Valerie Parham-Thompson gives us a few methods for backing up PostgreSQL databases:
There are at least four ways to back up a Postgres database: SQL dump, filesystem snapshots, continuous archiving, and third-party tools.
For each, notes on the recovery point objective (or RPO, which is a measure of how up-to-date your application and business needs will require the data to be) and recovery time objective (or RTO, which is a measure of how quickly the restore needs to be completed after an outage begins) are provided. You should weigh these indicators against your business requirements for the data in question.
Read on to learn more about each of these processes.