What's not in the database that should be backed up

[doob]

Hi.

Is just backing up the database sufficient? What's not in the database that should be periodically backed up?

Also, should anything be backed up independent of the database in the case that I need to restore just an individcual component.

I just found out you can download and backup templates/styles independent of the database. Is there anything else like that I should be thinking about backing up independent of a major mysql dump?

-Doob

[Lynne]

If you have avatars/attachments/sigpics/albums/etc in the file system instead of the database, then you will need to back those up also.

[doob]

Right now I've got everything in the database. Its a young site, but it seems that with lots of albums etc. the database could get big enough that backups and maintainance are a real problem. Right now the database is something like 90mb. I could see if it grew to 900mb, and I'm sure it will, that backups could be a real issue!

It would seem though, that there's then a benefit to putting albums/avatar/whatever in the file system it would make backup's and restore's more modular.

Is there any disadvantage (beyond needing to do backups independent of the database) to putting the albums, etc. into a filesystem?

[Lynne]

I think the biggest disadvantage is having to perform separate backups. There is a thread over on vb.com - or maybe it's in the manual, I forget - that goes over the advantages and disadvantages to having attachments/avatars/etc in the database versus the file system.