I took out a vaultpress subscription, as it sounded great. However, I need to warn any other symbiostock member that they don't back up the root directory and this is particulary an issue for the Symbiostock_rf directory. This contains all of your high res images. The only way I can see around the problem is to create a folder in your wp content/uploads folder, and then copy your files across.

If u lose files from this directory you will need to reupload, and keyword them.

This means that if you add an image, you also need to manually copy it across.

Do other backup solutions offer root back up?

I don't know if I'm getting all the files I need as I don't fully understand what's needed for back up but as a start I installed the UpDraftPro plugin.  It was highly rated with 5 stars and the set up couldn't have been easier.  I have the basic package without any of the upgrades.  My site with about 300 files took 10 minutes to back up.  I backed up to Dropbox and can easily transfer the files to another location for added security.  There are 5 folders that backed up including one labeled db.gz which I suspect is the database and another named Uploads. In that file is a folder labeled Symbiostock_rf_content and it appears to have compressed versions of the mini-pics and the larger watermarked image. 

I'm not sure that it's backing up everything I need but it was a free, easy start to get something backed up while I figure out the best option.  You may want to test it out to see if it's giving everything needed to restore.  They did say that don't back up the basic WP installation since that is easy to reinstall from WP if necessary so I guess in a total crash you might need to set up a new WP installation and load your files into that.

Is that UpdraftPro or UpdraftPlus?  I use the Plus version and it works well except the default setting it does not backup your images.

I am currently looking at all sorts but think that dropmysite.com might win

Quote from: klsbear on September 02, 2013, 12:12

I don't know if I'm getting all the files I need as I don't fully understand what's needed for back up but as a start I installed the UpDraftPro plugin.  It was highly rated with 5 stars and the set up couldn't have been easier. ...

Are you talking about this plugin which hasn't been updated in the last two years rated with 3.7 stars?
http://wordpress.org/plugins/updraft/

No, Updraftpro UpdraftPlus has 5 stars over 249 ratings and last update is listed as 4 days ago.

The following directories need to be backed up:

<web root> - This directory will contain Symbiostock source code, php.ini, files from Google and Bing for their WebMaster tools, robots.txt, etc.  The name of this directory will vary depending upon the host.  On GoDaddy, it is called html in my setup.

/<web root>/symbiostock_ipn - This directory contains Symbiostock source code for PayPal IPN.

/<web root>/symbiostock_network - This directory contains Symbiostock CSV files from other Symbiostock websites (including the ones that you put in your network).

/<web root>/symbiostock_rf - This directory contains all of your (renamed) original files.

/<web root>/wp_admin - This directory contains php source code.

/<web root>/wp_content - This is the main directory and contains Symbiostock source code, WordPress & Symbiostock themes, WordPress & Symbiostock plugins, etc.

/<web root>/wp_includes - This directory contains php source code.

You also need to take a backup of your MySQL database and include that in your backup.

If you backup everything from <web root> down, then you can probably exclude any directory that isn't on the list above (such as the symbiostock_xml_cache directory).

Quote from: Quail Run on September 02, 2013, 12:21

Quote from: klsbear on September 02, 2013, 12:12

I don't know if I'm getting all the files I need as I don't fully understand what's needed for back up but as a start I installed the UpDraftPro plugin.  It was highly rated with 5 stars and the set up couldn't have been easier.  I have the basic package without any of the upgrades.  My site with about 300 files took 10 minutes to back up.  I backed up to Dropbox and can easily transfer the files to another location for added security.  There are 5 folders that backed up including one labeled db.gz which I suspect is the database and another named Uploads. In that file is a folder labeled Symbiostock_rf_content and it appears to have compressed versions of the mini-pics and the larger watermarked image. 

I'm not sure that it's backing up everything I need but it was a free, easy start to get something backed up while I figure out the best option.  You may want to test it out to see if it's giving everything needed to restore.  They did say that don't back up the basic WP installation since that is easy to reinstall from WP if necessary so I guess in a total crash you might need to set up a new WP installation and load your files into that.

Is that UpdraftPro or UpdraftPlus?  I use the Plus version and it works well except the default setting it does not backup your images.

