backup and restore of drupal 7

With Backup and Migrate you can dump some or all of your database tables to a file download or save to a file on the server or offsite, and to restore from an uploaded or previously saved database dump. You can choose which tables and what data to backup and cache data is excluded by default.

The Backup and Migrate module says on their homepage that it's solely for your database and that you need an additional module to extend it's functionality (Backup and Migrate Files - Adds the ability to backup your files.).

It's important to note which modules were installed or turned on before a crash occurs. There are many modules within Drupal that do not play nicely together. It's always good to do a backup BEFORE installing/enabling a new module for this exact reason.

Just a few tips for those new to Drupal:

In case you are blundering around setting up installation profiles and trying to get things started as I was a couple of weeks ago - you will save some pain and heartache by following everyone else's advice and sort out your backup situation before you progress too far with any setup.

The way I see it for the beginner stage of development there are five potential backup considerations you could have (assuming you are working with Drupal 7):
(1) Database (ie your mysql file or equivalent that runs the thing)
(2) Drupal Core files (the stuff you downloaded to get started, including folders like 'Includes'; 'Modules'; 'Misc' etc)
(3) 'Profiles' files (the stuff you downloaded if you started with a Distribution Package)
(4) Your 'Sites' files (including '\sites\all' and '\sites\[yoursite]' typically containing the individual files and settings.php file that run your specific site instance)
(5) User or site-specific files such as documents or images (not to be confused with the items noted at (2) through (4) above, these are typically located in your '\sites\[yoursite]\files' directory, a sub-directory of (4) above).

The point of posting all of this here is to say that the Backup and Migrate module has been **absolutely invaluable**, has been easy to use for a new user, and has worked flawlessly.

You can use it to deal with backing up and restoring (1) above, or along with Backup and Migrate Files deal with backing up both (1) and (2) through (5) above, depending on your particular setup and needs.

Alternatively, you can just stick with Backup and Migrate to run frequent backups for (1) alongside other tools provided by your hosting provider (or 'Export' functions in local hosting tools like Acquia Dev Desktop).

There will be errors and things will crash - so don't be naively optimistic like I was - sort out your backup sitch first - ESPECIALLY before you run any updates.

I wasted a lot of time messing about before I got these basics straight - so if you are like me and are prone to charge ahead without really reading the instructions properly (a bad habit, I know, but these are are often not very concise or accessible for new users) then the points above may be of some use.

The issue of updates will confront you sooner than you think, and will cause more problems than you would like, so sorting out your backup situation first is essential.

The following helped me make sense of what was going: https://drupal.org/node/1494290. Be aware if you are using a Distribution you will also need to make sure you backup your '\Profiles\' files - a step not always made clear in the guides on this.

The resources and documentation specific to Backup and Migrate on the module front page are really good. However, it may be helpful to also include a link to a very short, generic 'basics' page on backups separate to the overviews on how the Backup and Migrate module works. This would help prevent uninformed users like me finding their way here ;-) You could include a link to https://drupal.org/node/22281, however I think a more concise summary would probably be better - it could even be presented in a simple table on the module front page. Just a thought.

Cheers and thanks to the Backup and Migrate team.