You can download a full backup of your account at any time, from your panel, without asking anyone. It is your data and you should be able to walk away with it whenever you like.
How to do it
- Go to Backups in your panel.
- Choose the backup you want, or generate a fresh one.
- Choose Download.
- Wait for it to be prepared. A large site takes a few minutes.
- Save the file somewhere you control: your computer, a company drive, an external disk. Not only in the same account it came from.
What is in it
- Your website files
- Your databases
- Your mailboxes
Enough to rebuild the site elsewhere, or to hand to a developer, or to keep as your own record.
When to do it
- Before any big change. A migration, a redesign, a major plugin change.
- Before you cancel. See Cancelling, and what happens to your data.
- Every so often, as a habit. Once a month is plenty for most businesses.
- Any time you are worried. It costs you nothing.
Why bother, if we already back up?
Because a copy you hold yourself is not affected by anything that could go wrong with the account: a lapsed card, a mistaken deletion, an argument, a closure. Every business should hold at least one copy of its own data outside the system that produced it. That is true of us and it is true of every provider you use.
Before you close your account
Download a backup first. After an account is suspended or closed we keep your data for 30 days, and then it is permanently and irreversibly deleted. There is no copy after that. Not in an archive, not on a tape, nowhere. Take the two minutes.
If a download fails
Very large accounts can take a while to package. If it does not complete, email [email protected] and we will produce it for you.
The assistant in your control panel can see your actual account and answer about your sites, your plan and your usage. For anything else, email [email protected] and a person will answer.