Back the data file and the application script files before perform in update to phpBMS. For more information about how to back up the data file see the Backing Up section of the Administrating phpBMS Chapter of this guide.
phpBMS does not create, or write to any files on the file system. All information from the application is stored only in the appropriate MySQL schema. Unless you modified the script files of the application, there is no need to back them up.