I used JoomlaPack for backing up my Joomla! CMS site and I cannot stop writing about it. It’s simple, easy to use, quick, efficient and moreover it’s FREE.
It creates a full backup of your site in a single archive. The archive contains all the files, a sql file with database script and a restoration script (derived from the standard Joomla! installer). You also have the option to create backup of only your database excluding the files.

1) First you should make some changes in your configuration file of your Apache web server. Well, SEF in Joomla is for Apache web server only. Your server should have mod_rewrite enabled and it must allow .htaccess override. For doing this, follow the simple steps below:
The configuration file named “httpd.conf” is located in the folder named “conf” of your Apache web server. Open the file httpd.conf in any text editor of your choice. Search for “mod_rewrite”. You will find