The option to clone a WordPress website has proven to be a hugely popular and useful feature for both Updraft Migrator and UpdraftClone. As such, we have updated our written and video instructions on how to clone a website using these two different packages. 

There are three different ways you can clone a website using either Migrator or UpdraftClone. While these methods are pretty straight forward and intuitive, it never hurts to have a simple walk-through that can guide you through all the steps required to clone a WordPress site in just a few minutes.

There are many reasons why users of Migrator or UpdraftClone would want to use a cloning feature. Maybe you want to use Updraft Migrator to create a clone of your online store; with the intention to use it as the foundation for a whole new store? Or maybe you want to create a clone of your WordPress blog to test out a new theme update before updating on your main site using UpdraftClone? Whatever your reason for cloning a site, we have got you covered. 

Just follow this link for further detailed and up to date written instructions with videos, or check out the videos for UpdraftClone and Updraft Migrator below.

The post Cloning a WordPress site using Updraft Migrator or UpdraftClone appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

The latest updates for UpdraftPlus 1.16.42 have now been released. This latest update of UpdraftPlus comes with a great new Dropbox feature and a host of tweaks to help improve the usability and performance of UpdraftPlus for all it’s users.

This latest release comes with a new feature that now gives users the added ability to manually complete authentication of Dropbox as your remote storage option. This new feature will allow users to avoid any issues they may have had in the past with security modules or plugins that have broken the authentication flow. 

We hope this new update will help improve the integration of the popular remote storage option of Dropbox for all UpdraftPlus users. The change-log for the latest update is as follows:

1.16.42

• FEATURE: Added the ability to manually complete authentication with Dropbox (Avoids issues where security modules/plugins break the authentication flow)
• TWEAK: Replace BlockUI’s deprecated jQuery functions and/or shorthand events with the appropriate method accordingly
• TWEAK: Replace /2/files/search Dropbox API calls with /2/files/search_v2
• TWEAK: Replace Labelauty’s deprecated jQuery functions and/or shorthand events with the appropriate method accordingly
• TWEAK: Fix broken multiple range selection’s highlighters due to the absence of jquery-migrate in the WordPress core on version 5.5
• TWEAK: Add the latest jQuery UI CSS framework for compatibility with WordPress 5.6 and all ongoing versions of WordPress
• TWEAK: Add support for PHP 8.0 in UpdraftClone
• TWEAK: Prevent a couple of PHP coding notices on PHP 8.0
• TWEAK: Tweak in the backing up of tables to reduce PHP memory use when working with very long row contents
• TWEAK: Prevent a PHP warning when starting a backup
• TWEAK: Fix a UI issue in the “send backup to remote site” options

The post Updraft adds ability to manually complete Dropbox authentication to avoid security conflicts (UpdraftPlus 1.16.42) appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

Thanks to the support of everyone that downloaded the WP-Optimize plugin, we are thrilled to announce that WP-Optimize has now achieved the massive milestone of 1,000,000 active installs.

This makes WP-Optimize the 52nd most installed WordPress plugin in the world (not including plugins that are pre-installed); a figure that is all the more impressive in such a competitive WordPress market and sector.

While there are several optimization and caching plugins on the market, WP-Optimize is the top ranked when users search for an ‘optimize cache plugin’ and has achieved a 5 star rating. This is a clear declaration of our continued efforts to make the plugin bigger and better and achieving recognition by the WordPress community as the market leading optimization and caching plugin. 

Even during these difficult times, everyone on the WP-Optimize team has continued to work hard to improve the plugin, while still providing support to give users the best possible optimization and caching experience and keeping the plugin up to date with the latest WordPress developments.

From everyone at WP-Optimize, we would like to thank all of our loyal users for getting us to this point. They always say ‘the first million is the hardest’, so a huge ‘thank you’ again and here’s to the next million!

The post WP-Optimize passes 1 million active installs appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

Updating the PHP version on your live website risks breaking something you don’t expect.  That’s why it’s best practice to test any PHP update on a test sandbox version of your website.  

