Seven months of my blog are gone. [edited to add: I've recovered nearly everything now except comments, but it took over 36 hours] Why? For several reasons. First, I tried to ‘upgrade’ to WordPress 2.8. Didn’t I back up? Yes! I always back up before I upgrade. But…. there is a little thing called a php.ini file that has limits. Size limits and time limits. I back up my blog at least once a month, but because I’ve been blogging for over 2.5 years, the size of my file is fairly large. Therefore, every time I’ve backed up in the last few months, my backup was getting cut off at around mid-November 2008. My host is Bluehost.com, who I have been very happy with ever since I went to my own domain. But, they went to something called Simple Scripts instead of Fantastico, and it’s wiped me out. Yes, I know there are more ways to backup than just an xml file. I wasn’t worried, though. I should have been. I should have opened up the file and checked. I didn’t even know how to do that until today.
What have I lost? HOURS and HOURS of work. Yes, I will be able to recover some of it from my feed reader. I’ve not only lost posts, though, I’ve lot categories, tags, images, comments, custom fields, and my 2009 Books Read page and my 2009 Challenges page. I’m heartsick at this loss, but I’m posting this now so that if you use WordPress, you can have a heads up on what NOT to do.
Here’s the minimum of what you need to do. First, backup your blog by exporting it to an XML file. Then open that file using Notepad and make sure that your latest posts are at the bottom of the file. If they are, you’re okay. If not, you need to find your php.ini file and set your limits higher to something like 32MB and 90 seconds maximum. This is what the code will look like:
‘max_execution_time = 90 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds’
‘memory_limit = 32M ; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume’
Mine was only set to 30 seconds, hence the problem. My xml file said ‘Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in /home/insertyourfilenamehere/public_html/wp-includes/link-template.php’
If you already have 2.7 (or maybe it’s 2.8) or above, you probably don’t have to worry as you can do an auto upgrade from your panel. So, I probably won’t have to worry about this again. A lot of good that does me now!
Anyway, there are other ways to back up your installation before you upgrade. I just wasn’t worried about it as my backup was always fine and it worked for me. Until it didn’t. Before upgrading, I would suggest that you follow the very detailed instructions that will let you know how to backup your blog properly in wordpress.
Sorry for the bitterness on a Sunday, but I hope this mishap will save someone else from the same grief!
Oh my gosh that’s terrible. To think that I just upgraded to 2.8 too without checking my backup file properly. It really could’ve happened to me (or anyone). Thanks for sharing the tips and so sorry for your loss. I hope you can retrieve everything back without too much pain.
Thanks, mee, I’m so glad your install went off without a hitch!
I am so sorry to hear about that. I’m on wordpress, but haven’t upgraded yet. I am really scared to do it now. I hope you manage to recover as much as possible.
This is a lesson we all need reminding about, so thank you.
Jackie, it’s so very scary to upgrade, depending on your host. I’ve never had a problem before, so I was a bit lax. Never again!
Oh Michelle, I’m so sorry. All that work!
So much of what I do online I just assume is “there”, somewhere. Scary lesson, and I hope you can find some of it again.
Elizabeth, I know. Ugh. I think I’ll get most of it. I hate losing all the comments, especially.
So sorry to hear about this Michelle … but thanks for sharing it as a lesson we can all learn from.
Thank you, Laura! Even just these messages help!
I’m so sorry! Thanks for warning us. I’m glad you were able to recover so much of it.
Thanks, Laura@bookingit. Me to!
That is too bad.
As you might be aware, I lost my reading room blog to Malware. Google deleted it on April 27 with no prior notice.
I to had no back up. However I had subscribed to my own blog in google reader so all of my 663 posts were intact. I retrieved the important ones that is all the review oposts and
some of the others and reposted those on a new blog. I also have a wordpress blog where I import my posts each week. Just in case..
And yes I lost my rating, links, mty sanity and lot more.
But I regaining it all slowly..
Yes, I think yours is probably worse because you couldn’t even go back to your same address. I’m so sorry that happened to you as well.
OMG! Thank you for sharing this information, but I’m sorry such an awful thing had to happen!
Lezlie
Thanks, Lezlie. It does stink, but that’s life sometimes.
OMG! I am so sorry. All that work gone. Thanks for letting us know.
Thanks, Vasilly. It does hurt, but at least I can get most of it back.
I use this plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/
I have it email me a backup daily. Then I have gmail put it in the trash using a filter (which gmail keeps 30 days of). Gives me a daily backup of everything in the database up to 30 days old.
Thanks! I’ll look into that one as well. Though, I do have my google reader which was good for about 7 months of posts.
I was just thinking “how awful this would be” as I was typing a post and now I read what happened to you. I am so so sorry. I would certain cry and be depressed for months
Diane, yes I didn’t come right out and cry but I almost did. I’m already almost into my March posts now — just cutting and pasting from google reader. It really hurts to lose all the comments, though.
I’m so sorry to hear this! Does Bluehost have any backup that will help you, or have you exhausted all those possibilities?!
I self-host on WordPress thru BlueHost, too, and I’ve only used the .xml export as a backup. I’m going to follow your advice and initiate a regular backup schedule this week.
I wonder if there’s anyway to automate adding tags to the posts as you recover them (?) Good luck with getting as much back as possible.
Dawn, I don’t think so — they did have backups with Fantastico, though. I relied so much on the xml backup that I didn’t even think to take other precautions. The problem was using Bluehost’s new SimpleScripts. I’ve used Fantastico Deluxe to upgrade many times and it worked well, though they were slow with the updates.
Oh well, lesson learned!
How heartbreaking! I have thought about changing/updating my blog a few times but I have heard a few stories like this one so I am hesitant to go ahead. So sorry that this has happened to you.
Karen, thank you. I’ve never had a problem before now. Lesson learned, though!
Oh. Well, that really sucks! I have been blogging for almost four years now. I think I need to go check into backing things up because now you have me worried!
Yes, definitely back up. Four years is a BIG file, too!
Thanks for the reminder that I should back up my blog every once in a while. I am so sorry that you lost somuch, I know how I would feel. Hopefully you can keep finding bits and pieces.
Thanks, Rhinoa, it was sooooo awful. I really got almost everything back. It hurts to lose all the comments, though.
bummer… know how that feels. Happened to me more than once in fact but not with Arukiyomi… yet!
Saw your post about people ripping off your reviews. The silver lining there is that if enough people do it, your stuff is automatically backed up all over the web ;-D
John, I hope I’ve learned my lesson now to triple check everything!
My friend had almost the same thing happen he went to update and wiped out almost a years worth.