Daily backups at CURIAWEB: How the 30-day backup works

CURIAWEB automatically creates a backup of your hosting data every day. The daily backups are Kept for 30 days and managed with JetBackup 5.

As a result, not only is your most recent backup available to you, but backups from previous days can also be used for restoration if, for example, you accidentally deleted a file or your website is no longer working properly after a change.

In this article, we show you how daily backups work at CURIAWEB, how long they remain available, and what you should keep in mind if you need data from an older backup.

Briefly explained: CURIAWEB automatically backs up your hosting data every day. The backups from the last 30 days are stored on separate backup servers in a separate data center. You can check for yourself which days have backups available. We will perform any restores for you.

How do daily backups work? #

You don't need to create or start the daily backups yourself. Your hosting data is backed up automatically by CURIAWEB.

Simplified, it works like this:

Your hosting data
↓
Daily automatic backup
↓
Storage on separate backup servers
↓
Retention for 30 days

A new backup is created every day. This gives you access to backups from different days, as long as they are within the 30-day retention period and the respective backup was successfully created.

What does the 30-day retention mean? #

CURIAWEB keeps daily backups for 30 days. Every day, a new backup is added and the oldest one is automatically deleted.

A simple example:

Today       → new backup
Yesterday     → backup available
2 days ago    → backup available
3 days ago    → backup available
...
30 days ago   → oldest available backup

the next day:
new backup is added
oldest backup is deleted

This means that the backups are not stored indefinitely. With each new day, the period from which backups are available shifts.

Important: If you notice that data is missing, you should not wait unnecessarily long. An older backup that is still available today can be automatically deleted after the 30 days have passed.

We explain in detail why a backup with 30-day retention does not replace long-term archiving in the article Backup is not equal to archive: Understanding 30-day retention correctly.

Why are there backups from multiple days? #

An error is not always discovered immediately. Sometimes it is only noticed a few days later that a file was deleted, a setting is incorrect, or a website has been causing problems since a certain change.

That is precisely when backups from several days are important.

An example:

Monday
File is accidentally modified
        ↓
Tuesday
New backup is created
        ↓
Wednesday
New backup is created
        ↓
Thursday
Error is discovered

In this case, the backups from Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday may contain the already modified file. Therefore, the newest backup would not automatically be the right choice.

Instead, it would need to be checked whether a backup from a point in time when the file was correct still exists.

Practical Tip: If you need a recovery, try to figure out as precisely as possible when the data was last correct. This point in time is often more important than the day you discovered the error.

What is backed up daily? #

The backups include the data of your hosting account. Which data is available depends on the services you use.

• Website files
• Databases
• Email data
• Configuration data of your hosting account
• additional data associated with your hosting account

For example, a WordPress website does not just consist of files. Many important contents and settings are located in the database. Therefore, a restoration must always take into account the data actually affected.

If you want to know in more detail which data can belong to a website and hosting backup, you can find the basics in the article Website Backup Explained: What Is Backed Up and Why Is It Important?.

What is JetBackup 5? #

CURIAWEB uses JetBackup 5 for the management of the daily backups.

JetBackup 5 is integrated directly into your hosting environment. There, you can see which days have backups available for your hosting account.

So you can check for yourself which backups are currently available there. However, the restoration itself is carried out by CURIAWEB.

We will show you step by step in the article how to find and check the existing backups in JetBackup 5. Which backups are available? View backups in JetBackup 5.

Why are the backups stored on separate servers? #

A backup should not just be stored on the server where your running website and other hosting data are located.

CURIAWEB therefore saves the backups to separate backup servers in a separate data center.

Simplified:

Your current hosting data
        ↓
Hosting server

Backup of your data
        ↓
Separate backup server
        ↓
Separate data center

This separates the backups from the actual hosting infrastructure. As a result, a serious issue on a productive hosting server does not automatically affect the backups, which are not stored there.

We explain in more detail in the article why this separation is an important part of a good backup concept Backups in a separate data center: Why separate storage is important.

Can I see my existing backups myself? #

Yes. In JetBackup 5, you can see for yourself which days have backups available for your hosting account.

This is especially helpful if you need a recovery. You can first check which days are available and consider when the required data was last correct.

You should keep in mind that just because a backup from a specific day exists, it does not automatically mean that the file or data you are looking for is still correctly contained within it.

If a file was already deleted, for example, three days before this backup, it will no longer be present in this backup either.

Can I restore a backup myself? #

No. You can view the existing backups in JetBackup 5 yourself, but the restoration will be performed by CURIAWEB Support.

This feature is deliberately disabled for customers. A restoration may replace current data with older data. In addition, extensive restorations require significant server resources.

By performing the recovery for you, we can check in advance which backup and which data are actually needed.

Important: If only a single file is missing, your entire hosting account does not automatically need to be restored to an earlier point in time. The more precisely it is known which data is missing, the more targeted the restoration can be performed.

We explain how a recovery in CURIAWEB works in detail in the article Restore a backup with CURIAWEB: How a restoration works.

What can be specifically restored? #

Not every problem requires a complete hosting rollback to an earlier point in time.

Depending on the situation, CURIAWEB can, for example, restore the following data from an existing backup:

individual files or directories

e-mail data

or

complete hosting account

Targeted recovery has one important advantage: data that is not affected by the actual problem does not have to be unnecessarily rolled back to an older point in time.

If, for example, only a single file is missing, it may make more sense to restore just that file instead of resetting the entire website or the entire hosting account.

What happens to changes made after a backup? #

A backup contains the data as it existed at the time the backup was created.

Anything created or modified only after that point cannot yet be contained in this older backup.

This is especially important for websites where new data is constantly being generated. Examples include:

• WooCommerce orders
• new customer accounts
• Form entries
• Comments
• new or modified pages and posts
• Email data

For example, if a backup from Monday is restored, data created only on Tuesday or Wednesday may be affected.

Example: A backup was created at night. An order, an email, or a change to your website that occurred later on the same day may not yet be included in this backup.

The newest backup is not always the right one #

If you want to recover data, it is obvious to simply use the newest available backup. However, that is not always the right solution.

If an error has already existed for several days, several newer backups may also contain this error.

Therefore, two questions are crucial:

When were the required data last correct?

and

Is there still a backup from that period?

The more accurately you can answer these questions, the easier it is to select the right backup for a restoration.

What to do when you need a backup? #

If you need data from a backup, you should check as early as possible what exactly is missing or no longer working.

The following information is particularly helpful:

• which hosting account or domain is affected,
• which data should be restored,
• from which day the data is needed and
• approximately when the problem occurred.

If you do not know which backup is suitable, describe as accurately as possible what happened and when the data was last correct.

Create support ticket for a recovery

We will then check which backup and which type of recovery are suitable for your case.

Summary #

CURIAWEB automatically creates a backup of your hosting data every day. The daily backups are managed with JetBackup 5 and kept for 30 days.

A new backup is added every day, and the oldest backup is automatically removed once the retention period has expired. This ensures that you have backups from different days available in case data from an earlier point in time is needed.

The backups are stored on separate backup servers in a separate data center. You can check which backups are currently available yourself in JetBackup 5.

A restoration is performed by CURIAWEB. Depending on the situation, it is possible to specifically decide whether individual files, e-mail data, or the complete hosting account should be restored.

If you notice data loss, do not wait unnecessarily long. The crucial factor is whether a backup from a point in time when the required data was still correct is still available.