We are happy to announce that the latest update for UpdraftPlus makes it very easy. This new update includes the added ability to let you run tests on PHP 8.0 using our UpdraftClone feature. 

Using UpdraftClone, you can now duplicate your site to a sandbox test version using PHP 8.0 when using WordPress 5.6+. 

We have developed this new update as we know that while setting up a new PHP install can be time-consuming and replacing your current one could break your site, UpdraftClone makes it easier to test these new things out in a disposable sandbox – Removing any potential risk to your live site. 

Of course, the beauty of UpdraftClone is it’s easy to test your site in whichever PHP or WordPress version you like.

As well as cloning your existing site, it’s also possible to use UpdraftClone to create instant blank WordPress installs if you want to create new test sites from scratch or test things in your choice of PHP or WordPress version, including PHP 8.0.  

The change-log for other changes in the latest update is as follows:

• TWEAK: Don’t repeat sending the ‘upload_complete’ command to a remote send destination after it succeeded the first time
• TWEAK: Update the udrpc library
• TWEAK: In UpdraftClone, delay the temporary_clone_ready_for_restore signal until the browser connection is closed (preventing a loss of response)

The post Test PHP 8.0 on your WordPress site in just a couple of clicks, without the risk of breaking it appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

Black Friday is the biggest shopping event of the year! A time when people eagerly check websites and seek out the best deals available.

Though this Black Friday shopping season is not like any we have experienced in the past, you can still take advantage of our big savings from the comfort and safety of your own home.

With demand for these deals sure to be high and following the massive success of our previous Black Friday events, the below deals will run to the end of the month so everyone has the opportunity to take advantage of the sales event!

We have put together a whole host of amazing deals so everyone can now get any or all of the following Black Friday offers:

20% off UpdraftPlus Premium subscription. Use the code: BFsale2020

20% off Easy Updates Manager: Use the code: EUM20BF

20% off WP-Optimize: Use the code: WPO20BF

20% off UpdraftCentral: Use the code: Central20BF

20% off UpdraftClones: Use the code: BFclone20

All discount codes are valid until the end of November 2020

The post Black Friday 2020 – The sale starts now appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

Backups are one of, if not the most important part of setting up a WordPress site. Disaster can strike at any moment. Be it an errant plugin update or a malicious hack; your website and data is always just one click away from potentially being gone forever. There are ways to limit any potential damage done however, as there are WordPress backup plugins available that can regularly and automatically backup your WordPress website for you.

But given there are so many backup plugins out there, how can you be sure you are installing the right one with all the features you need? Firstly, you need to be sure that the backup plugin you are installing is highly rated and trusted by the larger WordPress community. 

UpdraftPlus has been listed on WP.org since its launch and has (to date) amassed over 3 million active downloads and has a top 5 star rating on the WordPress platform. To date, Akeeka backup for WordPress (both the free and premium versions) have never been listed on WP.org. As a potential Akeeba user, you will have no reference on which to judge the quality of the product or have any idea how many people are using it to successfully back up their websites.

The free version of UpdraftPlus also offers a wide range of essential features that Akeeba does not. Without the following features, users of Akeeba leave themselves open to a wide range of potential issues that are not present when using UpdraftPlus.

Ad-blocker: Most modern websites are flooded with adverts, making them next to unusable without one of the many ad-blockers that are currently on the market.

A typical website when viewed without an ad-blocker

Installing an ad-blocker on your web-browser is a matter of course for pretty much everyone who uses the internet. However, with the free version of Akeeba WordPress backup, you will find that it will block the use of some features within its plugin, such as “buttons not working” if your ad-blocker is running. 

If you are anything like us, you probably prefer your websites and plugins with limited, non intrusive adverts. UpdraftPlus is free from all external advertising and as such, there is no need to turn off your ad blocker to use the full range of features with the UpdraftPlus plugin.

Remote Cloud storage backup – The free version of UpdraftPlus offers remote cloud storage to many of the biggest and best services, including DropBox, Google Drive and Amazon S3. To send backups to a remote storage location with Akeeba however, you will be forced to purchase the premium version. It is important to remember that you should never store the backup in the same server as the website (as Akeeba does) – as this backup can easily be deleted or corrupted. We have also compiled a series of ‘how-to’ videos and written instructions on how to configure your remote cloud storage options with UpdraftPlus; so you are not left trying to figure things out for yourself. 

