Backing up

[Chevy II]

Hi,
When backing up the db, is it always necessary to backup the forms at the same time?

Thanks

[Steve Machol]

Forums? Do you mean the vB files? Generally not, although you should have a backup of config.php and any custom images, along with attachments, avatars, etc. if you store those int he file system.

[Sticky1]

Is there an easy way of backing up to my laptop..?

[Epiic]

No it is not necessary, you can restore your forum just with the vbulletin.sql file, but it doesn't hurt to back up everything.

Generally, I backup vbulletin.sql once a day.

I backup the files (FTP) about once every week.

[bigwater]

Site backups, both filesystem and database are only critical if you care about your data. For a hobby site you may be able to stand the loss of a few days/months worth of data. It's too easy to maintain backups of data for even the most trivial of sites though, and your users may not think that the loss of data is trivial, no matter how trivial you may consider the site to be.

[Sticky1]

No it is not necessary, you can restore your forum just with the vbulletin.sql file, but it doesn't hurt to back up everything.

Generally, I backup vbulletin.sql once a day.

I backup the files (FTP) about once every week.

I need to back up at least once a week. Is the vbulletin.sql file where all the threads/posts are held..? Where do i find this file on the server..?

thanks

[kat00]

Is there an easy way of backing up to my laptop..?

I think your supposed to start your own thread......

But this is a lot easier than it looks http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95051

You will need to persevere and practise but it works......I purchased smart FTP, set up some scheduled tasks and its completely automated.
I don't know much about programming or computers for that matter but the instructions in that post are pretty good.