# How to back up and restore your website

https://tiklaweb.net/en/knowledgebase/article/how-to-back-up-and-restore-your-website

A backup is the most reliable way to return a site to its previous state after an error, an attack or a faulty update.

### What to back up

- **Site files:** code, images and uploaded content.
- **Database:** all the content of applications such as WordPress lives here.
- **Email:** messages stored in mailboxes.

### Ways to back up

1. **Control panel backup:** create a full backup from the backup section of the panel and download it.
2. **Manual backup:** download the files over FTP and export the database in phpMyAdmin as an SQL file.
3. **Plugin:** backup plugins can be used for WordPress.

### Restoring

Upload the files back to the same folder and import the SQL file through phpMyAdmin. Then check that the database details in the configuration file are correct.

### The 3-2-1 rule

Keep at least 3 copies, on 2 different media, with 1 in a different location (for example your computer and the cloud). Do not trust a backup until you have tried restoring it once.