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Hello, I�m MaAnna with BlogAid and in this quick video, I�ll show you how to delete
locally stored files of your backup that you created with BackupBuddy. It�s a good idea
to do a backup before you make any major changes to your site, like updating WordPress or your
plugins. But, those files start piling up locally. And because a complete backup includes
everything, you�re backing up your backup files too. All those old files start really
bogging down everything. Plus, you�re paying for hosting space, so you don�t want to
waste it on too many backup files. And, if you ever need to migrate your site, you�ll
want to cut down on them before that too. Let me show you easy ways to get rid of the
problem and keep your site running fast and smooth.
I�m on a sandbox site I created for this video, and I�m in the Backup tab of BackupBuddy.
This is where you can manually create a backup before doing an update to your site. Usually
that will be a complete backup. As you can see, I already have one backup
file that I created earlier. When I run the next one, that earlier backup file will be
included too. So, after a while, these things start taking up a lot of space, and it slows
everything down, including how long it takes to do a backup.
Now, this is a small site with just a couple of pages on it, so it�s under 8 MB. But
you get the point. When you create a new backup, you have the
opportunity to download it and/or send it to a remote destination.
When I hover my mouse over the one I created previously, you�ll see those options.
When you run a new backup, there will be two blue buttons at the top with the same options,
for downloading and sending to a remote destination. But, there�s no way to delete the file.
To do that, you�ll need to log into your cPanel and find those files. So let�s do
that. I�m jumping over to a window where I�ve
already logged into my cPanel, which is a brand name for a hosting control panel. Think
of it like Kleenex, which is the brand name of a tissue. If you don�t have cPanel, this
may look a little different for you. Scroll down to the Files section and find
the File manger icon. Click it.
You�ll see a few choices here. You can elect to go to the root folder for
your site. Or, you can go to the root of any site you have hosted here by clicking the
drop-down. I only have one, so that�s what is listed.
And be sure to check the box to show hidden files.
Now click the Go button. These are the files for your WordPress installation.
And cPanel is a little picky about how you open folders, so do as I�m showing you here.
Double click on the folder icon for wp-content. Then double click the folder icon for uploads.
Then double click the folder icon for backupbuddy_backups. There you will see your locally stored zip
files. Click once to highlight it.
If you have a bunch of them, click the first one once, then hold down the Shift key and
click the last one. That will highlight the first and last files
and all of the files in between. Then click the delete icon at the top.
It will ask if you�re sure. Then click the delete files button.
Now, that takes care of all the old backup files. Let�s get out of here and I�ll
show you how to keep new ones from piling up again.
Close the tab you are in. Then scroll up and logout of your cPanel.
Now I�m jumping back over to the site and going to the Settings sub-link under BackupBuddy.
Scroll down to the section for Local Archive Storage Limits.
You will want to set these numbers in accordance with your needs. And, the numbers I�m going
to suggest assume that you do not normally store your automated backups locally. You
need to set those to offsite storage, like Amazon S3.
Okay, the only time I have a locally stored backup is when I�m doing a manual backup
before an upgrade. For that, I would set the maximum to store as 2 or 3. The reason why
is because a local copy will be created during the auto backup schedule. Once that file finishes
the transfer to the remote storage, it will be deleted. So, I only need to keep 2, maybe
3 before overwrite, because that�s about the limit of what I do prior to doing an update.
I�m going to leave the maximum size set to 0, which is unlimited. I don�t care about
the size when I�m only storing 2 or 3. But, if you do set this, it will need to be in
megabytes. When this limit is met, the oldest backup on file will be deleted to make room
for the new file. And I�m going to set the maximum age to
60 days. That will give me more than enough time to ensure my site is running properly
with its new updates, and I�m likely to forget to go back in and delete those backup
files. So, this ensures that everything is cleaned up for me. You can set it to 30 days,
or as few as you want.
When you are finished with these settings, scroll down and click the Save General Settings
button. I hope you�ve enjoyed this tutorial on deleting
your backup files. BackupBuddy is the plugin I use and recommend to all of my clients.
If you want to see how it measures up to other backup solutions, be sure to download my free
report on How to Backup Your WordPress site, with 14 backup and storage solutions. And
be sure to visit the BlogAid Video Library for more videos on WordPress, SEO, Genesis,
and MailChimp, plus bonus videos on several popular plugins like BackupBuddy.