Answers.Body: <blockquote>
    <p>Is a backup needed before updating?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>It's definitely recommended.</p>
  
  <p>Regardless of it is an <a href="https://craftcms.com/docs/updating" rel="nofollow noreferrer">auto-update or a manual update</a>, Craft will attempt to perform a database backup if the <a href="https://craftcms.com/docs/config-settings#backupDbOnUpdate" rel="nofollow noreferrer">backupDbOnUpdate</a> config setting is set to <code>true</code> (it is by default).</p>
  
  <p>If that is set to <code>false</code> you'd want to perform your own backup before doing a Craft update.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Will installing new updates have any affect on the pages already saved or the existing structure?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Updates should not make breaking changes to the front-end of your site.  The ones that do will be advertised as so, such as the Craft 2 => 3 update process.</p>
  
  <p>You can see the steps that Craft goes through to make sure updating is done safely here: <a href="https://craftcms.stackexchange.com/questions/1111/how-safe-is-auto-updating">How safe is auto-updating?</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-09-16T21:30:29.257Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-09-16T21:30:29.257Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brad Bell
Body: <p>Is a backup needed before updating? Will installing new updates have any affect on the pages already saved or the existing structure?</p>
  
Tags: <updates><manual-updates>
Title: Issues with Updating
ThreadText: # Issues with Updating
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-15)
  
  Is a backup needed before updating? Will installing new updates have any affect on the pages already saved or the existing structure?
  
  **Tags:** updates, manual-updates
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2017-09-16. Score: 1
  
  > Is a backup needed before updating?
  
  It's definitely recommended.
  
  Regardless of it is an [auto-update or a manual update](https://craftcms.com/docs/updating), Craft will attempt to perform a database backup if the [backupDbOnUpdate](https://craftcms.com/docs/config-settings#backupDbOnUpdate) config setting is set to `true` (it is by default).
  
  If that is set to `false` you'd want to perform your own backup before doing a Craft update.
  
  > Will installing new updates have any affect on the pages already saved or the existing structure?
  
  Updates should not make breaking changes to the front-end of your site. The ones that do will be advertised as so, such as the Craft 2 => 3 update process.
  
  You can see the steps that Craft goes through to make sure updating is done safely here: [How safe is auto-updating?](https://craftcms.stackexchange.com/questions/1111/how-safe-is-auto-updating)
  
  
  ---
  
  