How to Back Up and Restore a WordPress Site

A WordPress site is not one folder you can copy and call it done. Posts, pages, orders, and form entries live in the database. Themes, plugins, photos, and the config file live on disk. If you only save one of those, a restore will look finished and still be broken.

This guide is for Connecticut shop owners, contractors, clinics, and other small teams who host WordPress and need a backup they can actually use. It covers what a complete backup includes, what host daily copies do and do not cover, and how to restore without mixing dates.

Why backups fail when you need them

Most “we have backups” problems are not missing software. They are missing proof. Typical cases we see:

• Someone updated a plugin, the site went white, and nobody had downloaded a copy from before the click.
• The host has daily copies, but the owner never checked how many days are kept or how to restore one.
• A plugin saved the database and skipped wp-content/uploads, so the pages came back without the photos.
• Files from Tuesday got paired with a database from last month. Products, menus, and media no longer match.

WordPress’s own administration handbook is blunt about this: you need both the database and the files, kept as one set from about the same time. Back up the database first, then the files. Restore the files first, then the database.

What a complete backup includes

The database

The database holds posts, pages, comments, users, menus, most plugin settings, WooCommerce orders, and a lot of the site’s working state. It is usually MySQL or MariaDB. Downloading the WordPress folder does not include it. You get an export file (often .sql or a compressed dump) that has to be imported again later.

The files

The files are everything in the site directory:

• WordPress core
• Themes and plugins
• Media in wp-content/uploads
• wp-config.php (database name, user, password, and security keys)
• Server rewrite rules such as .htaccess, if you use them for permalinks or redirects

Skip wp-config.php and you may restore a pretty directory that cannot talk to the database. Skip uploads and the site will load with broken images. Skip the database and you get a theme shell with none of the content customers actually see.

Host daily copies vs copies you control

Good WordPress hosting should take automatic daily copies. That is a real safety net. It is not the same as a backup you have tested, downloaded, and stored somewhere else.

Host copies are convenient when a plugin update goes wrong the same afternoon. They can still leave you stuck if:

• The problem sat unnoticed longer than the retention window (often days, not months).
• You need a file you can open on your laptop while the site is down.
• The account itself is locked, compromised, or mid-migration.
• You never confirmed whether the restore includes both files and the database.

The practical split: use host daily copies for speed, and keep your own off-site set for control. WordPress recommends keeping several recent copies in different places (the server, a cloud drive you own, and a local download). One location is a single point of failure.

How to make a backup you can restore

Do this before a core, theme, or plugin update, and on a regular schedule even when nothing is changing. A brochure site that rarely changes can live on a weekly owner copy plus daily host copies. A store or booking site should treat daily owner copies as normal.

Option A: restore tools in your hosting account

If your plan includes automatic backups, start there. Sign in to the client area, open the hosting control panel for that domain, and look for Backups or Restore. Confirm three things before you rely on it:

• How many days of copies exist
• Whether a restore covers files and the database together
• Whether you can download a copy to your computer

Download one full set now, even if the site is healthy. A backup you have never downloaded is a backup you have not verified.

Option B: a backup plugin that saves both halves

If you want a copy on a drive you control, use a maintained backup plugin that can save files and the database, then send that set off the server (your own cloud storage or an email/download you keep). After the first run:

• Open the destination and confirm the files actually arrived.
• Check the date and the size. A 200 KB “full backup” is not full.
• Keep at least three recent sets. Overwriting the only copy is how people lose a good restore point.

Do not install three backup plugins. One tool that finishes, plus the host copies, is enough.

Option C: a manual set when you need a clean snapshot

For a one-off snapshot before a redesign:

• Export the WordPress database from the hosting database tool (SQL file, all tables).
• Zip the site files, or at least wp-content plus wp-config.php and any rewrite file.
• Put the SQL file in the same folder as the zip so they stay a pair.
• Copy that folder off the server the same day.

How to restore without making it worse

Restore is where people turn a bad afternoon into a worse one. Slow down.

1. Take a fresh backup of the current (broken) state first. If the restore is worse, you still have a way back.
2. Pick one matching set. Same day, same tool, files plus database. Do not mix.
3. Tell your host or put the site in maintenance if customers are placing orders or booking appointments.
4. Prefer the host restore tool when the copy you want is already there. Fewer moving parts.
5. If you restore by hand, put the files back first, then import the database. That is the order WordPress documents.
6. If database login details changed, update wp-config.php so it matches the restored database.

If the site was hacked, restoring the last clean copy is only half the job. Change passwords, review users, and update anything that was left unpatched. A restore that puts the same hole back will get recaptured.

Check the site after restore

Do not stop at the homepage. Walk a short list:

• Home, one interior page, and one blog post or product
• Images and PDFs in the media library
• The login screen and wp-admin
• Contact forms, and checkout or booking if you use them
• Permalinks: open Settings → Permalinks and save once if inner pages 404

If pages load but images do not, the files restore missed uploads or the uploads path is wrong. If the theme looks right but the content is old, you restored the wrong database date.

Mistakes that break a restore

• Only the database, or only the files. You need both.
• Mismatched dates. Treat files and database as one labeled set.
• Restoring over the only remaining copy. Snapshot the current state first.
• Leaving backups only on the same server. If the account is gone, so is the copy.
• Never testing a download. A scheduled job that failed two months ago will not announce itself on the day you need it.
• Updating core or a checkout plugin with no restore point. Security patches should still go on, after you have a copy you can roll back.

A simple backup routine for a small business

You need a habit you will actually keep, not a 12-step policy.

• Leave host daily copies on.
• Keep one owner-controlled set off-site. Weekly is enough for a mostly static site. Daily is better for stores and booking calendars.
• Make a named snapshot before updates, theme swaps, or a designer login.
• Once a quarter, download a copy and confirm it opens. WordPress also suggests a periodic manual check even when automation is on.
• Write down where the copies live and who can restore them.

WordPress 6.8 and 6.9 do not change this. New core releases are a reason to take a snapshot, not a reason to invent a new backup method.

When to ask your host for help

Open a ticket from the account that owns the domain if:

• You cannot find backup or restore controls in the hosting panel
• A restore finishes and the site still shows a database connection error
• You need a copy older than what you can see, and the host may still have it
• You are not sure whether the daily job includes the database

Include the domain, the date you want to roll back to, and what broke (update, hack, accidental delete, or a blank screen). That detail saves a round of questions.

If you host with KDigital Hosting, sign in to your client area and open the ticket there. Managed plans include more of this work for you. Shared and standard WordPress plans still include daily copies, but you should still keep one download you control.

Quick reference

• Complete backup: database plus files from the same time
• Database: posts, settings, orders, form data
• Files: themes, plugins, uploads, wp-config.php
• Backup order: database first, then files
• Restore order: files first, then database
• Keep copies: host daily job, plus at least one off-site set you have opened

Need hosting that already takes daily copies and gives you a client area restore path? Look at WordPress hosting or managed WordPress hosting from KDigital Hosting, then keep one extra copy you can reach if the site is down.