Hi there,
Raising your WordPress Memory limit will help to solve this problem for you.
There are tips on this on the page I’ve linked but you may need hosting help.
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/fix-wordpress-memory-exhausted-error-increase-php-memory/
Memory limits are set in different places. Some may not be accessible for you.
Best regards,
Nick
Hello,
I am having the same problems with the memory set to 512M. I get repeated 500/503 errors when doing any work on the backend, and those stop immediately after disabling the plugin. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Hi there,
I’m sorry to hear this didn’t fix the problem. Could you please provide the error log for clues?
I would also suggest you make sure you have the latest plugin version 1.25.7 installed for use.
Once I’ve seen the error logs I can make further suggestions based on the information there.
Best regards,
Nick
Hello,
I do have the latest version (1.25.7). Here is a link to the log file.
Thank you again.
Hi there,
Thank you for confirming the version number and providing the log file.
The log file information is showing the memory limit is still set to 256MB.
It appears the memory limit needs to be raised, possibly by your hosting.
The memory limit can be defined in different places, not just in wp-config.
It may not be possible for you to raise the memory due to limited access.
Hence, I would suggest asking your hosting to raise the memory for you.
Best regards,
Nick
I had it set to 512M for the last couple of years and only changed it back to 256 within the last week while I’ve been troubleshooting. I can change it back, but the plugin will still slow my site too much. I’ll need to keep it disabled for the meantime unless absolutely necessary, otherwise it crashes regularly. Why would it be using so many resources at all times, though? Shouldn’t it only be during an active update? I’d appreciate any other suggestions you have, or please let me know if there are troubleshooting steps I can take.
Thanks again.
I have increased the memory limit again in preparation for any further steps. See the screenshot below for the info from my “Site Health” tool.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hES1FAs3eED7dt6PAOkkF1nW5m70ZhTK/view?usp=sharing
Hi there,
Thank you for your updates.
Based on the information you’ve provided raising the memory limit should solve the issue.
As the initial problem was the memory limit you should no longer receive the same error.
Could you please run a backup to test and provide a log file if you encounter any issues?
Best regards,
Nick
Okay, so I reenabled the plugin at 13:53. I almost immediately (13:54) started getting error messages again:
Service Unavailable. The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems.
and
Internal Server Error. The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
This was before I started the backup.
My Apache error.log file shows errors like this one, multiple times every minute since I re-enabled the plugin:
[Tue Aug 19 13:56:47.111956 2025] [proxy_fcgi:error] [pid 50284:tid 140349154502400] [client 2a02:8388:8282:4f00:4d16:fce9:604c:5162:25620] AH01067: Failed to read FastCGI header, referer: https://www.islyon.org/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=updraftplus
The backup isn’t finished yet, but here is the log file so far, in case it’s useful:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lNhhRsNwUoS-Zk3K4pgxrB_subjTzdE-/view?usp=sharing
There are also 453 existing backups that I’ve tried to delete, but nothing seems to happen when I select them and click delete. This has been the case for a while now. I just get a message saying “Deleting… Please allow time for the communications with the remote storage to complete.”, but nothing ever seems to happen.
I appreciate any further guidance.
Hi there,
Could you please turn off Debug mode in your plugin Settings >> Expert settings
Please also remember to click the ‘Save Changes button after you have done this.
When this is done can you please run another backup and provide me the log file.
I may need to ask a developer for assistance if the log file doesn’t provide a clue.
Are the files you are attempting to delete on remote storage? Are they present?
There is a way to remove backup items from your Existing backups display area.
You should select all the files you wish to delete. Then click on the Delete button.
Please make sure the box in the pop up is not ticked before clicking on Delete.
This should remove any items which are displayed but no longer exist in storage.
Best regards,
Nick
I haven’t had any luck with the deleting, but I’ll leave it for a while to see what happens. I’ve disabled debug and am running a backup. I’ll post the log once it’s finished. Thanks again for all the help.
Hello again. I’m not sure if it’s still working. It’s just said “next resumption: 4” for a long time now. Here’s the log so far:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ELXzJuqQsSzG2XwCaef_lWqyoymw2z_f/view?usp=sharing
Please let me know if I can do anything else.
And I can confirm that deleting even a single backup with that box unchecked as you said, is not working.
Hi there,
Thank you for the updates.
Regarding the files not being deleted. Can you confirm they exist on your chosen storage?
Looking through the log file there are a number of warnings about large database tables.
3336.375 (3) [Warning] Table wp_simple_history_contexts has very many rows (317236) – we hope your web hosting company gives you enough resources to dump out that table in the backup. If not, you will need to either remove data from this table, or contact your hosting company to request more resources.
This could the reason for the errors and why the backups are taking a longer time to run.
I’d suggest optimizing the database could help with both the errors and backup duration.
Best regards,
Nick
The backups are on Google Drive, including the ones from this morning. It appears the backup never finished, even after several hours. I had to disable the plugin again in order to navigate my WP admin pages.
Should I try to deactivate (or remove) the simple_history plugin and retry the backup? It’s not essential. Also, is there a manual way I can clear all my old backups. I’d rather start fresh than to deal with this many that I don’t seem to be able to delete from the Updraft interface.
Thank you again.
