Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Daily backup for a few bucks?

[Cold Steel]

Is it worth it to get a daily backup for an extra $5 a month?

[code_renegade]

If you mean with your host, most of the time, daily backup SHOULD be part of the hosting package. You shouldn't have to be paying them extra to make backups of your sites for you, especially if you are a paying client.

[Cold Steel]

One host I was previously with offered this as part of the package.

I was very pleased with them until they merged with another company. Then somehow my database got "lost" and the latest backup they had was from two weeks back.

The host I'm looking at is generally well-regarded on this forum, but only offers daily backup at an extra fee...

[4ulyrics]

I agree with code daily backup should include the hosting package but sometimes you have to backup your site by yourself . I mean they give you the tool so you do the job not done automatically

[Cold Steel]

Ok, regardless of what this host SHOULD be doing...

Should I be forking out $5 a month for the daily backup?

[Vortex-Steve]

Backups are not always offered, and I doubt many hosts ever guarantee a backup. If you are only paying a small amount each month then it is well worth paying a bit extra if they are offering backups. Would be nice if they are doing external backups of course and not just getting you to pay for a copy on another internal disk.

[code_renegade]

Check with that if the backup is done on a remote server - it's a safer bet than a backup done on the same server as the one you're on as a hacker that gets access can just wipe everything out.

Also, if you're going to pay extra for this service, ask if they'd be willing to give you access to these backups for you to download onto your computer - it'll be good if they do since it means you've a copy on your own computer as well - a double insurance.

[Cold Steel]

"A daily backup of your website and database to our backup server."

So I guess I should pay the extra $5 a month, then?

[CrazyTech]

Backups are not always offered, and I doubt many hosts ever guarantee a backup. If you are only paying a small amount each month then it is well worth paying a bit extra if they are offering backups. Would be nice if they are doing external backups of course and not just getting you to pay for a copy on another internal disk.

I concur.

So I guess I should pay the extra $5 a month, then?

What is your site worth to you to ensure that you don't lose everything? IMHO a $5/month fee to ensure that if something happens there is a backup seems quite fair to me. However, that's just me, you must decide what it's worth to you.

[SimsFreak]

Well if they lost your database in the switch what makes you think they won't do it again? I would suggest doing a back-up yourself once a month or so, just export all of your databases and download all of your files. That's what I did becasue a couple years ago back-ups came at a cost for me.

[TR Seeks]

I agree you should do it. That price is very cheap so go for it but be warned and make sure you backup your self every week

[morehost]

If you can find a remote backup facility, it would be better. Also if they are charging you for daily backup, are they taking guarantee for your data.
Another point to consider is, some hosts say that they backup their servers but will use those backups in case of server wide failure only. However since you are paying extra, you must be able to request a restore anytime even if it is your mistake or it is an individual case

[mpalamar]

Remember all backups are not created equally. Some hosts have been known to backup to the same hard drive, some backup to a hard drive but on the same server, some backup to a seperate backup server, and others do all three and have automated scripts in their control panel to restore files from several different dates. The price for reliable backups should be figured into the base rate of a hosting package. Asking people to continuously backup files, databases, etc. on their own is not reasonable.

[Douglas]

I actually do backups for my customers, however, it's for administrative reasons (such as what I experienced in March with a server compromise). I always advise my customers to make their own backups and not to rely on us for their backups. The more backups of a site that people have, the better of a chance of recovery in case of hardware failure/server wipes they have.