The silent failure.
HOW IT HAPPENS
Cron was never configured, so the schedule never ran The remote storage authorisation expired The disk filled, so archives could not be created A plugin update reset the settings The retention setting removed everything
HOW LONG IT USUALLY GOES UNNOTICED
Months. People discover it when they need a backup.
DETECTING IT
Check the storage destination monthly. Recent files, plausible sizes, expected dates.
Configure failure notifications, and be aware a system that stopped entirely may not notify you either.
THE CRON CAUSE
On our servers, HTTP wp-cron is blocked. WordPress backup plugins relying on it never run.
Configure a real cron job. This is the single most common cause of backups silently producing nothing.
FIXING IT
Identify why it stopped, fix that, and run a backup manually to confirm.
Then check again next month.
PREVENTING IT
A monthly two-minute check. Open the storage folder and look at the dates.
That habit is worth more than any amount of configuration.
