Almost every business we talk to says the same thing: "Yes, we have backups." Fewer can answer the next question: "When did you last restore something from them?"
A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a plan. Drives fill up, jobs quietly fail, passwords expire, and the one folder that matters turns out not to be included. You find out on the worst day of the year.
The 3-2-1 rule
It is old advice because it works:
- 3 copies of your data: the live data plus two backups.
- 2 different kinds of storage, for example a local disk and the cloud.
- 1 copy off-site and out of reach of whatever hits your office, whether that is fire, theft or ransomware.
The off-site copy matters most for ransomware. Attackers look for backup drives that are plugged in and encrypt them too. A copy that is disconnected, or stored with versioning in the cloud, is the one that saves you.
A 30-minute restore test
- Pick a file that matters, such as last month's accounting file or a customer folder.
- Delete a copy of it, or choose a different folder to restore into. Never test by overwriting the original.
- Restore it from the backup. Note how long it took and who had to be involved.
- Open the file and confirm it is complete and current.
- Check the date of the last successful backup. If it is older than you expected, you have just found a problem while it is still cheap to fix.
Questions to answer while you are at it
- Does the backup include email, the accounting system, and the line-of-business software, or only the shared drive?
- Who is alerted if a backup fails, and do they actually read the alert?
- If the office server died tonight, how many hours until everyone is working again?
If you cannot answer those quickly, that is normal, and it is exactly what a quarterly check is for. We set up, monitor and test backups for businesses across Butte and Tehama County. If you would like a second set of eyes on yours, call us.