Why backup

Backup is something we website administrators take for granted -- maybe because we are blessed with reliable web hosting companies, or maybe because the content is not updated regularly that it seems like a waste of time.

But there are reasons why you should keep your own separate backup:

• A lot of webhosting companies do not restore backups for free. One of my web hosting accounts actually charged $25 when we requested a backup restoration.
• Mistakes and accidents happen. Even if your web hosting company perform daily backups, there is still a possibility that they won’t back it up at least once. And, depending on your luck, it may happen at the same time that you accidentally delete a file.
• One word: Hacking. You are particularly susceptible if you are using very popular open-source scripts, particularly bulletin board systems.
• If your site has a forum or has a lot of user-submitted content, your website data actually becomes more crucial. Not only because your website has a greater amount of content, it also has a greater amount of server load.
• If you have a full backup of the site in handy, it is very convenient to give a copy to your client when they need it.
• Some hosting companies, despite their claims, actually do not have a regular backup system in place.
• Web hosting companies do close down. And when they do, so do any other means of getting in touch with them.