Server being down

Yesterday I could not log into my site and I could not log into Smartftp. Now that I can today I have found that several of my entries in my weblog are missing as well as a button (replaced) and a webring (replaced). Is there anyone out there that suffered something similar with their own sites that can give me some information as to how to avoid this in the future? Aside from backing up the site (which I am having problems getting it done as I have changed blogging software recently. I went to the forum there for help in this and got feedback as to how I need to do this. I have been instructed to "look in my Hosting account control panel" to find if I have access to "phpMyAdmin" utility. I am still unable to get ahold of my hostess to find out the necessary information that I need so that is why I'm back again. But with a new question. What is my "Hosting account control panel" and how do I access it?

Grace