Backup your site's files using tar and gzip from the command line. #tar #gzip #backup

mysql-backup-db.sh

# backup database
mysqldump --opt --user=user --password=password --host=host.com database > file-dd-mm-yy.sql

tar-and-gzip-site files.sh

## No dash "-" with this order destination origin and on gnu os like DH Ubuntu
## http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/13573/why-use-superflous-dash-to-pass-option-flags-to-tar
## Destination - origin unlike scp
tar cvzf sitecom.tar.gz directoryname
## And to empty directory 
rm -r /path/to/directory/*
## And to exclude a directory while backing up use
## Make sure not to add a trailing slash!
tar cvzf site.com.tar.gz site.com/ --exclude=site.com/wp-content/uploads/backupbuddy_backups

untar-wo-containing-dir.sh

# untar to public and remove containing directory
tar -zxvf hh-backup.tar.gz -C public/ --strip-components=1

On one Ubuntu setup I had to add origing at the end to make it work and I used double quotes

tar cvzf site.com.tar.gz --exclude="htdocs/old/*" --exclude="htdocs/wp-content/ai1wm-backups/*" htdocs/