If your website stopped working tomorrow, who would you contact, which backup would they use, and what information might need to be recovered afterwards? Those are useful questions to answer while the site is working.
This guide helps Carlow business owners prepare a WordPress recovery record with their website provider. It covers questions to ask and checks to agree, rather than instructions for overwriting a live website. Backup arrangements vary by host, tool and support agreement.
A typical WordPress site needs both its files and database for a full restore. WordPress explains this distinction in its official backup guidance.
The files include themes, plugins and uploaded images or documents. The database holds content and settings. Downloading the website folder alone does not normally include the separate database. Ask your provider to confirm what their backup actually captures and whether the matching parts can be restored together.
Use a short coverage list for your own website:
WordPress provides separate references for backing up website files and backing up the database. Your recovery record only needs the agreed scope and who manages it; keep passwords and backup archives in appropriate secure storage.
Ask when the last successful backup completed, how often backups run and how long older copies remain available. A scheduled job and a completed backup are different things. Record how failures are noticed and who follows them up.
Then consider the changes your business makes between backups. The following are illustrative planning situations, not claims about a particular client or care-plan package:
For enquiries, confirm whether the form stores submissions on the website, sends them by email, passes them to another system, or uses a combination. Agree how you would identify enquiries received during the affected period. Do not assume a website restore will recover information held elsewhere.
Choose the backup schedule with your provider around how the site changes and what the business can reasonably reconstruct. For a shop, discuss this alongside your ecommerce website requirements. There is no single schedule in this guide that suits every website.
WordPress recommends keeping backup copies in different locations. Ask whether your recovery copy remains accessible if the website server or normal hosting access is unavailable. Also ask which dated versions are retained; a recent copy may not be the version you need if a problem went unnoticed.
Name the person authorised to request a restore and the provider responsible for carrying it out. Record a second contact route that does not rely entirely on the affected website. Ask what access or approval would be needed and whether assistance carries a separate charge under your agreement.
Ask your provider how they verify that backups can be restored. Where an isolated test copy is appropriate, agree who prepares it, protects any customer information and prevents it from sending live notifications or taking real payments. This is a planned technical task, not a reason to experiment on the public website.
Give the provider a small set of business tasks to check after the test:
Record the backup date tested, test date, person responsible, outcome and any follow-up work. Revisit the checks when important functionality or providers change. The website handover checklist can help you organise the account and responsibility records.
A database restore replaces the current database with the selected backup. WordPress’s database documentation explains that it returns the database to its earlier state. Before approving a live restore, agree which point to use and how newer information will be handled.
Ask the provider to explain what went wrong, what the proposed restore changes, what current information can be preserved, and what needs checking afterwards. If the cause is not clear, discuss investigation before repeatedly restoring the same copy. Recovery time depends on the situation and the arrangements in place; this guide does not promise a deadline or zero data loss.
Complete this with your provider and keep it somewhere your authorised team can reach if the website is unavailable.
Istech’s Website Maintenance & Care Plans page lists regular off-site backups as part of the technical care offering. Confirm the specific backup schedule, retention, restore process and support scope for your website before relying on an arrangement.
Please note: content changes (text edits, new images, new pages or layout changes) are not included in maintenance plans and are quoted separately. This keeps the plans focused on technical upkeep and site stability.
We will agree exactly what is included before you start, so you know what you are getting for your yearly fee.
Need help checking an existing setup? Contact Istech with your website address and the questions you want to clarify. There is no need to send passwords or backup files with the initial enquiry.
