How backups work

SuperSpace backs up every site automatically, and you can also take your own backup at any time. This page explains how those backups are made — what gets captured, how your files and database are stored separately, and how the automatic schedule and retention work. If you're looking for the steps to take, restore, download, or delete a backup, see Backing up and restoring a site.

The short version

Your site's files and your site's database are backed up separately — they live on separate storage volumes.
The database is backed up using a physical backup of the database files (mariabackup), not an exported .sql dump.
Backups run automatically, once a day, and SuperSpace keeps a set of recent recovery points for you (across daily, weekly, and monthly time scales). You can take extra backups on demand whenever you like.

Sites are made of volumes

Every site is built from one or more volumes — independent pieces of storage. A typical WordPress site has two:

Volume	What it holds
WordPress Data	Your WordPress install: core files, themes, plugins, and uploads (the media library).
Database	Your site's database — posts, pages, settings, users, and everything else WordPress stores in MariaDB.

On the Backups page in your dashboard (titled Backup & Volume Management), each volume gets its own card, and each card has its own list of backups. You'll see a WordPress Data card and a Database card, each showing its Current Data Usage, Backup Count, Backup Usage, and Backup Schedule. For more on volumes and how a SuperSpace site fits together, see The platform model.

Files and database are backed up separately

Because they live on separate volumes, your files and your database each have their own backups, taken independently. When you restore, you restore one volume at a time — for example, you can roll your database back to last night without touching the files you've uploaded since, or vice versa.

Keep this in mind for big changes: if you want to return your whole site to an earlier point, restore both the WordPress Data and Database volumes from backups taken close together.

How the database is backed up

SuperSpace does not create a SQL dump (an exported .sql text file of your database). Instead, it takes a physical backup of the database's data files using mariabackup, MariaDB's native physical backup tool.

In practice this means:

Faster and lighter on your site. A physical backup copies the database's files directly rather than reading every row out through a query, so it's quicker and puts less load on your live database — even for large sites.
A faithful, consistent copy. The backup captures the database exactly as it is on disk at a consistent moment, so a restore brings the database back to that point.
No manual SQL files to manage. You don't generate, store, or import .sql files for routine backups and restores — SuperSpace handles the database as a whole.

If you specifically need a .sql export

Physical backups are about protecting and restoring your site within SuperSpace. If you need a portable .sql file — say, to import your data into another tool — that's a separate task you'd do yourself against the database (for example, with the standard WordPress export tools or a database client). It isn't what the automatic backups produce.

How the WordPress files are backed up

The WordPress Data volume — your core files, themes, plugins, and uploads — is captured as a full backup of those files. Restoring it returns that volume's contents to the way they were when the backup was taken.

Automatic schedule and retention

Backups run automatically, once a day, for each volume — the daily schedule is fixed, with nothing for you to set up or configure. Each volume's card shows it under Backup Schedule.

Rather than keeping every daily backup forever, SuperSpace keeps a set of recent recovery points across several time scales — daily, then weekly and monthly ones. As newer backups are taken, the older points covered by the same retention set are released, so you keep useful recovery points at a range of ages without your backup storage growing without limit. You can see how many backups a volume currently has under Backup Count, and how much space they use under Backup Usage.

Want to keep a backup for longer?

Because the automatic backups keep a set of recent recovery points rather than every backup forever, don't rely on a specific old automatic backup still being there months later. If a particular moment matters — right before a big plugin update, or a milestone version of your site — take a manual on-demand backup and, if you want an off-platform copy, download the archive to your own computer. Both are covered in Backing up and restoring a site.

Manual (on-demand) backups

In addition to the automatic schedule, you can take a backup yourself at any time from the Backups page — for instance, just before updating a plugin, theme, or WordPress itself. Manual and automatic backups appear together in the same per-volume list and can be restored or downloaded the same way; in the list, automatic backups are marked with a calendar icon and manual ones with a person icon. See Backing up and restoring a site for the steps.

Restoring overwrites the current contents of that volume

Restoring a backup replaces everything currently on that volume with the contents of the backup — anything created or changed since that backup was taken is lost. If you're not sure, take a fresh manual backup first so you can get back to where you are now.

Frequently asked questions

Are my files and database in the same backup?

No. They're on separate volumes, so each has its own independent backups. To restore your whole site to an earlier point, restore both volumes from backups taken close together.

Can I download a copy of a backup?

Yes. From the Backups page you can request a downloadable archive of any backup; SuperSpace prepares it and emails you a temporary download link. See Backing up and restoring a site.

Do I get a .sql file from a backup?

No. The database is backed up physically with mariabackup, not as a SQL dump. If you need a .sql export to move data elsewhere, that's a separate task you'd run against your database yourself.

How far back can I restore?

As far back as the oldest backup SuperSpace is currently keeping for that volume. Because the automatic backups cover a set of recent recovery points rather than every moment forever, take a manual backup (and download it) whenever you need to preserve a specific point in time for the long term.