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How to create incremental backups in WordPress

There are three ways to back up incrementally with UpdraftPlus. But first, if you haven’t already, purchase UpdraftPlus Premium and follow the simple installation instructions.

Take an incremental backup manually​

1. Open the UpdraftPlus plugin​

Go to the WordPress ‘Settings’ menu and open ‘UpdraftPlus Backups’.

WordPress settings menu

2. Create a full backup​

In the ‘Backup / Restore’ tab’, click the blue ‘Backup Now’ button to perform a full backup.

UpdraftPlus Backup/Restore page

3. Add changed files to the backup (back up incrementally)​

Click the text link under the ‘Backup Now’ button that says ‘Add changed files (incremental backup)…’.

To 'Take an incremental Backup', select on 'Backup Now' button

4. Select backup entities​

Choose what to include in the incremental backup.
Tick or untick ‘plugins’, ‘themes’, ‘uploads’ and ‘any other directories found inside wp-content.

In 'Perform a backup' dialogue, select/unselect backup settings to take an incremental backup

5. Initiate incremental backup​

Click the ‘Backup Now’ button on the pop-up.
Your incremental backups can be found in the same place as your full backups under ‘Existing backups’ in the same tab as before.

In 'Perform a backup' dialogue box, select 'Backup Now' button to take an incremental backup

Schedule incremental backups​

1. Open the UpdraftPlus plugin​

Go to the WordPress ‘Settings’ menu and open ‘UpdraftPlus Backups’.

WordPress settings menu

2. Schedule full backups​

In the ‘Settings’ tab, choose how often you’d like to take a full backup and from what time. Choose how many backups to retain overall.

Updraft Plus 'Settings' tab options

3. Schedule incremental backups​

Tell UpdraftPlus how often you’d like it to add an incremental backup which can be every hour, every 2, 4, 8 or 12 hours or daily.

In 'Settings' tab choose 'Files backup schedule' from the dropdown list

4. Save settings​

Scroll down to ‘Save Changes’.

Incremental backups can be found in the same place as your full backups under ‘Existing backups’ in the same tab as before.

Select on 'Save settings' tab

Take a manual incremental backup via WP_CLI​

1. Set up WP_CLI​

Install and configure WP_CLI (WordPress Command Line Interface) on your server.

2. Create a full backup​

Use the following command to initiate a full backup of your WordPress system:

‘wp updraftplus backup’

3. Perform an incremental backup​

Once you have a full backup, you can create an incremental backup by adding --incremental to the backup command like this:

‘wp updraftplus backup --incremental’

4. Verify your backup​

Review the backup logs in the UpdraftPlus plugin interface to confirm the status of your incremental backup.

How to restore an incremental backup with UpdraftPlus Premium​

1. Navigate to ‘UpdraftPlus Backups’​

Go to the WordPress ‘Settings’ menu and open ‘UpdraftPlus Backups’.

WordPress settings menu

2. Explore existing backups​

In the ‘Backup / Restore’ tab, proceed to the ‘Existing backups’ section.

Find the file set that holds the incremental backups you want to restore.

UpdraftPlus Existing backups log view

3. Select entities to restore​

Choose the components to restore e.g. plugins, themes, uploads or other.

Click the ‘Next’ button.

UpdraftPlus will prepare the files for restoration.

Choose the components to restore by selecting the checkbox, then select 'Restore' button

4. Restore incremental backup​

Once preparation is complete, click the ‘Restore’ button.

UpdraftPlus will restore the selected components.

To continue UpdraftPlus Restoration select 'Restore' button