How to make a backup in Plesk step by step (and what to do so it really works)
If your website is hosted on a hosting plan with a Plesk panel, you have a tool at hand for making backups without installing anything. It is useful to know how to use it: it gives you a basic safety net before touching your website, updating something or making important changes.
In this guide we explain, step by step, how to make that backup. And also something almost no tutorial tells you: why a manual backup is not always enough to really protect a business.
Before you start: what you are going to back up
A website is not a single file. For the backup to be useful, it has to include the three parts that make it work:
- The site files: the content, the images, the structure of your website.
- The database: where your content really lives (texts, pages, orders, users).
- The configuration: the settings that allow everything to work again when restored.
If you copy only the files and forget the database, you will have half of your website. That is why it is best to use Plesk's full backup system, which backs everything up together.
How to make a backup in Plesk step by step
The exact names of the menus may vary slightly depending on the Plesk version and language, but the path is always the same.
Step 1: Log in to your Plesk panel
Log in to Plesk with your credentials. Usually the address is that of your website followed by the Plesk port (your hosting provider gives it to you).
Step 2: Go into your domain
In the Websites & Domains menu, find the website you want to back up.
Step 3: Open the backup manager
Look for the Backup & Restore option (or "Backup Manager"). There you will see the existing backups, if any, and the options for creating a new one.
Step 4: Create the backup
Click Back Up and choose the options:
- What to include: configuration and content, mail and databases. For a full backup, leave everything ticked.
- Type of backup: full (everything) or incremental (only what has changed since the last one). To start with, choose full.
- Where to store it: on the server itself or on external storage. Here comes the important detail, which we look at just below.
Step 5: Choose where it is stored (this matters a lot)
Plesk lets you store the backup on the same server where your website is, or on external storage (via FTP or other remote services).
Storing it only on the same server is convenient, but dangerous: if that server fails or suffers an attack, you lose the website and the backup at the same time. Whenever you can, set up an external destination or download the backup to a safe place outside the hosting.
Step 6: Run it and wait
Confirm and let Plesk generate the backup. Depending on the size of your website it can take a few minutes. When it finishes, it will appear in the list of backups, ready to download or restore.
How to schedule automatic backups in Plesk
Making backups by hand is fine for a one-off moment, but nobody remembers to make them every day. That is why it is worth scheduling them:
- In the same backup manager, go into the schedule option ("Schedule").
- Turn on automatic backups and choose the frequency (for example, daily or weekly).
- Set how many backups to keep, so old ones get deleted on their own and do not fill the space.
- Save the changes.
With this, Plesk will do the work for you on a regular basis. It is a huge step compared with having nothing.
How to restore a backup in Plesk
A backup is of little use if you do not know how to recover it. To restore:
- Go into Backup & Restore.
- Find the backup you want in the list.
- Click Restore and choose whether you want to recover everything or only part of it (for example, just the database).
- Confirm and wait for the process to finish.
Key tip: do not wait until the day of the disaster to try this for the first time. A backup that has never been restored is not confirmed; it is only an assumption.
Why a manual backup in Plesk is not always enough
Knowing how to do this is valuable, but let's be honest about its limits. For a business, the panel's backup has three weak points:
1. It depends on someone paying attention
Automatic backups fail silently: the space fills up, a setting changes, the external destination disconnects… and for weeks nothing gets saved. If nobody is watching, nobody finds out until it is too late.
2. It usually stays in the same place
For convenience, many backups end up stored on the server itself. That breaks a basic security rule: a backup must live in a different place from the original. Otherwise, a single problem takes both.
3. Nobody checks that it can be restored
This is the most expensive failure. The backup seems to be done, but the day it is needed, it turns out to be incomplete or corrupt. The only way to avoid it is to test the restoration regularly, something that is almost never done on one's own.
From "I have a backup" to "I know I can recover my website"
The panel's backup is a good first line, but for a business that cannot afford to be down, something more is needed: monitored backups, stored off the server and verified, that is, checked to make sure they can really be recovered.
That is the difference between crossing your fingers and having certainty. At Bytechip we manage backups for freelancers, small businesses and companies with verified restoration: we do not just make the backups, we check that you can recover them when you really need them, without you having to keep an eye on anything.
If you want to stop depending on luck and know your website and data are safe, let's talk.