Backing up the lot
Right, pay attention. This is one of the most important topics in the whole bally book.
The thing is, there are so many critical safeguards to consider when securing a site that it's hard to say which are the most vital. For sure though, in the event of a worst case scenario, every time, a site-saving backup tops the list. Pre-emption beats hindsight.
How often to backup depends on the volume of activity but, as a general rule of thumb, an automated schedule of daily database and weekly site backup makes sense. This gives peace of mind, requires little disk space and, should the worst happen, allows for a near-as-damn-it complete reversion ... and we'll detail the recovery procedure in Appendix B.
Prioritizing backup
What changes the most and so requires the most frequent backup is the database, though some site administrators will also want to backup the ever-changing server-side log files. The database, at least, needs a daily backup for most of us but, you be the judge...
