs. With a few clicks on a few links you can easily get a snapshot of your WordPress uploads, themes, and plugins. We like to run it before we do any plugin or WordPress upgrades. Although It can be a bit flaky and you can get a “white screen” if your host is very locked down or you haven’t upped your memory allocation, we do recommend it all the same.

For more information and to download it, click here.

WP S3 Backups

Backs up: WordPress user files (uploads, themes, and plugins) and database via Amazon S3

One of the new kids on the block, this plugin is really sweet as it backs up your WordPress data to Amazon S3 (an affordable external storage service). Once you get your Amazon access key and secret key information, it easy to configure and use. Sometimes it just worth it to pay a bit knowing that your blog is backed up off-site and you are not relying on your internal network, full email box, or computer desktop.

For more information and to download it, click here.

BackupBuddy

Backs up: Entire WordPress install (uploads, themes, plugins, WordPress core files and the database) locally and via email or FTP

Backup Buddy is a premium (or paid) plugin that can back up your WordPress database or your entire WordPress install (uploads, themes, plugins, WordPress core files and the database). It also has robust scheduling and can email and upload backups to an external FTP server. We find it to be pretty reliable, mighty quick and extremely helpful for migrations on most host configurations. The iThemes team has done an admirable job in responding to issues and feature requests, making this plugin worth your investment.

For more information and to download it, click here.

VaultPress (in beta/invite only)

Backs up: Entire WordPress install (uploads, themes, plugins, WordPress core files and the database) in real time to WordPress.com’s servers.

VaultPress is premium service brought to you by Automattic (WordPress’s parent company) and is built upon the grid that serves WordPress.com blogs. Currently it’s available by invite only and we are still waiting to get our hands on it, but are intrigued because it will allow you to protect as many WordPress blogs and sites as you like and works in real time.

For more information, click here.