Do most web hosts offer backups?

[markw10]

My current web hosting service does a nightly backup and keeps 1 weeks worth of them. They also do a weekly backup that they keep a month's worth of plus a monthly backup that they keep 12 copies of for each month.
I had the idea that most web hosts do something similar or at least do backups. I do my own backups at least once a week and if I do major changes to my website much more often.
For several reasons though I'm changing to a new web host. I have done my research and BlueHost comes out very highly rated. I see this almost anywhere I look but I was shocked when I contacted them about backups. Their answer was that they sometimes do it as a courtesy but in general don't do many backups and if so just on a weekly basis and once your account goes over 5GB they no longer even offer to do it as a courtesy.
I'm disappointed because I really wanted to go with them and they seem to have great service. Plus everywhere I look they seem so highly rated. I'm just wondering if this is really that important and maybe is more common than I think. Any opinions?

[Blaine Moore]

I have no idea what the backup policies of my hosts are; I don't trust them anyway. I back up my files regularly and have an automated system to back up my databases every night and email them to a dedicated GMail account.

As for BlueHost, they worked really well for me for a long time, and then they were hell to work with. Nobody else has had the bad experience that I had with them, so you'll probably be fine, but I won't use them again.

[robkiernan]

Hostgator back up every Sunday. If you have a problem and ask them to rescue you, it'll cost you $15. Trouble is, if you lose your data on a Saturday, you lose a weeks worth of stuff.
Whilst I truly believe Hostgators service is excellent, their backup solution is not ideal.

Lunarpages offer a backup service for (and this is all from the last time I looked, so may be out of date) an extra $1.50 a month. If I remember correctly, they backup daily. If I were to host with them, I'd pay the extra.

But as a general rule, I'm with Blaine on this one. Sort your backups yourself. I use a program called CP Data Backups which is pretty easy to install and works well.