How Do I Back Up My Entire Store and Are Upgrades Potentially Harmful?

[uruharacosplay]

First of all, I want to apologize to all of the seasoned programmers on here as well as the business owners.

I am only 22 and am teaching myself how to use this powerful system. That is why I'm so clueless. I'm very sorry.

On that note, I was wondering:

• How do I back up my entire webstore?
• If I upgrade my ZenCart to the latest version, will I lose all of my products, graphics, and hard work?

Thank you so much in advance for your time, kindness, and patience.

Blessed Be,
Indi

[afo]

If you are using the override system and do the upgrade correctly, you shouldn't lose a thing, but your question is a very good one.

I keep a copy of the Zen Carts I webmaster for on my local computer. I don't run Zen Cart locally, but I make all my changes locally and FTP them to the site which gives me an "automatic backup" of all the Zen Cart files.

I make periodic backups of the database using phpMyAdmin. There are instructions in the tutorials/FAQ section.

I've also been told that if you use the backup option from CPanel, it'll backup your entire site including the database, but I think your hosting service has to restore it for you. The way I do it I have control over the restore.

[uruharacosplay]

I will definitely contact my hosting company! Thank you so much!

[afo]

I will definitely contact my hosting company! Thank you so much!

You only need to contact your hosting company in the event you use the CPanel backup and need to restore. The rest of what I explained is what you can do yourself without your hosting company's help or involvement.