You Need to Be Sure Your Backup is Ready for When You Need It

A data backup is meant to give you a sense of relief, a safety net in case of disaster. This means it needs to be reliable… but what if it isn’t?

Too many businesses simply set up a backup and never think about it again, working under the assumption that all is well and everything is working according to design. Often, it is too late by the time these issues come to light, and the backup is needed but isn’t there.

Having a backup is a good start. However, the real difference comes from having a backup that you know will work. 

Are You Dealing with Schrödinger’s Backup?

Schrödinger’s cat is a thought experiment that explores a theory in quantum mechanics where something in an unobserved system exists in multiple states at once.

In the thought experiment, a cat is sealed in a box. Also inside this box is a radioactive particle that, if detected by a Geiger counter, will expose the cat to cyanide, killing it. However, we cannot see into the box to observe whether the cat is alive or dead. As a result, until it is observed, the cat is both alive and dead at the same time.

In a way, your backups function similarly. If untested, they could be suffering from any of various potential problems…

• Data is backed up, but is corrupted and unusable
• Not all data was successfully backed up
• A changed setting or update has disabled your backups
• The hardware or connection your backups rely on experiences an issue

You simply don’t know whether your backups are there or not until you thoroughly test them.

What Does Properly Testing Your Backups Require?

There are three levels to evaluating a backup:

File-Level Verification

One of a backup’s benefits that isn’t acknowledged as often is its ability to help you fix quick mistakes. Try pulling a random file from the backup that was (or should have been) taken last night and opening it. If it fails, you have your warning that there’s a problem.

Application-Level Restore

Depending on the degree of data loss, you may need to restore entire databases. Using a test environment, can you do so and have this restored copy be usable?

Comprehensive Disaster Recovery

What if everything fails, as in you basically no longer have a physical infrastructure? Truly being prepared means being ready for this possibility. Can you restore everything from your backup and operate based on that? How quickly can you do so? You need to test your capabilities and make any improvements necessary before encountering the real deal.

We Can Help You Proactively Prepare (and Evaluate) a Backup

Here’s the thing: testing your backup has to be done proactively. Otherwise, you simply can’t trust it.

We can help you handle your preparations, installing and managing your backups on your behalf. We’ll test and validate it for you so you can be confident that, should the worst happen, your data is safe and sound.

Keep Schrödinger’s Paradox Out of Your Backups!

Stop gambling your business’ future on untested backups, and take the steps to ensure that they’re ready for when you need them. Reach out to us at (866) 546-1004 to find out how we can help.