In an effort to reduce EZ-Backup storage charges, some users choose to back up only the folders that contain user documents. This method has serious repercussions in situations such as hard drive failures or lost systems, since operating system and application files can no longer be restored via EZ-Backup. In addition, some applications store user information in places other than the folders discussed here.

Although users often consider the “My Documents” folder as the sole repository of their information, many applications, such as Outlook, store their data elsewhere. The procedure described here shows how to backup the complete user directory, not just the My Documents sub-directory.

The following documentation assumes the TSM client was installed using an EZ-Backup installer.

In order to limit a backup to the user information on a Windows system, two changes need to be made to the default configuration:

1. The domain of the backup needs to be limited to the C: drive, so exactly one DOMAIN option should specified in the configuration file:DOMAIN C:
2. Two statements need to be added to the top of the INCLUDE/EXCLUDE statement list in the order shown, with the string userid replaced with the user’s Windows userid.

EXCLUDE "*"

INCLUDE "C:\Users\userid\...\*"

These changes can be made to the dsm.opt file using a text editor. They can also be made using the  GUI client using the following steps.

1. Logon to Windows using an Administrator ID.
2. From the Windows Start menu select Programs, then Tivoli Storage Manager then Backup-Archive Client.
3. From the Edit menu, select Client Preferences.
4. Click the Backups Tab.
5. Unclick the “Back up all lcoal file systems“.   Doing so should make the various entries in the Domain List window available for selection.   Click on the C: box.
6. Click the Include/Exclude Tab.
7. Click Add. A Define Include-Exclude Options dialog box will open.
8. From the Category dropdown, select Backup.
9. From the Type dropdown, select Exclude.
10. For File or Pattern, type * (the asterisk character) – NO quotes, NO spaces, just the single asterisk.
11. Click OK.
12. Click on the new statement (Exclude “*”) at the bottom of the Statement List to highlight it.
13. Click Move Up repeatedly, until the statement is at the top of the Statement List (you may need to scroll up to follow your progress).
14. Click Apply.
15. Click OK to continue past the Warning message that appears.
16. Click Add. A Define Include-Exclude Options dialog box will open.
17. From the Category drop-down, select Backup.
18. From the Type drop-down, select Include.
19. Leave Management Class blank.
20. For File or Pattern, type one of the following statements, based on your operating system and your userid on your computer. If you are not sure what your userid is, ask your technical support provider. (For many people, their userid is the same as their NetID, but not all departments use this method.)

C:\Users\userid\...\*

21. Click OK.
22. Click on the new statement INCLUDE statement at the bottom of the Statement List  to highlight it.
23. Click Move Up repeatedly, until the statement is at the SECOND item on Statement List, coming just after the EXCLUDE statement you created earlier in this process (you may need to scroll up to follow your progress).
24. Click Apply.
25. Click OK to continue past the Warning message that appears.
26. Click the Backup tab.
27. Unclick the “Backup all local domains” box.
28. Click on the C: drive in the Domain List window.
29. Click Apply.
30. Click OK to continue past the Warning message that appears.
31. Click OK to exit client preferences.
32. Exit TSM GUI client.

Restart the TSM Client Scheduler service (if used).

Creating regular WordPress backups is the best thing you can do for your website security. Backups give you peace of mind and can save you in catastrophic situations such as when your site gets hacked or you accidentally lock yourself out.

There are several free and paid WordPress backup plugins and most of them are fairly easy to use. In this article, we will share the 7 best backup plugins for WordPress.

Important: While many WordPress hosting providers offer limited backup services, we always recommend our users to not rely solely on them. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility to keep regular backups of your website.

If you are not already backing up your WordPress website, then you should pick one of these 7 best WordPress backup plugins and start using it right away.

1. Updraft Plus

Updraft Plus is the most popular free WordPress backup plugin available on the internet. It is used by more than 2 million websites.

Updraft Plus allows you to create a complete backup of your WordPress site and store it on the cloud or download to your computer.

