Whatever kind of data you are storing in your database, it must have some value to you, even if it’s only the cost of the time required for reentering it should the hard disk fail. Therefore, it’s important that you keep backups to protect your investment. Also, there will be times when you have to migrate your database over to a new server; the best way to do this is usually to back it up first. It is also important that you test your backups from time to time to ensure that they are valid and will work if they need to be used. Thankfully, backing up and restoring MySQL data is easy with the mysqldump command.