Scheduled Backups – One of the most widely used and liked features of UpdraftPlus is the ability to backup your WordPress website as and when you decide, via an easy to use backup schedule option. If you are running a WordPress based store for example, this feature is essential as your stock, orders and featured products could change on an hourly basis. With Akeeba, you can only backup your site with a manual request. Some bad timing or simply forgetting to backup your site could result in you losing days, weeks or even months of work. 

Unlike Akeeba, with UpdraftPlus you never have to worry about remembering to run a backup, as you can set your backups to schedule from an hourly to monthly basis. This feature will hopefully give you the peace of mind to continue your work and improve your sales, safe in the knowledge that your site is being safely backed up should the worst happen.

Download UpdraftPlus today for the highest rated and most popular WordPress backup plugin.

Get it from	WordPress.Org	UpdraftPlus.Com Buy It Now!	Basic – Private website
Backup WordPress files and database
Translated into over 16 languages
Restore from backup
Backup to remote storage
Dropbox, Google Drive, FTP, S3, Rackspace, Email
Incremental Backups
Free 1Gb for UpdraftVault
WebDAV, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, SFTP/SCP, encrypted FTP, BackBlaze
Backup extra files and databases
Migrate / clone (i.e. copy) websites
Basic email reporting
Advanced reporting features
Automatic backup when updating WP/plugins/themes
Send backups to multiple remote destinations
Database encryption
Restore backups from other plugins
No advertising links on UpdraftPlus settings page
Scheduled backups
Fix backup time
Network/Multisite support
Lock settings access
Browse backup contents in WordPress
Download individual files from backup in WordPress
Personal support
Run from WP-CLI
Restore a backup from other plugins

The post WordPress backup plugins – UpdraftPlus vs. Akeeba comparison appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

The latest updates for UpdraftPlus 1.16.34 has now been released. The new version has a few performance tweaks that addresses a bug fix and compatibility issues, which will help improve UpdraftPlus for all it’s users. 

Future versions of WordPress will use JQuery 3.0; in our continued effort to keep UpdraftPlus compatible with current and future versions of WordPress we have updated the UpdraftPlus code, so that it can work with all versions of JQuery.

We have also improved our error reporting when using UpdraftPlus to browse your servers file system when trying to backup more files. This will help you and our support team to better identify any issues encountered with file system permissions.

The change-log for the latest update is as follows:

1.16.34

• TWEAK: On sites with enormous numbers of tables (e.g. very large multisites), counting the already-backed-up tables when resuming took unnecessarily long since 1.16.30
• TWEAK: Update jQuery document ready style to the one not deprecated in jQuery 3.0
• TWEAK: While using the file tree browser return an error if we are unable to open a directory

The post UpdraftPlus 1.16.34 Update Released appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

Your WordPress database contains all kinds of vital data. Firstly, all of your content is in there, such as pages, blog posts, and comments. But it goes much deeper than that. The WordPress database contains critical information, including theme settings, plugin settings and much more.  

The problem is that, on its own, WordPress will not save all of the critical information stored within the database. That means if something goes wrong, such as your website being hacked, you’ll be unable to restore your WordPress site to its previous state.  

There’s good news though, it’s not difficult to backup your WordPress database with a little help. 

So, by the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how to backup your WordPress database. The best part? You’ll be able to do it in 4 steps with the WordPress backup plugin, UpdraftPlus.

Why you should backup your WordPress database

As a website owner, you should always plan for the unexpected. A malware attack or a website update gone horribly wrong could leave you having to restore your website to a previous date. 

Your site’s database contains a treasure trove of data that reaches far beyond your theme or plugin settings. 

It contains vital data such as:

• User logins and passwords. 
• Widget configurations.
• Website customisations.
• And a range of other site-wide settings. 

