If you want to backup/restore your site collection in SharePoint 2010, you can do with PowerShell command. I’ll spilt the post in two sections. One is on how to backup/restore in the same site collection and another is how to backup from one server/site collection to another. For the former (backup/restore in the same site collection), SharePoint provides nice easy GUI page in Central Administration page. However, for second one (backup/restore between different server) you need to run PowerShell scripts.
Backup/Restore in the same server and same site collection
Sometimes you may want to backup from a site collection and your intention is to restore the backup in the same site collection. One example might be you have a site collection, say “http://myserver” and you are going to run code to test something against the site. However, you fear that running the code may break something and before you run the code, you want to backup the site so that in case running the code breaks something you can restore the backup taken before running the code. In the case, where you need to backup/restore is centered around same server and site collection, you can take SharePoint Central administration UI to do the backup/restore.
Backup Steps
1. Navigate to the Central Administration => Backup and Restore
2. Under “Farm Backup and Restore” section click “Perform a backup”.
3. Now you’ll be landed in the following page where you can select the site or site collection you want to take backup:
4. Click next and you’ll be navigated to the following page where you can select backup type (full or differential) and backup location:
Restoring Steps
To restore follow the steps:
1. Navigate to the Central Administration => Backup and Restore.
2. Under “Farm Backup and Restore” section click “Restore from a backup”. Follow the wizard to restore from a backup.