Yes, my error, it's Updraft Plus.  Is there a setting that should be triggered that does back up the images or does it require one of the paid up upgrades to back up the images or isn't that even an option?  I guess the images I'm seeing are the watermarked preview and the mini's for thumbnails.  As mentioned, I'm still trying to figure out the backup language and process.

I am researching the options, but the standard free version does not backup your images.  It only backups the content of wp-content, it does not do your root directory.  So you can restore your wordpress web site, but none of the Symbiostock images.

There is an add on call More Files for UpdraftPlus, and I am researching that.

Agghhhh - where's that little emoticon bashing it's head on a brick wall?  Yes. Updraft PLUS

Ah, I was just teasing ya. It's all good.

Agghhhh - where's that little emoticon bashing it's head on a brick wall?  Yes. Updraft PLUS

It looks like you need the $15 add-on to back up additional files beyond the default options.

Yep, just investigated it as well. Also, I already have a free DropBox account, but that only comes with 2gb of space, and i believe a zip file will be close to or over that already.

I also just tried to create a .zip file in File Manager in the cpanel at bluehost. It goes for a minute, then quits. Looks like I'm still stuck with my ftp solution for now.

I forgot to ask, did you check with your web host to see if they offer backup/restore options?  My host is Bluehost and they have a free backup/restore feature.

So do Justhost (same group as Bluehost) and they selectively back up - and lose files.  I am having to re-do four months work as all  my images from the symbiostock_rf file up to beginning of August are missing and they do not have backups.  Total of 1,202 files I have to redo

So do Justhost (same group as Bluehost) and they selectively back up - and lose files.  I am having to re-do four months work as all  my images from the symbiostock_rf file up to beginning of August are missing and they do not have backups.  Total of 1,202 files I have to redo

And Bluehost's backup system has been broken for a couple of months (for me, anyway). Here's the latest email from them, after I opened a ticket today:

Hello!

Thank you for contacting us about this.

On the server that you are on, the backups aren't all mounted yet (meaning they are not available to use at this time.) I have reported it to our system administrators to get it taken care of.  I would also like to let you know that due to the holiday we are short staffed, and the resolution might not happen today.

Holiday or not, I have reported it numerous times over the past couple of months. No, I wouldn't expect that it would get done today.

From quail run:
There are ways of getting more free dropbox space, mine is upto 2.5 gb.  You might check their web site for the steps you have to go thru.

The last backup I did with bluehost on jun-23-13 is 2.18gb zipped. Since then I have added many more images, so not sure 2.5gb will help. But I will check it out, just in case.

Quote from: klsbear on September 02, 2013, 13:01

Agghhhh - where's that little emoticon bashing it's head on a brick wall?  Yes. Updraft PLUS

It looks like you need the $15 add-on to back up additional files beyond the default options.

Yep, just investigated it as well. Also, I already have a free DropBox account, but that only comes with 2gb of space, and i believe a zip file will be close to or over that already.

I also just tried to create a .zip file in File Manager in the cpanel at bluehost. It goes for a minute, then quits. Looks like I'm still stuck with my ftp solution for now.

I had the same problem with their Site Backup application after their big outage last month.  I starting complaining on their twitter support account and got a faster response.  Since then I have not had any problems and my backup zip files are complete including all images.  Keep bugging them daily if you have to.  You paid for that service with your fees.

Currently downloading unzipped, 1 started before I saw your post, 2 no idea how to do it, site files to an external harddrive and will leave running overnight to see what happens

Quote from: marthamarks on September 02, 2013, 14:26

Where does one find those directories??? I have no clue where to find them

They will be on your host.  Usually they are in your web root directory.  My web root (on GoDaddy) is called html, but your might be different.  You would need to use software, such as PuTTY, to connect to the server.  The best thing to do would be to zip up the files (so the download will be much smaller) and then download them to another server.  I download them to my local computer using FileZilla.

Quote from: marthamarks on September 02, 2013, 14:26

Where does one put them so they'll be backed up??? I have no clue about that either.

You can put them anywhere you like.  I put them in a directory (which I created) called file_backups.

OK! Thanks Shazam. I'm learning...