Walkthrough · Intermediate · an hour
How to Schedule Server Backups
Get backups running unattended, stored elsewhere, and proved to restore — a hands-on walkthrough in plain words that names the classic mistake before you reach it.
The short answer
The job: get backups running unattended, stored elsewhere, and proved to restore. Time to set aside: an hour. Skill needed: intermediate.
Below are the precise steps, the classic stumble, and one tip from the support desk. Wherever the platform already does a step for you, the guide says so rather than handing you a machine's chores.
By the Hosting & Domains team · Reviewed 18 August 2026
Intermediate
Skill rating
an hour
Time budget
5
Steps in total
24/7
Support on call
No prior knowledge assumed — a hosting account, a browser and hour of attention is the whole entry requirement. Every instruction runs on our platform exactly as printed, and carries over to any standard cPanel host.
A promise before step one: nothing here is a one-way door. Any step with teeth is flagged, and the way back is printed beside it.
The outline first, then the detail
Over the whole job, you will work out what losing a day costs, back files and database up together, automate it with cron, send copies off the server and restore one deliberately.
Every stage is a few minutes of unhurried clicking — the total depends mostly on how well you already know the control panel. The detailed instructions are further down; read the whole path once before you begin.
One caution before you click anything
Keeping only the newest copy. Days can pass before corruption or a quiet defacement is spotted, and one rolling backup dutifully writes the broken version over the good one. Build a ladder instead, with several daily copies, a few weekly ones and one a month.
It earns a section of its own because it is no obscure edge case — it is the single commonest reason this task reaches a support queue. Knowing it in advance turns the whole job from risky into routine.
The support desk's own short cut
Have the script report on itself. A one-line message on success and a loud one on failure means a backup that silently stopped six weeks ago is noticed then, rather than on the morning you finally need it.
A minute spent now repays itself every time this job comes round again — and like almost every hosting job, come round it will.
The steps already done before you arrive
Steps that never deserved your time are taken out: certificates issue and reissue themselves, the installer handles application setup, the daily copy absorbs the what-ifs, and per-site settings live in a panel rather than a configuration file. The guide covers the remainder — the part that is actually about your site.
Stopped mid-guide at an awkward hour? That is exactly what round-the-clock support is for — say which step you are on and we take it from there.
Why this job is shorter on our plans
Every walkthrough in this library is run on the platform we actually operate — cPanel, LiteSpeed, NVMe, one-click installs — so the instructions match your screen rather than gesturing at it from a distance.
Order an annual plan and the first year of the name's registration is on us.
- Every step checked exactly as published
- The snag named before it arrives
- The dull steps taken out of your way
- People reachable at any hour you stall
Why Hosting & Domains
Standard on every plan
Honest about how big it is
Get backups running unattended, stored elsewhere, and proved to restore is a intermediate-level job — set aside an hour, with the platform-absorbed steps marked.
Help that keeps your hours, not ours
Stuck on step three at midnight? Support answers at any hour, mid-walkthrough included.
The dull parts automated
SSL, backups and installs look after themselves here, leaving the guide to cover only what is genuinely yours.
Every undo written out
Any step that could bite is marked, together with the exact way to wind it back.
The snag, flagged up front
The classic error for this particular task is named before step one, which is how an hour stays an hour.
Works exactly as printed
Every step is proven on the platform we run — none of the 'your host may vary' hedging.
Quick Start
Order placed to site online
- 1
Work out what losing a day costs
A brochure site tolerates a nightly copy comfortably. A shop taking orders every hour does not. That figure sets your frequency, and every other decision on this list follows from it.
- 2
Back files and database up together
Files with no database restore a site containing nothing; a database with no files restores content that has nowhere to go. Take them at the same instant and the pair restores cleanly.
- 3
Automate it with cron
One script, run nightly by cron, that dumps the database, archives the files and dates the output. Backups depending on somebody remembering are not backups at all.
- 4
Send copies off the server
Keep the only backup on the machine it protects and it dies alongside it. Push to object storage or a second host, and keep enough history that corruption found a week late is still recoverable.
- 5
Restore one deliberately
Pick a recent archive and rebuild the site somewhere you can throw away afterwards. Until a restore has actually worked, what you have is a directory of files you are hoping will prove useful.
Built In
Fitted to every plan
- SSH, Git and Composer on the developer plans
- WordPress and 400+ further applications installed in one click
- Money back within 30 days on hosting plans, 7 on reseller
- LiteSpeed caching in the server itself rather than bolted on by plugin
- A daily copy, with restores you run yourself from the panel
- Webmail in the browser plus IMAP, POP and SMTP for any client
- No set-up charge at any point, and no joining fee
- Softaculous included for one-click application installs
- WebP image optimisation built in, at no extra charge
- People on the support desk every hour of every day
Frequently Asked
The questions that come up most
Does the daily backup on my plan cover me?
Daily backups on our cPanel plans cover the usual cases: a bad update, a botched edit, a failed migration. What they are not is your only copy. Download and keep a copy of anything you could not rebuild, because however reliable a provider is, one holding every version of your work is a single point of failure.
How long should backups be kept?
Thirty days suits most sites and catches the slow-burn problems a week of history misses entirely. Where a regulatory or financial obligation applies, that obligation sets the period instead. Storage is inexpensive; finding out your retention was too short is not.
Do plans include copies I can restore myself?
Yes — every plan gets a daily copy, and the restore runs from your panel in minutes: files, databases or both, at three in the morning with no ticket queue in the way. Keeping a further copy offsite is still a sound habit, and nothing here stops you.
Can I choose the PHP version myself?
Yes — PHP is set per site from the control panel, so a legacy application and a current one can run side by side in one account. Extensions and per-site tuning are on the same screen, and none of it goes near a support ticket.
Keep reading
How to Migrate a WordPress Site
Shift a WordPress site onto a new host without a single visitor noticing a gap — intermediate level, about 1–2 hours, or one free ticket to us.
How to Set Up Email in Outlook
Get your domain mailbox running properly inside desktop Outlook — beginner level, about 5 minutes.
Best Hosting With Daily Backups
The same call put as a buyer's guide: what to verify, what to ignore, and the plan we would sign.
VPS Hosting
KVM virtual servers — root access, DDoS filtering, one flat monthly figure.
PHP Hosting
Set the PHP version per site, on quick NVMe hardware.
Changing hosts? Run through our checklist first.
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