Backup Policy

Data backup is an essential aspect of maintaining a website, whether it's a blog or an e-commerce platform. It ensures that a copy of your data is safely stored in a secure location, providing a safeguard against data loss and enabling easy restoration if needed.

M2Host provide paid backup service for your website. We regularly backup all cPanel and Plesk accounts on our shared hosting servers, capturing website files, MySQL and MSSQL databases, emails, and more on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis (as resources allow). It's important to note that the backups are not exactly 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month old.

Customers are advised to regularly download and save their backups, as any backup older than 30 days will be replaced by a newer one. It is important for customers to take ownership of their data by ensuring they have a copy before it gets overwritten. Our backup routine runs daily, meaning that at any given time, all three backups will only be 1 day old. We recommend clients not rely solely on our backups for restoring their account in case of errors or mistakes during website editing or software upgrades. Backups are not automatically included in our services, so customers must proactively make and store backups off the server themselves. While server backups may be available, we cannot guarantee their availability and are not liable for any loss of customer data. To facilitate this process, our Control Panel offers various tools for making data backups and downloading them securely.

Using our Services carries inherent risks, and you are solely responsible for any data loss. It is essential to regularly backup your User Content to ensure access when necessary. M2Host does not guarantee the backup of any Account or User Content, and you must acknowledge the potential loss of your data as a risk. By using M2Host's services, you agree that we cannot be held liable for any data loss under any circumstances.

Clients who have paid for backup services with shared and reseller hosting plans benefit from daily database backups retained for 7 days and weekly website backups retained for 1 day. Those utilizing cPanel Backup Manager must download their backups from the server and delete them. All backup files are removed from the server without notice every Sunday. Remember that hosting space cannot be used to store backups.

Backups as an Add-on service:

Backups for Shared Hosting

• Backup of an Active Account

  Backup services are available as an optional add-on for shared hosting accounts. When ordering your hosting service, you can opt to include backups as part of your package. Upon request, we will promptly provide complimentary copies of any available backup content.

• Backup of a Suspended Account

  For active accounts, backups can be generated at any time. However, if you have a suspended account and wish to create a backup without renewing it further, a one-time activation fee of $24.95/Account is required to reactivate the account. Once the fee is paid, your account will be activated and you can download the backups within 48 hours. Failure to do so will result in deactivation and removal from our servers.

• Subscribe to the backup policy

  To subscribe to our backup policy, simply pay the applicable fees based on the size of the backup you require for an active account as outlined in the table provided below.

Account Size Available for backups	Amount payable for backups
0-10 GB	$7.95/Year
10-30 GB	$14.95/Year
30-50 GB	$19.95/Year
*We do not provide backup service for accounts over 50 GB

In the event that you have requested a restore without having a backup policy subscription, our team will assess if there are courtesy backups accessible. You will then be presented with two choices:

Choice 1. To enroll in the backup policy, allowing our team to assist with your restore request and continue backing up your account.
Choice 2. To decline the backup subscription and pay a one-time fee of $19.95 for the restore service.

Backups for Reseller Hosting

If you're a reseller hosting provider, ensuring your clients' websites have proper backups is crucial. To assist you in this task, we offer additional storage space tailored to your requirements. You have the flexibility to enhance your backup plan whenever necessary. Just select from the available packages when subscribing to the hosting plan. We will generate backups for either the account data or number of accounts, depending on which is fewer according to the provided table.

Choice 1. To enroll in the backup policy, allowing our team to assist with your restore request and continue backing up your account.
Choice 2. To decline the backup subscription and pay a one-time fee of $19.95/account under the reseller plan for the restore service.

Backup of a Suspended/Cancelled Reseller Account

To obtain a backup of an account, it must be in an ACTIVE status. To request backups for suspended or canceled reseller accounts, please submit a ticket to our sales department. The availability and size of the backup, as well as the number of accounts associated with the reseller, will determine if a backup can be provided. Submit a ticket to sales for backup requests and you will receive a quote based on the account size and quantity.

E-Mail Backups

Your email messages in the mail directory of your home directory are automatically backed up. However, only messages on our servers can be backed up. This includes new (unread) mail and mail visible in Webmail. Old incoming messages that have been read using a program like Outlook on your computer will not be backed up if the program is configured to delete messages from the server after reading them.

If you use your own mail program instead of webmail and it deletes messages from the server after reading, your computer will be the only place where old messages are stored. To backup these old incoming and sent messages, you must backup your own computer. To ensure our backup system stores copies of old incoming messages, ensure your mail program leaves them on our servers after reading them.

With an IMAP connection, this is automatic; with POP, you may need to adjust a setting in your mail program. Remember that we can only backup email stored in a mailbox on our servers – forwarded emails won't reach our backup system unless they're backed up at their final destination site.