The plugin supports scheduled backups as well as on-demand backups. You also have the option to choose which files you want to backup.

It can automatically upload your backups to Dropbox, Google Drive, S3, Rackspace, FTP, SFTP, email, and several other cloud storage services (see our step by step guide on how to backup & restore your WordPress site with Updraft Plus).

Besides backing up each WordPress website, Updraft Plus also allows you to easily restore backups directly from your WordPress admin panel.

Updraft Plus also has a premium version with add-ons to migrate or clone websites, database search and replace, multisite support, and several other features. The premium version also gets you access to priority support.

Review: Updrat Plus is the most loved WordPress backup plugin in the market. It has over 2 million active installs and 4.9 out of 5 star rating average. While the free version has a lot of features, we recommend upgrading to Updraft Plus premium to unlock all powerful backup features.

2. Vault Press (Jetpack Backup)

Jetpack Backups is a popular WordPress backup plugin by Automatic, the company created by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg.

This plugin was originally launched under the name Vault Press which is what we use on WP Beginner, but now it’s been redesigned and rebranded as Jetpack Backups. We’ve started to switch several of our websites to the new Jetpack backup platform because it’s more up to date.

Jetpack backup plugin offers automated daily and real-time cloud backup solution without slowing down your site. You can easily setup Jetpack backups and restore from backups within few clicks.

The higher plans of Jetpack also offer security scans and several other powerful features.

There are a few downsides of using Jetpack backups for beginners.

First, it is a recurring expense that can add up if you have multiple WordPress sites because you pay on a per site level.

Second, the purchase flow is quite complicated, and they force you to install the Jetpack plugin to purchase a subscription. The good news is that you can manually disable all the unnecessary features of Jetpack except for backups, so they don’t slow down your site.

Lastly, backups are stored for only 30-days on the lower plans. If you want an unlimited backup archive, then you would have to pay the $49.95 per month per website which is significantly more expensive for beginners when compared to other solutions listed here.

WP Beginner website is still using Vault Press (older version of Jetpack) because we got grandfathered in at their older pricing which was a lot more favorable.

However even at the higher price, Jetpack backup is completely worth it due to the stellar reputation of Automatic. This is why we pay for higher priced real-time backup plan for our new sites like All in One SEO because it’s an eCommerce store, and we want maximum protection.

Review: Jetpack Backup is a premium backup service with a premium price point. If you’re already using JetPack for other features like JetPack CDN for photos, social media promotion, Elastic search, etc, then it’s good value to purchase their Complete plan bundle for best value. If you’re just after real-time cloud backups for WordPress, then you can also look at BlogVault in our list because they offer more affordable pricing for beginners.

3. Backup Buddy

BackupBuddy is one of the most popular premium WordPress backup plugins used by over half a million WordPress sites. It allows you to easily schedule daily, weekly, and monthly backups.

With BackupBuddy, you can automatically store your backups in cloud storage services like Dropbox, Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud, FTP, Stash (their cloud service), and even email it to yourself.

If you use their Stash service, then you also have the ability to do real-time backups.

The biggest advantage of using BackupBuddy is that it is not a subscription-based service, so there is no monthly fee. You can use the plugin on the number of websites mentioned in your plan.

You also get access to premium support forums, regular updates, and 1GB of BackupBuddy Stash storage to store your backups. In addition, their iThemes Sync feature lets you manage up to 10 WordPress site from a single dashboard.

You can even use BackupBuddy to duplicate, migrate and restore websites.

Pricing: $80 for Blogger Plan (1 Site License)

Review: BackupBuddy is a cost-effective premium WordPress backup solution for you. It has full set of features you’ll need to backup, restore and move a WordPress site. In the nutshell, it’s a powerful UpdraftPlus and VaultPress alternative that you can use.

4. BlogVault

BlogVault is another popular WordPress backup service for WordPress. It’s a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution rather than just a WordPress plugin. It creates offsite backups independently on BlogVault servers, so there will be a zero load on your server.