If these aren’t backed up correctly, you could lose them all in an instant. Can you imagine losing every page, post, and link you’ve ever created? For most, a permanent loss of data on this scale doesn’t bear thinking about.   

Fortunately, with the help of UpdraftPlus, you’ll never have to fear losing critical data from your WordPress database ever again.  

How UpdraftPlus works

UpdraftPlus backs up everything you could possibly need to restore your site to its previous settings in the event of your site being compromised. With this free plugin, you can restore your website with the click of a mouse. 

UpdraftPlus allows you to achieve this outcome by backing up all WordPress data contained within the database, including: 

• Content files including pages and blog posts.
• Comments data and metadata.
• All links.
• Plugin settings.
• Theme settings.
• User account data.
• WordPress site-wide settings and customisations.
• All media/upload records.

UpdraftPlus Premium takes this a step further, you can backup unlimited WordPress and non-WordPress files. These can be saved to more than one cloud storage locations for a more thorough and secure backup. 

You can also take advantage of the UpdraftPlus Vault, which, as part of the UpdraftPlus plug, backs up your data at predetermined intervals and is encrypted for an additional layer of security. 

Now we’ve covered how the plugin works, let’s show you how to backup your WordPress database.

How to backup your WordPress database

To backup your WordPress database, you’ll need to:

1. Install the WordPress backup plugin, UpdraftPlus.
2. Adjust your database backup settings.
3. Select where you’d like your backups to be stored.
4. Backup your WordPress root database.

That’s it. Below, we’ll outline these steps in detail so that you can backup your WordPress database and have greater peace of mind. 

Let’s make a start with step one, installing UpdraftPlus.

Step #1: Install UpdraftPlus

The process of backing up your WordPress database starts with installing UpdraftPlus. Fortunately, this is a process that only takes a couple of minutes. The process is much the same as any other WordPress plugin. 

To install UpdraftPlus, take the following steps: 

1. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New. 

2. In the search bar, type UpdraftPlus. 

3. Find the UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin within the search results and then press Install Now. 

4. Once installed, click Activate.

Now that we have UpdraftPlus installed, we can move onto creating a backup of your WordPress database.

Step #2: Adjust your database backup settings

Once installed, you need to adjust your database backup settings before performing your first backup. 

1. Navigate from the WordPress dashboard to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups. This will open your UpdraftPlus settings page.
2. Next, select the Settings tab from the choices at the top. 

Here, you’ll be offered several options concerning how often you would like UpdraftPlus to make a backup of your WordPress website. 

If you’re in charge of a sizable website with new posts and pages created each day, then the incremental options of 2, 4, 8, or 12-hourly backups may suit you best. 

Alternatively, should you operate a smaller site that doesn’t need to be backed up as frequently. You can configure UpdraftPlus to backup daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.   

You also have the opportunity to determine how many of these backups should be stored at any one time. Subsequent backups will override the existing ones. UpdraftPlus also allows you to schedule backup files and databases separately or together.

Step #3: Select where you’d like your backups to be stored

If you scroll down the page a little further, you’ll notice you’re given the option of where you’d like your file backups to be stored. There are numerous options here. Including leading providers of cloud-based storage such as Dropbox, Amazon S3, and Google Drive. 

Top tip: If you’d like to store your backups remotely, UpdraftPlus Premium comes with a free 1GB of storage using UpdraftVault for 1 year.

Once selected, follow the on-screen instructions. 

Each storage option comes complete with its own set of instructions for setting up. Once you have completed those instructions, select which files you want to include within the backup and press the blue Save Changes button positioned at the bottom of the page.

If you upgrade to Updraft Premium, you can choose to spread your backups across multiple storage locations. Alternatively, you can purchase the Multiple Storage Destinations Add-On on its own.

Step #4: Backup your WordPress root database

With the free version of the plugin, UpdraftPlus creates backups of everything in the WordPress content directory, including but not limited to database files, plugins, uploads, themes, and so on. 

However, if you upgrade to UpdraftPlus Premium, you can perform a complete backup of your WordPress website. 

With Premium, you can back up all files from your WordPress install. This includes files you’ve added in a non-standard way, and you can even backup directories from your web server that aren’t even part of WordPress. 

