As an e-commerce store owner, your Magento store is your bread and butter. It’s the heart of your business and the source of your income.
If you plan to upgrade your Magento store to Magento 2, switch to a different hosting provider, or migrate to a new platform altogether, backing up your data should be your top priority as losing your store data due to hardware failure, or human errors can be devastating for your business
Data loss during the migration process can cause significant disruption to your business, resulting in lost revenue, damaged reputation, and lost customer trust.
In this article, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide and explore the best practices for backing up your Magento store to ensure a smooth and successful Magento migration process.
How Important Is Backup?
A proper backup of a Magento store before migration is important, as it ensures that all of your website’s data and settings are safely preserved, and even in the event that something goes wrong during the migration process, your website backup can be quickly restored.
Here are some specific reasons why a backup is important:
1. Data Loss Prevention
A backup ensures that your website’s data, including customer information, product information, sales data, and other important information, is protected against loss or corruption during the migration process.
But are you confident that the backup software can restore all of your data, even if you have it ready? According to statistics, 50% of data restoration attempts are ineffective and 60% are incomplete. Hence, an appropriate data backup should be performed to ensure a proper database archive before migration.
2. Site Downtime Prevention
If something goes wrong during the migration process, your website may experience downtime and go into maintenance mode. By having a backup, you can quickly restore your website to its previous state and minimize the impact of any downtime.
Average downtime costs across all industries are around USD 4,330 to USD 5,600. Within a year, 93% of companies whose servers were down for more than 10 days declared bankruptcy.
3. Time-saving
Having a backup of your Magento store before migration can save you time by reducing the need to manually recreate lost data or reconfigure site settings.
4. Peace of Mind
A backup provides peace of mind and reduces the stress associated with the migration process. Knowing that your data is safely backed up allows you to focus on the migration with confidence.
Hence, taking the time to properly back up your Magento store before migration is a critical step in ensuring that your website’s data and settings are protected against loss or corruption during the migration process.
What Exactly Are We Backing Up?
There are two backups types you need to perform: database backups and file and media backups.
A database backup is a copy of your store’s database, which includes information about products, customers, orders, and other important data.
A file and media backup, on the other hand, includes all files that make up your Magento store, such as the core files, extensions, media files, and other customizations.
To perform a database backup, you can use the built-in backup tool in Magento or a third-party backup tool that’s compatible with Magento.
To perform a file and media backup, you can use an FTP client to download all the files from your store’s root directory to your local computer.
It’s important to keep both database and media backup up-to-date to ensure that you have the latest version of your data in case you need to restore it from your backup archive.
Step-by-Step Guide on Backing up your Magento Store
By following these simple steps, you can ensure that your store data is always safe and secure and that you can quickly recover after Magento migration process.
1. Check your current Magento version and your hosting
Before you begin your magento backup process, it’s important to check your current Magento version and your hosting. This will ensure that you have the necessary tools and resources to perform the backup process successfully. You can check your Magento version by logging in to the Magento admin panel and inside Magento admin panel navigating to System > About Magento. Your hosting provider may also have specific backup procedures or tools that you can use.
2. Create a database backup of your Magento store files
The first step in backing up your Magento store is to create a backup of your store file system. This includes all files that make up your Magento store, including themes, extensions, and other customizations. To create a backup of your store files, follow these steps:
1. Log in to your hosting account and navigate to the file manager
2. Locate the directory where your Magento store is installed (typically called “public_html” or “www”)
3. Select all the files in this directory and compress them into a zip file
4. Download the zip file to your local computer or another secure location, such as a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive.
3. Export your Magento database
In addition to your store files, it’s also important to back up your Magento database. This contains all the data associated with your store, including product information, customer data, and order history. To export your Magento database, follow the command line steps below:
1. Log in to your hosting account and navigate to the database manager inside admin panel
2. Select the Magento database and click on the “Export” option
3. Choose the file format (usually SQL or CSV) and select all the tables in the database
4. Download the exported file to your local computer or another secure location.
4. Create a backup of your media files
In addition to your store files and database, media backup is also important. These are the images, videos, and other media assets that are associated with your products and content. To create a backup of your media files, follow these steps:
1. Log in to your hosting account and navigate to the file manager
2. Locate the media folder where your files are stored (usually called “media”)
3. Select all files in this directory and compress them into a zip file
4. Download the zip file to your local computer or another secure location.
5. Verify the backup is complete and working properly
Once you’ve created backups of your store files, database, and media files, it’s important to verify that they are complete and working properly. This will ensure that you can restore your Magento store to its previous state if anything goes wrong during the migration process. To verify your backups, follow these steps:
1. Open each backup file and ensure that all the necessary files and data are included
2. Test the backup by restoring it to a test environment or local development server
3. Verify that your store functions correctly in the test environment, including products, customers, and orders.
Best Practices for Magento Store Backup
Data loss during the migration can cause significant disruption to your business, resulting in lost revenue, damaged reputation, and lost customer trust. In this article, we’ll explore the best practices for backing up your Magento store to ensure a smooth and successful migration.
1. Schedule regular backups to avoid losing critical data
Backing up your Magento store once is not enough. It’s important to schedule regular backups to ensure that your data is always up-to-date and that you have the latest version of your store files and database.
You can set up automatic backups using your hosting provider’s backup tools or a third-party backup service. A daily or weekly backup schedule is recommended, depending on how frequently you update your store.
2. Keep backups in multiple locations for added security
Backing up your Magento store to a single location is risky, as that location could be compromised or inaccessible in the event of a disaster.
It’s recommended to keep backups in multiple locations, such as on your local computer, a cloud storage service, and an external hard drive.
This ensures that you have multiple copies of your data in case one location is lost or damaged.
Cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Amazon S3 are great options for storing backups because they offer high availability, scalability, and security.
3. Test your backup to ensure it works as intended
Verifying that your backup is complete and working properly is crucial before migrating your store to a new platform or making any other major changes.
Testing your backup involves restoring it to a test environment or local development server and verifying that everything works as intended.
This includes testing your products, customers, and orders to ensure that all data is intact.
4. Consider using backup tools and services to automate the process
Manually backing up your Magento store can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Consider using backup tools and services that automate the process and make it easier to schedule and manage backups.
Many hosting providers offer backup tools as part of their service, and there are also third-party backup services such as Skyvia, Cloudways that specialize in e-commerce platforms like Magento.
But the best practice for migration is to leave them to professionals. Companies such as wedowebapps LLC, and IceCube digital can handle all your chores.
Backup Tools Over Manual System Backup
Backup tools and services offer several benefits, including:
1. Automation: Backups can be scheduled automatically, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring that backups are performed on a regular basis.
2. Scalability: Backup tools and services can handle large amounts of data, making them suitable for businesses of all sizes.
3. Security: Encryption and other security measures are frequently used by backup products and services to protect your data.
4. Convenience: Additionally, they often provide an easy-to-use interface for managing and restoring backups.
Conclusion
Backing up your Magento store is a critical step in ensuring the safety and security of your data during the migration. By following the steps outlined in this article and implementing best practices for data backup, you can rest assured that your store data is safe, and you can restore it to its previous state if anything goes wrong.
Remember to schedule regular backups, keep backups in multiple locations, test your backups, and consider using backup tools and services to automate the process. By taking these steps, you’ll be able to migrate your Magento store with confidence and avoid any potential data loss or downtime.