BlogVault creates automatic backup of your website on a daily basis and also allows you to manually create unlimited on-demand backups. It features smart incremental backups that sync only incremental changes for minimal server load. This ensures optimal performance for your site.

Besides backups, it helps you to recover your website easily. You can store 90 days backup archive on lower plans, and 365 day backup archive on higher plan, so you can recover your site from any mishap.

It also has a built-in staging site feature to let you test your website easily. Plus, they provide an easy option to migrate your website to another host.

BlogVault features are very promising for small businesses, and their real-time backup plan is quite affordable when compared to Jetpack backups (half the price). However if you compare it to self-hosted plugins like Updraft or BackupBuddy, then the cost per site is more expensive.

Review: BlogVault is an easy to use WordPress backup solution. It creates offsite backups, so your website server will not be over loaded with your backups. The pricing seems very affordable for small businesses who want real-time backups but don’t want to pay the premium pricing of Jetpack backups.

5. BoldGrid Backup

BoldGrid Backup is an automated WordPress backup solution by BoldGrid, which is a website builder powered by WordPress.

It allows you to easily create your website backups, restore your site after it crashes, and you can even use it to move your site when switching hosts. You can set up automated backups or manually create backups with one-click.

BoldGrid Backup comes with an automated fault protection feature which automatically creates a backup of your site before it updates. If an update fails, it automatically rolls back your WordPress site to the last backup. It’s a great feature which protects you against update errors.

With BoldGrid Backup, you can store up to 10 backup archives on your dashboard and more in a remote storage locations like Amazon S3, FTP or SFTP.

Review: BoldGrid Backup is a simple WordPress backup plugin that you can use to create your website backups. The advantage of using this plugin is the bundle of other powerful tools you’ll get with the purchase of this plugin.

6. BackWPup

BackWPup is a free plugin that allows you to create complete WordPress backups for free and store it on the cloud (Dropbox, Amazon S3, Rackspace, etc), FTP, email, or on your computer.

It is extremely easy to use and allows you to schedule automatic backups according to your site’s update frequency.

Restoring a WordPress site from backup is also very simple. The BackWPup Pro version comes with priority support, ability to store backups on Google Drive, and some other cool features.

Review: Used by over 600,000 websites, BackWPup is a great alternative to other backup plugins in the list. The premium version of the plugin adds more powerful features including easy and quick website restoration from the backend with a standalone app.

7. Duplicator

As the name suggests, Duplicator is a popular WordPress plugin used to migrate WordPress sites. However it also has backup features.

It does not allow you to create automated scheduled backups which makes it less than ideal primary WordPress backup solution for a regularly maintained site.

Review: Duplicator lets you create manual backups of your WordPress site easily. If your web host creates regular backups, you can use this plugin to create backups to use on staging environment. It’s a great site migration plugin.

Final Thoughts

Each WordPress backup plugin in our list has their pros and cons, but all of them offer complete WordPress file backup as well as full database backup features.

We use Jetpack Backups for two main reasons. It is extremely easy to use, and it offers real-time incremental backups.

What this means is that instead of backing up all of your files every day or every hour, it only creates a backup of what has been updated literally within minutes of the update. This is ideal for a large website like ours because it allows us to use our server resources efficiently.

However, if you run a small to medium size website and hate paying monthly fees, then we recommend the popular UpdraftPlus plugin. It comes with all the powerful features like backup encryption, encrypted backup transport, and tons of cloud storage options.

Whichever WordPress backup plugin you end up choosing, please do NOT store your backups on the same server as your website.

By doing that, you are putting all of your eggs in one basket. If your server’s hardware fails or worst you get hacked, then you don’t have a backup which defeats the purpose of setting up regular backups.

This is why we highly recommend storing your backups on a third-party storage service like Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, etc.

That’s all. We hope that this list helped you pick the best WordPress backup plugin for your site. You may also want to see our step by step WordPress security guide for beginners, and our comparison of best email marketing services for small business.