How long should I keep backups?

[Kania]

I have been making backups of my blog and keeping them on my computer and on my web hosting and I was wondering how long I should keep them for.

How long is recommended for keeping backups of my blog?

I make them every week or before I do any updates or make big changes so I am starting to get many of them and I do not want to fill up the hard drive on my computer.

Thank you for help.

 

[KeralMTG]

I always keep 2 or 3 backups at one time and when I do a new backup I delete the oldest one unless I think I might need it. If you do not want to fill up your hard drive then you can store your backups on Google drive or one of those kind of storage sites.

 

[Kania]

I always keep 2 or 3 backups at one time and when I do a new backup I delete the oldest one unless I think I might need it. If you do not want to fill up your hard drive then you can store your backups on Google drive or one of those kind of storage sites.

I was thinking to keep maybe 2 or 3 backups but since I most often do then every week then that would only be 2 or 3 weeks of backups.

What if I don't notice a problem right away with my blog and it is from a change I made many weeks back?

 

[KeralMTG]

I was thinking to keep maybe 2 or 3 backups but since I most often do then every week then that would only be 2 or 3 weeks of backups.

What if I don't notice a problem right away with my blog and it is from a change I made many weeks back?

Then you can keep as many as you need for 1 month or maybe 2 months and then delete them when you make new backups. I think as long as you have them for 1 or 2 months that that is all you need.

 

[Kania]

Then you can keep as many as you need for 1 month or maybe 2 months and then delete them when you make new backups. I think as long as you have them for 1 or 2 months that that is all you need.

I can do that then. I think I am going to find some place online to store my backups or buy an external hard drive for them.

 

[boxiii]

I think you should use a software or a tool for backup so that you will not face any problem about storing them. The software will store them and keep maintaining your backup's on a regular interval of time.

 

[Kania]

I think you should use a software or a tool for backup so that you will not face any problem about storing them. The software will store them and keep maintaining your backup's on a regular interval of time.

You mean software that I use on my web hosting to do the backups?

 

[KeralMTG]

I can do that then. I think I am going to find some place online to store my backups or buy an external hard drive for them.

You can store them on Google drive for free if you have a gmail or other Google account.

 

[Kania]

You can store them on Google drive for free if you have a gmail or other Google account.

Yes but I think you only get 15 gigabytes of storage for all of your things including emails. I was thinking about maybe buying more or just get an external hard drive to store things.

 

[JennyJ]

I would keep them a couple of months at the least if you change or alter your blog at all or you do not check on it and do anything to it that often. I mad the mistake of getting rid of a backup too soon thinking I didn't need it after a couple of weeks but I wound up needing an older backup because a change I made started affecting my blog later.

I had one on my hosting which saved me from having to do a lot of extra work to fix it.

 

[KeralMTG]

Yes but I think you only get 15 gigabytes of storage for all of your things including emails. I was thinking about maybe buying more or just get an external hard drive to store things.

That should be more than enough space for backups for one blog. You can also get more space from Google if you need it for cheap prices but I can not remember what it was.

 

[Dean]

The length of time that you should keep backups depends in part with how often you make changes or alter your site in any way. If you do not alter, change or add anything to your site then you will not need to keep many backups but you might have to keep them longer.

I tend to keep backups for several months just in case some need arises for an older backup.

I would also take into consideration how frequently you make those backups as well when determining how long you keep them. The available storage space that you have available is something else to consider.

There is just no set amount of time because everyone has different requirements, frequency rates of changes, frequency of updates and several other factors that come into play.

An educated guess however would be to keep them a couple of months and then start deleting the oldest one when you replace it with a newer one.

 

[Traveler]

You should keep them as long as you might still need them and do not worry about the length of the time that you are keeping them. There are many places that you can get free storage online so you do not have to even fill up your hard drive with them.

 

[Kania]

Thank you everyone for all of your replies to my question. I have been looking at storing my backups on Google drive because I saw that you can get 100GB per month real cheap so I will not have to worry about storage space for backups and can keep them for a long time and it is cheap.

 

[Ben]

You should keep them as long as there is a chance you might need them. Once the point is reached that you will never need them anymore then just delete them.

I always like to have a couple of backups just in case and then delete them as I add new ones unless there is an off chance the older might be needed.

 

[Soulwatcher]

I personally keep 3 months of backups. I know it might sound excessive or extreme, but I look at it like this. Would you rather be able to have a good backup or no website at all. I have heard about backups being corrupt as much as 2 full months of backups. So I don't take any chances because my website means too much to me.

 

[goldlady]

I think it depends on the main reason why you do your backups. Not all the bloggers do backups for the same reason. I never did backups until a few moths ago. I have been blogging for over eight years now and I never had a problem for not having a backup of my posts. Nowadays I do it "just in case" and I keep them for only a month.

 

[cesarmatute]

Depending on the reason you are making the backup in first place. For example, when you make a backup before an update or before installing certain software "just in case" something goes wrong, that backup would be useless once the installation is over y everything is tested and is known that everything is working fine. But if you back up financial files, for example, that you never know when you'll need to see a specific history file, and are very important files, then you need to keep them longer (or perhaps forever).

 

[Marcos]

I personally keep 3 months of backups. I know it might sound excessive or extreme, but I look at it like this. Would you rather be able to have a good backup or no website at all. I have heard about backups being corrupt as much as 2 full months of backups. So I don't take any chances because my website means too much to me.

That does not sound excessive or extreme to me. I often keep mine longer than that just to be safe. I never delete my backups unless I am completely certain that I will never need them.

I look at backups as it is better to have them and not need them than it would be to need them and not have them.

Your practice is a good one my friend.

 

[Kania]

I think it depends on the main reason why you do your backups. Not all the bloggers do backups for the same reason. I never did backups until a few moths ago. I have been blogging for over eight years now and I never had a problem for not having a backup of my posts. Nowadays I do it "just in case" and I keep them for only a month.

I am doing my backups in case something goes wrong with my blog or it gets hacked and I need to restore it. You never did backups for 8 years? Did you ever wish you had them for some problem?

Depending on the reason you are making the backup in first place. For example, when you make a backup before an update or before installing certain software "just in case" something goes wrong, that backup would be useless once the installation is over y everything is tested and is known that everything is working fine. But if you back up financial files, for example, that you never know when you'll need to see a specific history file, and are very important files, then you need to keep them longer (or perhaps forever).

They are made in case I have something go wrong and I need to restore my blog. I make the backups once a week at least and also if I am going to make some big upgrades or changes to my blog.