All in all, you can take backups of the following: 

• Any modifications you’ve made to the WordPress core. 
• New files uploaded to WordPress using non-standard mechanisms. 
• Other resources (or even sub-sites) in the same folder as WordPress.
• Files from other directories on your server
• Your wp-config.php file, which allows you to avoid re-entering database settings and other customisations upon restoring.
• You can also browse your backups and download individual files from them from within your WordPress dashboard.

Backup your WordPress database with UpdraftPlus

That’s it, you now have a secure backup of your WordPress database with UpdraftPlus. 

With this up and running, you’ll be able to create secure backups of crucial data and broader site settings governing your plugins, theme, and user accounts. 

Whether your hosting company folds or you’ve performed an update that has ruined your website’s functionality, with UpdraftPlus, you can rest assured that your WordPress website is only a click away from being restored.

With UpdraftPlus Premium, you can go one step further. You can take advantage of the included add-ons to:

• Schedule your backups at specific times of the day to avoid high-traffic periods.
• Spread your storage files across multiple locations for enhanced security.
• Receive detailed reports of your backups.
• Limitless backups of all files, including those not contained within WordPress.
• Multi-site network compatibility.
• Free, rapid-response support from technical experts.

The post How to backup your WordPress database in 2020 appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

The latest updates for UpdraftPlus 1.16.30 update has now been released. This latest version has various performance tweaks and bug fixes to make UpdraftPlus backups better than ever.

One of the main performance improvements for the latest update is for websites/hosts. Where mysqldump is disabled, UpdraftPlus will now extract database data via the primary key (where one is available). This improvement results in a substantial performance increase when fetching large tables using PHP.

We have also undertaken various fixes when importing settings into UpdraftPlus. These include the fixing of an issue that caused all database tables that were not selected, to be backed up in a “Backup Now” backup during a resumption. Additionally some under the hood improvements have been implemented to allow faster booting of UpdraftClones in the future.

The change-log for the latest update is as follows:

• PERFORMANCE: Where a table has a numerical primary key, extract its data using that index. This results in a substantial performance increase when fetching large tables using PHP. (The filter updraftplus_can_use_primary_key_default can be used to de-activate this behaviour)
• FIX: Remove incorrect decodeURIComponent() parsing when importing settings, which could prevent import of settings containing some special characters
• FIX: An issue where database tables that were not selected to be backed up in a “Backup Now” backup would get added to the backup during a resumption (i.e. if it did not finish in a single run)
• TWEAK: Catch errors from Google Cloud when the bucket is not found
• TWEAK: Fix undefined variables instead of expected values in message prior to settings import
• TWEAK: Strip the redundant WHERE for the –where parameter to mysqldump (which modern versions strip out, but a version was found that didn’t)
• TWEAK: Handle hosts that have disabled the session_id() function
• TWEAK: Provide SQL mode information in the ‘Site Information’ section under the ‘Advanced Tools’ tab and in the database backup’s header
• TWEAK: Show a notification of UpdraftPlus plugin updates even if the associated user account is not connected to the UpdraftPlus website
• TWEAK: Add mechanism to detect what hosting provider is being used and use it to make UpdraftPlus comply with Kinsta’s backup limit policies (thus removing it from the list of disallowed plugins)
• TWEAK: When booting a clone if it’s claimed from the clone queue then update the token being used
• TWEAK: Tweaked downwards the minimum time in the future for rescheduling a resumption

The post UpdraftPlus 1.16.30 Update Released appeared first on UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus – Backup, restore and migration plugin for WordPress.

UpdraftPlus has lots of options when it comes to backing up to a remote storage location.We recently updated the instructional videos for several of the most popular remote storage options, including Azure, RackSpace, Amazon S3, DropBox, Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft Cloud.    

Our newest instructional update video is for the BackBlaze remote storage option. You can open a free BackBlaze account today and receive 10GB of free storage. Just watch the short video below for all the information you need on connecting your accounts. 

Written instructions on how to add BackBlaze to your UpdraftPlus backup account can also be found here.

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