Online WordPress Backup Plugin – IDrive Online

August 11, 2010 Leave a Comment

One of the things that I often preach or emphasize on a lot here at JaypeeOnline is the importance of backups. I had an unfortunate experience a long time ago when my web host got hacked and all the files were lost. I didn’t have any backups so I basically lost two years worth of blog posts and comments. I’ve learned the hard way so nowadays, I perform a daily backup my WordPress database and make sure I have a backup of all my theme, plugin and other miscellaneous files that I use on my blog.

Aside from being a very good blogging platform or CMS (Content Management System) by itself, what makes WordPress even better is the large number of available plugins that add more features and functionality to any WordPress-powered blog. One such plugin is the IDrive for WordPress, an online WordPress backup plugin.

IDrive Plug-in for WordPress is an easy to use backup utility, designed specifically to backup WordPress blog data into your IDrive online backup account. It provides scheduled as well as immediate backup of WordPress blog data including files and MySQL database dump.

Features:

  • Immediate backup of WordPress blog data, both files as well as MySQL data dump, into your IDrive online backup account
  • Scheduled backups occur after 12 midnight every day
  • Immediate restore of backed up data from your IDrive online backup account
  • Smart backup – Only the first backup transfers entire WordPress content, subsequent backups are incremental where only the modified data is backed up
  • Automatic notification via email on backup / restore status
  • Secure transfer of data to IDrive server using SSL. Non SSL transfer option is also available for non SSL servers
  • Detailed logging of backup / restore operations

System Requirements:

  • WordPress 2.8.5 or higher hosted on a Linux / Unix system. WordPress blog hosted on a Windows system is not supported
  • Javascript enabled web browser – IE, Safari, Firefox, Chrome
  • Admin access to WordPress dashboard to activate the Plug-in
  • PHP 5.1 or higher

The IDrive WordPress Backup Plugin is easy to install. Just download, unzip and upload the plugin files, then go to your WordPress admin and activate it in the Plugins section. The IDrive Plugin will only work if you have an IDrive online backup account. If you don’t have one yet, you can signup for FREE here. IDrive offers several plans:

IDrive Basic
Storage Space: 2 GB
Price: FREE

IDrive Pro for Personal Use
Storage Space: 150 GB
Monthly Rate: $4.95
Yearly Rate: $49.50

Check out the IDrive Pricing Plans page for other available plans and rates.

Once you already have an IDrive account, you can now start backing up your WordPress data and other files unto your online account. I haven’t tried the IDrive for WordPress plugin myself but I’d like to share this with you. Who knows, one of these days this plugin might just come in handy for some of you guys.

There are several free WordPress plugins that work exactly the same as the IDrive Plugin which do a very good job of backing up your WordPress blog. However the backups created by these plugins are automatically uploaded or stored in a folder within your hosting account. This can be a problem if you have limited hard disk space on your hosting account. Aside from addressing the hard disk space issue, the IDrive Plugin can also be used by WordPress users who want to have a copy of their WordPress data on a different site for emergency purposes. The 2GB storage space on the IDrive Basic account is more than enough for most users to store a copy of their WordPress database backup, themes and plugins.

Download the IDrive for WordPress plugin from the official WordPress Plugins repository.

IDrive also provides a Windows Restore Application which makes it easy for users to restore data from their IDrive online account via any computer running Windows.

What WordPress plugin are you using to back up your blog? Anyone else tried or are using the IDrive for WordPress plugin to backup their WordPress-powered blogs? What are the things you like or dislike about this plugin or its service? Please share your thoughts.

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